{"id":782,"date":"2019-05-15T12:03:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T20:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/?p=782"},"modified":"2019-05-16T13:08:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T21:08:24","slug":"who-is-it-that-can-tell-me-who-i-am-an-analysis-of-lears-journey-toward-self-knowledge-in-william-shakespeares-king-lear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/who-is-it-that-can-tell-me-who-i-am-an-analysis-of-lears-journey-toward-self-knowledge-in-william-shakespeares-king-lear\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWho is it that can tell me who I am?\u201d: An Analysis of Lear\u2019s Journey Toward Self-Knowledge in William Shakespeare\u2019s “King Lear”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Alexandra Cunningham<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The questions of William Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear <\/em>may, at times, be greater\nthan the answers. In King Lear<\/em> the question of identity lies at the\nheart of the play. The titular character\u2019s journey toward self-knowledge forms\nthe text\u2019s overarching goal. Through Lear\u2019s character, Shakespeare examines the\nextent to which self-knowledge is possible. Lear\u2019s loss of dignity and\nconsequent descent into temporary madness arises from his confused and\nconflicted idea of the self. Shakespeare emphasizes the notion that suffering\nand vulnerability are the enabling forces behind an understanding of the self.\nThrough Lear\u2019s quest, Shakespeare raises a seemingly simple but absolutely\nnecessary question: who are we as humans? Through an exploration of this\nquestion, Shakespeare conveys the universality of Lear\u2019s journey to\nself-knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Shakespeare does not introduce Lear\nas a man undergoing a loss of identity, but rather as a man confused with his\nnotion of self. Regan\u2019s commentary on\nher father in the first scene suggests this idea: \u201che hath ever but slenderly\nknown himself\u201d (Shakespeare 1.1.284-285). Lear has two notable statuses that he\nbelieves define his identity: his role as a king and as a father. His\nexistential confusion is initially portrayed by Shakespeare as stemming from a\nmisunderstanding of his responsibilities. Lear\u2019s desire to abandon his role as\nking is evidenced in his first lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have divided <\/p>

In three our kingdom, and \u2018tis our fast intent <\/p>

To shake all cares and business from our age,<\/p>

Conferring them on younger strengths while we <\/p>

Unburdened crawl toward death. <\/p>(Shakespeare 1.1.32-36) <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He plans to bestow his kingdom to his daughters, and to lose the responsibility demanded by his kingship in his old age. However, Lear does not think this through fully. Although he does not want the responsibilities of a king, he still thinks he will be regarded as kingly and maintain his status. Yet if Lear is not king, then he is necessarily a subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lear not only grants his daughters his responsibilities as a ruler, but also as a parent. He longs to be nurtured by them, and live out his remaining years in \u201crest,\u201d dependent on his daughters\u2019 \u201ckind nursery\u201d (Shakespeare 1.1.117-118). Lear thus inverts his role as parent to become child and his role as king to become subject. However, Lear is also hesitant to give up his kingship and fatherhood completely; he wishes to maintain the sense of authority these roles provide. Lear therefore attempts to occupy various conflicting roles, and begins the play not with a loss of identity, but rather with a conflicting and contradictory view of the self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step in Shakespeare\u2019s process of self-knowledge is Lear\u2019s reassessment of what it is that defines him. The love-contest Lear holds at the beginning of the play represents, perhaps on an unconscious level, his need for \u201csome reassurance of identity\u201d.<\/a>[1]<\/a>  Lear wants to be told he is loved, \u201cthe deepest and most certain evidence that [he is] wanted and needed\u201d (Jorgensen 95). So, even in the beginning, Lear is unknowingly asking those around him who they think he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The confusion Lear experiences leads\nto his suffering. His lack of self-recognition is what enables his initial\ndownfall. After bestowing his kingdom on his daughters Regan and Goneril, Lear\nfinds himself suffering the same rejection he presented to Cordelia. His\ndaughters refuse to meet any of his needs. The needs Lear is conveying are not\nthose of a basic sort, but rather those which enable him to have some concept\nof selfhood. Shakespeare emphasizes a difference between human needs and basic\nanimal needs through Lear\u2019s speech to his\ndaughters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O reason not the need! Our basest beggars<\/p>

Are in the poorest thing superfluous.<\/p>

Allow not nature more than nature needs,<\/p>

Man\u2019s life is cheap as beast\u2019s. Thou art a lady;<\/p>

If only to go warm were gorgeous,<\/p>

Why nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear\u2019st,<\/p>

Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But for true need\u2014<\/p>

