Can someone check out my work for a part of my essay?

**sodr2** · 03-20-2009, 02:49 PM

OK, so for a part of my thesis on Klng Iear, I said that cIothing/disguisess refIects a person's chagne in ldentity (like the perception of themselves, etc).

For the first example I have Lear who's cIothes in the storm weared out, and this symbolized him going from pride to humbleness. For my quote, I was thinking of doing part of the scene of him asking the fooI to go inside the cabin first.

The second example, I have GIoucester, who by Egdar's disguise as a beggar, went from being naive (since he felt that the gods had hated him) to [insert word here] where he felt that he was somebody and favoured among the gods. I was thinking of using the quote from when after he fell from the cliffs.

Then I have Edmund who went from evil --> caring by Edgar's disguise as a knight, and I'll just use the quote that demonstrates this.

Do these ideas sound good, any suggestions for improvements, etc?

Thanks in advanced!!

Bonus (since I'm poor at finding the right words for things): When lear saw Poor Tom, he realized that human beings are ________. I want to say weak, poor....?

**Gladys** · 03-20-2009, 09:04 PM

Where does the text show that Lear's clothes wore out in the storm?

While Edgar says as much, does the text show that Gloucester, himself, felt favoured among the gods? I think not.

Is Edmund really caring at the end, or merely accepting an unpalatable reality?

'When Lear [a king humbled by the storm] saw Poor Tom, he realized that human beings are' essentially alike - naked in a hostile universe.

Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furr'd gowns hide all.

**sodr2** · 03-20-2009, 09:57 PM

Well, Lear's clothes did become ______ due to the rain during the storm, but I can deal with this.

For Gloucester, he did realize that he did have meaning in his life since Edgar convinced him that the gods had saved him, whereas before he was suicidal, etc. But is there not a quote to show this?

And Edmund....can't I just use this quote to show how he became ____ (a synonym for evil perhaps?):

I pant for life. Some good I mean to do
Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send—
Be brief in it—to th' castle, for my writ
Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia.
Nay, send in time!

**kiki1982** · 03-21-2009, 06:40 AM

But is Edmund 'the knight' not rather like Lear 'the King'?

Edmund 'the knight' just wants power and has both Goneril and Regan in an attempt to divide them so he can finally claim the whole of the kingdom, possibly marry one of them for it.

Lear 'the King' is wise and powerful per definition because he wears his robes. Is that so? No because he banishes the only two really honest people in his wisdom and he relinquishes his power to peope who are the same as he: they do not see beyond the surface.

The clothes for Lear and Edmund would then rather be the reflection of how they see themselves, but not how others see them. As Lear takes off his clothes, he really realises his own 'humanity', his own 'normality' as man, and no longer revered as king, because a king is only king by the grace of others. Edmund has his dress as heroic knight, but is he chivalric and heroic? Underhand and cunning, maybe.

Edmund might regret what he has done in the end, but effects carry much longer than the intentions that brought them about.

**sodr2** · 03-21-2009, 12:21 PM

....I thought Edgar was the knight...

But regardless, is there anything else wrong with my ideas?

**kiki1982** · 03-21-2009, 02:55 PM

If Edgar was a knight as well, and it is long ago that I read the play and saw a very bad adaptation of it, then there is a clear difference between the two... On the inside, not on the outside, because both would be wearing the same outfit.

The quote about humbleness: 'is unaccomodated man not more than this?" and then something else... 'Unaccomodated' meaning without society, friends, clothes, in short everyting that makes a man. Man itself is nothing. (It is the same question whether a tree is a tree if no-one sees it, or whether there is sound of no-one hears it.)