Thursday 8 January 2015

The Theme of Disguise in King Lear

Disguise is a key thread in the patchwork of Shakespeare's beautifully woven play, King Lear. The importance to the plot and deeper understanding of the play that can be found in disguise should not be overlooked when analysing this play.
The main characters in the play that use some form of disguise are: Kent disguised as a serving man and Edgar disguised as the mentally deranged 'Poor Tom'. The need for these characters to disguise themselves is pivotal to their own survival. This fuels dramatic irony in the play where Kent and Edgar, in their disguised forms, protect the people whom are of greatest threat to their existence when they are undisguised.
Kent was required to shroud himself with the disguise of a serving man in order to protect Lear from ultimately Lear himself. This shows the true loyalty of Kent towards his monarch. Kent stood up to Lear's decision to disown Cordeila (Act 1:1) and is banished for this act of treason, with the threat of death if still found in the country within 10 days. Therefore Kents loyalty and endeavour to protect Lear are highlighted through his disguise. This serves as a strong parallel to the disloyalty shown to Lear by his daughters (Goneril and Regan) and there husbands (Albany and Cornwall ; noblemen just like Kent). Without Shakespeare's use of disguise this parallel could not have been made.
Shakespeare's use of disguise in the case of Edgar and Gloucester serves the same purpose. Edgar is forced to disguise himself as the mentally unstable and social outcast that is Poor Tom. This disguise was needed due to the lies that Edmund had fed to Gloucester. These lies concerned a false plan of Edgar's to murder Gloucester. However, despite being accused of patricide Edgar bravely helped Gloucester when Gloucester was at his lowest point. Edgar helped him die a happy man by convincing him he was absolved of his sins (adultery) and gave him a brighter outlook on life after he convinced him he had survived and in survivable fall off the cliffs of Dover. This loyalty and forgiving shown by Edgar contrasts Edmund. Edmund cannot forgive Gloucester for his open outbursts of displeasure at the conception of his illegitimate son and shows great disloyalty by giving his father over to the cruel and sadistic couple that is Cornwall and Regan.
These two parallels (sub-plots) are evident in King Lear and could not be incorporated into the play without the use of disguise.
The disguises of these two characters also lower their social position by a huge amount resulting in a social swoop for two well respected nobles. This sees a disguise in personality also. The disguise in the personalities of Kent and especially Edgar bring out sympathy from Lear and show a shift in his nature and spirit. Lear offers Poor Tom clothes and compassion. This highlights the change in character of Lear throughout the play. This progression of Lear's social conscience is a guiding light in a bleak and tragic play and its inclusion is necessary to partially distract from the doom and gloom of the plays other social themes (Civil War) and existential ideas. It can only be included due to the disguises of characters and their personalities. The social swoop attached to these disguises can also be compared to the social swoop associated with Lear that concludes in a dramatic fashion in the Storm Scene.





4 comments:

  1. The theme of disguise is clearly prominent in the play king Lear and is a main theme but what might come to your surprise I'd the fact that it's is also to be seen in pride and prejudice. Without doubt it is in a different form and is probably not quite as prominent but is at points very relevant to the development of characters. This is of course with the character of Wickham and his relationship with Lizzy.
    When Wickham enters the story he is immediately portraying a lie as he is in disguise but not to our knowledge and this is what makes this a contrast to king Lear as in king Lear we are very aware of the characters disguises and why they are acting in disguise as they tell us often in soliloquies this is unique to plays and also the style that Shakespeare uses. Wickham is acting in disguise in a very selfish way and is incredible similar to Edmund who acts in the exact same way to fool all those around him so that he can get what it is that he wants. This is quite ironic as Lizzy is a character who prides herself on being able to judge the characters of those around her but fails to catch on to the disguise of Wickham and believes him entirely. This leads to Lizzy believing that Darcy is acting in disguise to protect himself from the so called ‘bad things’ he has done to Wickham which are in fact all lies. We automatically then see that Darcy’s situation Is comparable to that of Edgar in king Lear who is treated similarly to Darcy as he is seen in a bad light due to lies that have been circulated about him. Here we then have a circle of disguise and lies that leads to various different stories all swaying away from the truth and all stemming from the disguise of a single person. This clearly then show how this theme travels through both texts in a very similar yet contrasting way.