You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need.<\/p>

You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,<\/p>

As full of grief as age, wretched in both. <\/p>(Shakespeare 2.4.258-266)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In begging his daughters not to see his needs through reason, Lear is appealing to the idea that this human sense of need is beyond practical understanding. Regan and Goneril are not able to see his true <\/em>needs as necessary constituents of his sense of identity. This could signify that identity is something strictly personal, and that understanding what makes us who we are is something only accessible to ourselves. If, perhaps, Regan and Goneril are not able to recognize that, then they may be \u201cthe most vicious characters Shakespeare ever drew. At the heart of their evil beats a will to strip others of dignity\u201d (Driscoll 140). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When need is understood only to be that which is necessary to a human\u2019s survival on a basic level, man can be reduced to beast. In treating someone as requiring only the most rudimentary needs of survival, we are perhaps not recognizing them as fully human. The implication here is that humanity requires more than mere survival. Lear comments on Regan\u2019s gorgeous clothes, which do not serve to keep her warm, but rather provide some sort of social elegance and dignity. Lear is able to \u201clearn about unaccommodated man\u2014his unwarranted pride and his frailty\u2014through inquiring into man\u2019s necessities\u201d (Jorgensen 118). Lear\u2019s \u201ctrue need\u201d is something different from basic necessity. He requires dignity, love, and respect; his struggle is that of a man who wants \u201cto retain the self, the stature, and the dignities he has achieved\u201d (Bennett 154). The dignity Lear longs for is necessary to his understanding of selfhood: \u201cit is the consequence and evidence of the essential social nature and unique consciousness of the human animal\u201d (Driscoll 140). Thus, it is this denial of human dignity that leads Lear on his quest for self-discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Lear now sees himself and the world without the reassuring notions of power, respect, and dignity he had previously possessed. Without these comforts, Lear can begin to understand his selfhood. After his initial anger at his daughters\u2019 rejection subsides, Lear is faced with the realization that he is the cause of his own suffering: \u201cO most small fault, \/ How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show! . . . Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in, \/ And thy dear judgment out!\u201d (Shakespeare 1.4.221-227). Lear is only able to see that his actions were wrong when he begins his pursuit of self-discovery. The suffering caused by this realization may be even more agonizing than the rejection Lear faced from his daughters. Although Lear had initially displayed an un-examined view of his responsibility, he is now forced to grasp the full extent of his situation. He must confront the harsh reality that he is the one at fault, that it is he who brought his situation about. It is thus this realization that leads Lear into his bout of madness: \u201cO fool, I shall go mad\u201d (Shakespeare 2.4.279). Shakespeare presents Lear\u2019s madness as a necessary component of his pursuit of self-knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Suffering is portrayed as having a\ncrucial role in achieving self-discovery, serving as both the cause of self-knowledge\nand the price of self-knowledge. Lear\u2019s\nsuffering is essential to his own redemption: \u201cthere is nothing more noble and\nbeautiful in literature than Shakespeare\u2019s exposition on the effect of\nsuffering in reviving the greatness and eliciting the sweetness of Lear\u2019s nature\u201d (Bradley 24). It seems as though Lear\u2019s upset\nwas essential to his pursuit of self-knowledge. Although Lear could have been\ncontent relying on Cordelia\u2019s \u201ckind nursery,\u201d the suggestion by Shakespeare is\nthat he would not have attained self-knowledge. Living in comfort and in\nnormalcy are not sufficient for us to understand who we are. Shakespeare is\nproposing that only through hardship are we able to come to self-knowledge.\nLear is able to achieve some degree of enlightenment through his suffering, and\nhe recovers what is most important to him: Cordelia. He is able to recognize\nthat love is one of his true needs. Although it is clear from the love-contest\nthat Lear has always been concerned with familial love, he is only able to understand,\non a deeper level, the true nature of love when he is put through so much\nsuffering. Dignity, as has already been established, is a uniquely human\nconception. The lack of dignity is vulnerability. It is only in these moments\nof human vulnerability that we can start to find answers to a seemingly basic\nbut imperative question: who am I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Lear\u2019s important question occurs early on in the play: \u201cWho is it that can\ntell me who I am?