King Lear Essay - "abuse of power"

Hi everyone

I am busy with a King Lear mini-essay and this is what I have so far.
I will be very grateful if you could please review this for me and provide me with some helpful feedback and advice.

Here it is:

"The main issue in King Lear, is the abuse of power. Everything else is subordinate to this theme." I do not agree with the statement above. Abuse of power is an important theme in the book but other themes are not subordinate to the theme of 'abuse of power'.

The abuse of power is evident when Regan and Goneril lock their father out of the castle. "Shut up your doors". They also hope that he too gets struck by lightning. The two sisters work as a team to drive their father away.

Lear abuses his power in the play. Lear abuses his power by giving it away to the wrong people. Lear rejects Cordelia, who actually loves him and banishes her which illustrates a further abuse of power. "...we have no such daughter". While in the storm after Goneril and Regan lock him out of the castle, Lear realises he abused his power when he banished Cordelia and Kent.

A main theme in the play is the theme of reconciliation. Lear and Cordelia's ordeal is a good example of this theme. Lear banishes Cordelia from his kingdom because she would not state her love for him. "There be gone without our grace, our love, our benison." Despite this, Cordelia remains devoted and loyal. "O my dear father... let this kiss repair those violent harms that my two sisters have in thy reverence made". Lear also forgives Cordelia and accepts her back into his life.

Blindness is another main theme in King Lear. Lear is metaphorically blind and cannot see clearly. Eventually Lear's madness allows him to see clearly again. Lear could not see the reality of Cordelia's true love for him. Lear also banished one of his loyal followers, Kent. Lear could not recognize Kent in disguise which is another act of blindness. Lear starts to see clearly again in the storm when he shows sympathy towards The Fool. "Poor fool and knave." Before Gloucester becomes physically blind, he was also metaphorically blind. When Gloucester loses his eyes he once again sees clearly. Gloucester's metaphorical blindness denied him of seeing the goodness in Edgar and the evil in Edmund. Only near the end of the play did Gloucester recover his sight and see that Edgar saved his life and that Edmund was trying to become the new Earl.

The main issue in King Lear is not the abuse of power, there are many main issues that feature in the play. The abuse of power is merely one of the main issues. I have argued with the themes of reconciliation and blindness but there are many other main themes in the book.

I look forward to any advice you can provide for me, thanks!

Who made that statement? Since you are basing your essay on it (or, rather, on the refutation of it), you need to at least acknowledge who said it. Also, you need to be more clear about your thesis in your introduction, stating clearly that you agree that abuse of power is an important theme in the play, but that you believe that other themes are of equivalent or greater importance.

It's not enough, in the body of your essay, just to show that other themes exist. The statement you are refuting does not deny that other themes exist but, rather, states that all other themes are subordinate to the theme of the abuse of power. So, if you think that reconciliation or blindness are of equivalent or greater importance than the theme of abuse of power, you need to cite some evidence to support that belief.

Thanks Simone.

The statement was given to me by a teacher of mine so I do not need to state who said it, it is merely the topic of the whole essay.

I want to make the themes of reconciliation and blindness equivalent to the theme of abuse of power but I am not sure about how to go about doing this.

Could someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks a lot

Start by asking yourself how the themes relate to one another? Do characters abuse their power out of blindness, for example? If so, the theme of blindness would seem to be at least as important, if not more so, than the theme of abuse of power. Reconciliation, on the other hand, only seems to happen as a result of abuses of power, so you might have a harder time elevating it, though you could probably think of a way to do so after a bit of brainstorming.

Thanks Sean, I have understood what you are trying to say above. I have included your advice with the theme of blindness. I am having a bit of trouble with the theme of reconciliation though. Reconciliation occurs in the play due to abuse of power, so I am struggling to argue that reconciliation is of a higher importance that the theme of the abuse of power.