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  2. Disguise is one of the main themes in King Lear. It can also be found in Pride and prejudice. The nature of society at this time pushes everyone into a kind of disguise I feel. Under such a repressive culture everyone is expected to act a certain way and take on a disguise that they feel will be acceptable to those around them. First impressions are central to this novel and the way in which we disguise ourselves to strangers. Edmund in King Lear was sick of being treated as the illegitimate son. His evil schemes of turning his father against his brother Edgar are revealed to us in his soliloquay. Edmund takes on a disguise as the caring son with only the intentions of protecting his father when really he was planning his death. Edmund felt unjustly treated and is the reason for his disguise. Similarly in Pride and Prejudice Wickham resents Darcy and there is competition there like that between Edgar and Edmund. Wickham takes on his disguise for self benefit. He realizes Lizzy is perfect for his plan when he sees how people respect her opinion. He knows once he has tricked her with his disguise she will heavily influence the rest of Longbourne. He takes on the role of a gentle and hard done by man. Lizzy is completely fooled by the disguise. Darcy is a quiet, reserved character and says he has not the talent of conversing with strangers. It is because of his manner that the lies Wickham tells Lizzy make perfect sense to her. She has already taken a disliking to Darcy and Wickham sees and takes advantage of this. His disguise and stories of Darcy fit with her previously held notions of him. Jane, among many other women has fear of expressing her affections for Mr Bingley. If she is thought to be associated with him when they are not married her good name would be tarnished. This causes her to disguise her feelings for him. In contrast to this we see Regan and Gonreil dressing up their love for their father. They disguise their real desires for land and wealth with false declarations of love. In both texts we can see the theme of disguise woven carefully through. It builds suspense and allows for climatic plot twists that the reader does not expect. We too are fooled by the disguises of these ingeniously created characters!

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  3. Disguise is one of the main themes in King Lear. It can also be found in Pride and prejudice. The nature of society at this time pushes everyone into a kind of disguise I feel. Under such a repressive culture everyone is expected to act a certain way and take on a disguise that they feel will be acceptable to those around them. First impressions are central to this novel and the way in which we disguise ourselves to strangers. Edmund in King Lear was sick of being treated as the illegitimate son. His evil schemes of turning his father against his brother Edgar are revealed to us in his soliloquay. Edmund takes on a disguise as the caring son with only the intentions of protecting his father when really he was planning his death. Edmund felt unjustly treated and is the reason for his disguise. Similarly in Pride and Prejudice Wickham resents Darcy and there is competition there like that between Edgar and Edmund. Wickham takes on his disguise for self benefit. He realizes Lizzy is perfect for his plan when he sees how people respect her opinion. He knows once he has tricked her with his disguise she will heavily influence the rest of Longbourne. He takes on the role of a gentle and hard done by man. Lizzy is completely fooled by the disguise. Darcy is a quiet, reserved character and says he has not the talent of conversing with strangers. It is because of his manner that the lies Wickham tells Lizzy make perfect sense to her. She has already taken a disliking to Darcy and Wickham sees and takes advantage of this. His disguise and stories of Darcy fit with her previously held notions of him. Jane, among many other women has fear of expressing her affections for Mr Bingley. If she is thought to be associated with him when they are not married her good name would be tarnished. This causes her to disguise her feelings for him. In contrast to this we see Regan and Gonreil dressing up their love for their father. They disguise their real desires for land and wealth with false declarations of love. In both texts we can see the theme of disguise woven carefully through. It builds suspense and allows for climatic plot twists that the reader does not expect. We too are fooled by the disguises of these ingeniously created characters!

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  4. Really useful one, compact yet packed with important points.Thank You very much for the effort to make the hard one looks so simple. Further, you can access this site to read Dramatic significance of the subplot in King Lear

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