Which topic should I choose: love, loyalty or pride?

It's for an essay, and I want the topic with the most amount of examples found in this play (strongest presence throughout) since my theisis I have to come up with has to have many parts.

I was thinking loyalty...like Edgar disguising himself, Cornwall's servant, Kent (not sure how).....who else? Authority is most likely out the window for me.

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By the way, I just found a quote from the Bible and wondered if it would be relevant to this play since it was directed to a Christian audience: Matthew 6:28.

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Originally Posted by sodr2

By the way, I just found a quote from the Bible and wondered if it would be relevant to this play since it was directed to a Christian audience: Matthew 6:28.

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Not really, unless you can demonstrate exactly the same sentiments in a quote from the play. Always begin with allusions in the play itself - to the Bible and elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by sodr2

I was thinking loyalty...like Edgar disguising himself, Cornwall's servant, Kent (not sure how).....who else?

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Love and loyalty are both easy to illustrate in 'King Lear'. Kent is endlessly loyal to Lear, as is Gloucester, Albany, Cordelia and The Fool - her loyal fool. Edgar is loyal to Gloucester while Cornwall's servant shows a peculiar form of loyalty. Is Oswald loyal to Goneril?

There are the many instances of lack of loyalty, including those loyal to no one: Goneril, Regan, Cornwall and Edmund.

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin." Matthew 6:28

...you have to admit that it's pretty darn close to Lear removing his clothes and wearing flowers to symbolize let's say him now relying on the gods for his help. Oh well.

I choose...LOYALTY!

There is a strong connectedness between the fool and Coredelia which is interestingly probed. I don't think it is coincidence that they don't appear on stage at the same time, and that "My fool is dead" bit at the end seems to emphasize the connection.

I don't understand what's with all the fuss between the fool and Cordelia...just because of one line Lear said at the end?

It was probably just a metaphor...like the fool in the beginning was the loyal one who tried to show Lear the truth, and in the end Cordelia was the fool who was loyal to Lear to the extent that she died for him. That's all I guess.

I am tempted to show my thesis on here, but my blasted teacher uses a plagiarism checker for all student's work. :(

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OR!!

Remember how the Fool called Kent a fool for standing up for Lear?? Maybe Lear calls Cordelia the fool for standing up for him!

The two inseparable fools are parted in Act I, merging in death in Act V.

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cordeiia

Your Cordelia quote seems fine.

I guess that many weeks pass from Lear banishing Ophelia to the arrival of France at Dover.

Edmund's "An admirable evasion of whore-master man, to lay | his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!" means that our fate is determined by our own actions rather than the gods.

Who would you say came to this realization...that they are the ones responsible for their destiny, fate, etc.

I know Gloucester and Lear believe in the stars, but at what point do they come to this realization?

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Originally Posted by sodr2

Who would you say came to this realization...that they are the ones responsible for their destiny, fate, etc.

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A hard question. Edmund clearly blames himself. But I suspect Lear, Gloucester and Edgar ultimately blame both themselves and the gods for their fate.

Lear begins to realize his part in his downfall before leaving Gloucester's castle; Gloucester, once Edmund's treachery is revealed by Regan; and Edgar, when he intercepts Goneril's love-letter to Edmund. But do these realizations grow?

Later on, Lear does seem to articulate his responsibility for his fate more clearly. Looking for evidence in the text, Sodr2, presents a challenge for you.

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Originally Posted by Gladys

Your Cordelia quote seems fine.

I guess that many weeks pass from Lear banishing Ophelia to the arrival of France at Dover.

Edmund's "An admirable evasion of whore-master man, to lay | his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!" means that our fate is determined by our own actions rather than the gods.

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A pretty common theme in Shakespeare's plays: Iago says basically the same thing, Caesar cannot accept it, is Macbeth influnced by the witches or his own ambition? etc.

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Originally Posted by kelby_lake

A pretty common theme in Shakespeare's plays: Iago says basically the same thing, Caesar cannot accept it, is Macbeth influenced by the witches or his own ambition? etc.

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Ah, but what of Hamlet's complication:

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Not a whit, we defy augury; there's a special providence in
the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be
not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.

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There's also the fear of death and fate as a theme, like Claudio's speech in Measure for Measure. 'Conscience does make cowards of us all.' Because the idea of fate and the gods exists, some characters obsess over it.