In the first part of his speech, Lear uses animal imagery to show that all is not natural in the chain of beings. "The creature runs from the cur" -where creature can also mean a beggar, and cur can be either a mongrel dog or a despicable person- implies that the two words are interchangeable and it is difficult to distinguish humans from beasts. According to Lear, a dog can be obeyed in office and placed in a higher social standing than the common person despite the lack of human intellect. This ties in with the themes of social

The sounds in his speech express Lear's attitude and also show his fall into madness. He begins with prose, which Shakespeare often uses to communicate insanity in his characters, but switches to iambic pentameter after 3 lines. In this transition his madness begins to show signs of reason. In the second last line, he once again breaks from the iambic to give a spondaic "now, now, now, now!" It is as if his train of thought and rhythm of speech change as he remembers he wants to pull off his boots. The alliteration of creature and cur and the fact that they are cacophonic sounds emphasizes those two words to show that they can be substituted for each other. Usurer and cozener also have similar sounds and end in the same letters to show that they are both equally guilty and that one is not better than the other. There are many hard "d" and "b" sounds giving the speech a harsh tone and putting many breaks in it. Explosive sounding words like "beadle", "bloody", and "pierce" draw attention to Lear's contempt, and "s" sounds such as "strip" and "scurvy" sound like spiteful, hissing words. The repetition of the word "none" in line 184 displays Lear's instability and insecurity. He is attempting to convince himself that he is still powerful and can authorize people to act as they wish. He ends off with "so", a sigh of relief finishing his revelation.

The words spoken by Lear in this scene were carefully chosen to convey their message across. Many of them suggest pain and violence. Examples of this emotive language are "bloody", "lash", "strip", "whippest", and more. This is indicative of the pain Lear feels and it also shows h

Some common words found in the essay are:
According Lear, IV Scene, King Lear's, evil daughters, justice appearance versus, appearance versus reality, glass eyes, social justice appearance, versus reality, play lear, authority lear, justice appearance, madness begins, appearance versus, finally realizes, social justice,
Approximate Word count = 1109
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)