THE VIATORIAN DECEMBER, 1913 Volume 31
HOLIDAY NUMBER Number 3
THE CHARACTER OF KING LE AR In King Lear as well as in all his dramatic works, Shakespeare is extraordinarily successful in portraying his principal characters individually, as being typical with regard to their passions and n1oral character; ideal in fulfi lling that part in stage life for which he created them; and representative, inasn1uch as not being identical with one individual personage, but in respect to a whole class of such human beings possessing like qualities and defects. The character which undoubtedly affords the greatest pleasure in studying the dran1a, "King Lear," is that of King Lear hin1self; and in studying over the pages of the play we cannot help adn1iring Shakespeare for his depths of insight of character and for the profundity of his knowledge of hun1an nature, but n1ore especially for his umnistakable and unerring delineation of character. . The noble character of Lear, indeed, is not without reproach, and in the earlier part of the play our dislike for hin1 becon1es quite n1anifest, on account of his severe and non-parental treat111ent of Cordelia; however, as the -play progresses the first_ impression of Lear vanishes and our displeasure at the childish indiscretion of the aged n1onarch, changes to a heartfelt syn1pathy. There can be nothing in the order of nature that rends the heart and tears the very soul of tnan with greater violence and intensity of grief than filial ingratitude. Nor is there anything so despicable and cowardly in n1an, so revolting and brutish, as the character-staining vice-hypocrisy. When Shakespeare teaches us these facts and shows us the wickedness of . these vices with such vivid reality, especially in the two eldest daugh-