King Lear3

A detailed Summary of King Lear3

In the play King Lear written by William Shakespeare a collection of images are used to express different points Shakespeare is trying to relay to his audience. One reoccurring image that kept popping up was animal images. Shakespeare displays these animal images when King Lear and many of the other characters in the play talk about Goneril and Regan. The animals that Lear and the other characters compare the two sisters to are not very pretty. They are compared to the likes of tigers, serpents, and even monsters. These reoccurring images have an important idea behind them that Shakespeare hopes to communicate his readers.

Shakespeare waste no time in comparing Goneril and Regan to animals. When Lear parts from Goneril at the end of Act I, after she has sneered at him and diminished the number of his retainers, he calls her a "Detested kite" (I. iv. 2

Shakespeare uses these animal images throughout his play to describe Goneril and Regan. It will be noticed that most of the animals used in these comparisons are unpleasant (kite, serpent, tigers, pelicans, foxes, and even monsters). Shakespeare is showing that the sisters are sinking from the level of man, who stood between the angels and the animals, to the level of the animals. They have become like some of the most unpleasant birds and animals of prey. In their cruelty and unnaturalness they are less than human.

Lear in scene IV has a quarrel with his other daughter, Regan, where again he uses animal images to show how his daughters are sinking below manhood to animals. Lear seeks out his daughter, Regan, at Gloucester's castle, and finds out that her husband has put his faithful friend Kent in the stocks and that both husband and wife have retired to bed and

Some common words found in the essay are:
Regan Gloucester's, King Lear, Goneril Regan, Poor Tom, Goneril Act, William Shakespeare, Bedlam Edgar, king lear, animals lear, animal images, goneril regan, regan animals lear, ii iv, daughter regan, lear characters, lear comments, regan animals, goneril regan animals,

Approximate Word count = 590
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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