Themes of the Play Suffering “When we are born we cry that we are come/To this great stage of fools”

‘a disease that’s in my flesh…a boil’ The suffering in King Lear is intense, violent and relentless. Lear speaks of his daughters attacking him physically. He talks of how Goneril has ‘struck’ him with her tongue and ‘tied/Sharp-tooth’d unkindness’. Goneril and Regan have wounded Lear and now eat away at his flesh and ‘corrupted blood’.

Lear’s Suffering Lear’s heart breaks ‘into a hundred thousand flaws’ and his mind disintegrates. He is ‘bound/Upon a wheel of fire’, ‘scalded’ by his own tears.

‘O ruined piece of nature!’ The imagery that other characters use when commenting Lear’s pain echoes the king’s words. Edgar feels he is a ‘side-piercing sight’.

‘The foul fiend bites my back’ The violence of Poor Tom’s frantic speeches intensifies the sense of suffering on the heath. He tells horrifying stories of being whipped, of knives in his bed, and nooses on his balcony.

What causes the suffering… Gloucester thinks that the gods are sadistic Lear demands to know why nature has given him two malignant daughters However, it is hard to blame the gods or nature for the violence in the play. The audience may feel that all the agony experienced can be traced back to human acts of unkindness.

The Benefits of Suffering The good endure and help each other Lear and Gloucester become more compassionate, reassessing themselves and the society they live in. Edgar becomes stronger and fit to rule. It is through suffering that these characters achieve heroism.