conflict, personal transformation, and loss. The story revolves

around the King who foolishly alienates his only truly devoted

daughter and realizes too late the true nature of his other two

daughters. A major subplot involves the illegitimate son of

Gloucester, Edmund, who plans to discredit his brother Edgar and

betray his father. With these and other major characters in the

play, Shakespeare clearly asserts that human nature is either

entirely good, or entirely evil. Some characters experience a

transformative phase, where by some trial or ordeal their nature

is profoundly changed. We shall examine Shakespeare's stand on

human nature in King Lear by looking at specific characters in

the play: Cordelia who is wholly good, Edmund who is wholly

evil, and Lear whose nature is transformed by the realization of

his folly and his descent into madness.

The play begins with Lear, an old king ready for retirement,

preparing to divide the kingdom among his three daughters. Lear

has his daughters compete for their inheritance by judging who

can proclaim their love for him in the grandest possible

fashion. Cordelia finds that she is una

as being good or evil. There is no doubting the absolute

has run its course, both he and Cordelia are taken prisoner by

honesty will not please him. Her nature is too good to allow

good; rather it is a transformation from blindness into sight.

screams "I am a man more sinned against than sinning." (Act III,

"Cordelia. [Aside] Then poor cordelia!

villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion;

daughter Cordelia, and the revelation that Regan and Goneril's

"Cordelia. [Aside] What shall Cordelia speak? Love,

Edmund has just instructed his captain to take Lear and Cordelia

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gloucester Edmund, Lear Cordelia, King Lear, Act III, Act Scene, IV Scene, William Shakespeare, Aside Cordelia, Cordelia Aside, Goneril Lear, act scene, characters play, king lear, human nature, nature entirely, thee thou dost, thee thou, evil nature, play cordelia, wholly evil, gloucester edmund, act scene iii, act scene lines, shakespeare crafted cordelia, scene iii lines,
Approximate Word count = 1246
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)