\u201d (Shakespeare 1.4.189). While this question is personal for\nLear, it is also pertinent to our understanding of the human condition. A\nquestion so necessary to human life cannot be understood on the minute scale of\none character. It appears as though Lear\u2019s question pertains to humanity more\nbroadly. Josephine Waters Bennett conveys the grandiosity behind Lear\u2019s\ninsight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storm within Lear\u2019s mind goes beyond good and evil, beyond the narrow world of preceptoral morality, to the imponderable realities of cause and effect, of man\u2019s ignorance, his weakness, his blindness, and his blundering and suffering through life to      his release from \u2018the rack of this tough world.\u2019 (153)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As humans, we are all inherently searching for the answer\u2014potentially non-existent\u2014to this question of identity. Lear\u2019s struggle is thus universal to all of us, and, if we take his question to be essential to our nature, his quest is on behalf of all of humanity. Lear is not only asking who Lear is, but is asking who we are, as humans\u2014what is our<\/em> nature?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            By the end of the play and his life, Lear has become partially enlightened but\nhas not been able to fully answer his question. This may be because there is no\neasy answer to the question of identity within the confines of one play. To\nsimplify and complete his transformation would force the play to lose some of\nits complexity. The question of identity is one that is \u201cpowerfully raised and\nexamined,\u201d and the play would lose some of its meaning if \u201cLear had finally\nleft the stage as a fully rational and enlightened man\u201d (Jorgensen 115).\nAlthough Lear achieves some sort of self-transformation by the end of the play,\nhe is not able to reach wholeness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lear does, however, learn to identify what is most important to him. In the beginning, Lear grappled with what exactly it is that he needs, perhaps unknowingly asking what exactly it is that makes him Lear. He now discovers that love is what is necessary for him, particularly the love of Cordelia. Shakespeare seems to be suggesting that love is something essential to us as humans; the form this love takes on for Lear is embodied in his daughter. The change from King Lear<\/em>\u2019s opening scene to the titular character\u2019s final lines is remarkable, too. Initially, Lear had demanded attention from all, and the public love-contest spoke to his ego. Now, his dying words call attention to Cordelia, someone other than himself: \u201cLook on her! Look, her lips. \/ Look there, look there\u201d (Shakespeare 5.3.283-284). He recognizes Cordelia as something more valuable than himself, and her love and existence as something necessary. Lear has thus expanded remarkably on the depth of his self-knowledge. Through his suffering, Lear is able to learn about his notion of self and of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Shakespeare\u2019s\nKing Lear<\/em> concerns, above all, Lear\u2019s journey to self-discovery.\nShakespeare emphasizes the frail nature of identity, and develops the\npossibility for self-knowledge through Lear\u2019s progression in the play. Lear\u2019s\nconfused identity enables his rejection and loss of dignity by his daughters.\nThis loss of what it is he believes makes him Lear drives him to madness.\nShakespeare suggests, however, that through suffering and vulnerability,\nself-knowledge may be attainable. Although Lear does not undergo a complete\ntransformation, his partial enlightenment occurs because of his suffering. His\nunderstanding of such notions of love and selfhood are enhanced through an\nacceptance of vulnerability and responsibility. King Lear<\/em> allows\nShakespeare to explore a necessary and universal question on the small-scale of\none man: who are we? Shakespeare seems to suggest that the extent to which we\ncan understand this crucial question may be limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradley, A C. \u201cKing\nLear.\u201d Twentieth Century Interpretations of King Lear: A Collection of           <\/em>            <\/em>Critical Essays<\/em>, edited by Janet Adelman, Prentice-Hall, 1978, pp. 22\u201333. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driscoll, James P. Identity\nin Shakespearean Drama<\/em>. Bucknell UP,\n1983.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorgensen, Paul A. Lear\u2019s\nSelf-Discovery<\/em>. University of California Press, 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare, William. The\nTragedy of King Lear<\/em>. Edited by Jay L. Halio, Cambridge UP, 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waters Bennett, Josephine. \u201cThe Storm Within: the Madness of Lear.\u201d Shakespeare Quarterly<\/em>, vol. 13, no. 2, 1962, pp. 137\u2013155. JSTOR<\/em>, doi: 10.2307\/2866783.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alexandra Cunningham             The questions of William Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear may, at times, be greater than the answers. In King Lear the question of identity lies at the heart … Continue reading “\u201cWho is it that can tell me who I am?\u201d: An Analysis of Lear\u2019s Journey Toward Self-Knowledge in William Shakespeare\u2019s “King Lear””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":333,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-issue","category-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}