The Theme of Identity in King Lear “By Jhus Orange
Quote
Statement
Comparative phrase
Question 1
Identity is a major theme seen in the Shakespearean Text "King Lear" and is seen from the beginning to the end of the text. We first see Cordelia lose her Identity.
At the beginning of the text, we see Cordelia lose her Identity as a Princess and as Lear's daughter as she refused to confess how much she loved her father King Lear; "Nothing My Lord". Lear says; "Here I disclaim my parental care, propinquity and property of blood and as a stranger to my heart and me hold thee, from this, for ever." But in losing her social identity and her father, she found her father's identity. Lear is so angered by Cordelia's defiance of his will that he took away her dowries on the spot this showed that Lear's Identity was a rash and irresponsible as he didn't think about his actions, both in disowning Cordelia and giving away his land and wealth before he died. This shows that Cordelia lost her identity at the beginning of King Lear.
In this scene we also see the identities of Cordelia, Regan and Goneril, Lear's three daughters. Cordelia shows herself to be honest, she doesn't think she has to tell Lear how much she loves him, she's his father and he should already know that. Cordelia says "So young my Lord, and True" in response to Lear basically calling her immature and she is correct, as compared to her two sisters throughout this text her identity is the most true. She says, "Why have my sister's husbands if they love you all?" , Cordelia is questioning Lear here saying what's the point of the husbands her sisters have if they love him the most? Which is correct. Cordelia's sisters , Goneril and Regan lie to Lear about their identities by saying they love him; "more than words can wield the matter" ,which by the end of the play we see as being a blatant lie, their actions seem more like hate towards Lear during the play and we see this when they both refuse to give Lear and his Knights Asylum not long after this first scene. Goneril and Regan lie to Lear about their identities while Cordelia was honest with Lear, she didn't know what to say so she said nothing, "I am sure, my love's more ponderous than my tongue" she couldn't express how much she loved her dad Lear because she loved him so much and in response, Lear scolded her and took away her dowries. Cordelia's identity is being a good and honest person while Goneril and Regan are the complete opposite. This shows that in this scene the identities of Lear's daughters are shown in this scene.
Edmund's biological identity is the reason for all of his evil actions in the play ,"King Lear".
Edmund is an illegitimate son of Gloucester and at this point in time, illegitimate children were looked down upon society and maltreated. Edmund reveals his identity to us, the audience in the soliloquy he gives has in the second act of the first scene. During his soliloquy he says "Well then legitimate Edgar, I must have your land", when he says this he shows resentment and he mocks his brother saying "Legitimate Edgar" , referring to the fact that he is not the legitimate son he's a bastard child. In the same extract I took from the play Edmund says "I must have your land" Edmund has an evil revelation here and he decides to get his revenge on the world by taking his brother, Edgar's land and his dowries. Edmund's identity is the reason for his evil actions throughout the play , he is the bastard child of Gloucester but he just want's to be treated like everyone else. After living a life of discrimination and maltreatment he has had enough and if you look at it through his perspective everything he did was right, lying to his brother Edgar, tricking Gloucester into turning against Edgar, and telling Cornwall about Gloucester's plans for the king. If Edmund was not a bastard child, he would have never felt angered by the world and he would have never done all the bad things that he did. This shows that Edmund's biological identity is the reason for his evil actions in the play , "King Lear".
Question 2. Comparing the Theme of Identity in both "King Lear" and "Pride".
Identity is an Influential theme in both "King Lear" and "Pride".
Both texts represent characters who are hiding their true identities from their families.
In the Film "Pride" directed by Matthew Warchus we see the main protagonist Joe, hide his true identity from his parents. Joe is a gay man and he is afraid of telling his parents that he is gay. Joe chose to sneak out under the disguise that he was going to college while he was actually going to meet with the "LGSM" (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) group. Joe showed his fellow "LGSM" members his true identity but he hid it from his family. The first time Joe did a major thing to hide his LGSM membership from his parents was when he told his mum that he was going on a school trip to learn how to bake. Joe didn't actually go on a school trip, instead he went on a trip to visit the Dulais village in Wales with the LGSM . We see him truly embrace his identity in the "Pits and Perverts" ball he has finally been recognized as his own person, he's not known as "Bromley" anymore, "he's the official photographer". Joe has his first gay encounter at the "Pits and Perverts" ball and he wasn't planning on telling his parents ,but when he arrives at home his parent have found out that he's gay from all his "LGSM" photos he had hidden in his room. Joe's true identity had been finally revealed to his family. A silent scene follows where we see, but don't hear, his dad giving out to him and we are left to imagine all the horrible things he would have said to him .In conclusion, in the film "Pride" we saw Joe hide his true identity as a gay man from his family and we also saw how it affected his relationship with his parents.
We also see characters hide their identities from their families in the play "King Lear".
In the Shakespearean play "King Lear" we see Gloucester's son Edgar put on multiple different identities to fool his father into thinking he was a different person. The first time Gloucester meets Edgar after he loses his eyes , Edgar is still putting on the "Poor Tom" persona and Gloucester believes it ,as he literally cannot see who Poor Tom really is. Gloucester had met "Poor Tom" once before, at the hovel and when he remembers him he says "I such a fellow saw, Which made me think a man a worm." Edgar puts on this persona because poor people were looked down upon , people didn't pay attention to them so he thought, he should be a poor, mad person so that he could lay low thinking that his fathers men were after him. He chose to hide his identity in plain sight .Gloucester asks Edgar to lead him to Dover , intending on killing himself, Edgar agrees but really has his own agenda, he was going to save his father from himself. Edgar loses his own identity so that he could save his father's life.
We also see Edmund; Gloucester's younger son hide his true identity from his father. Edmund is a vengeful person; he is angry at the world for treating him so badly because he is an "illegitimate" "bastard" child and he is determined to get revenge on those who wronged him for his biological identity. Edmund pretends to be a good son even though that is not his true identity, he fools his father into going against his half-brother Edgar. Edmund hid his identity as a vengeful person from his family, Gloucester, and we also saw Edgar hide his identity from Gloucester not to manipulate him, but to help him stay alive. To keep his father from trying to take his own life, Edgar convinced his father that he had jumped from a cliff and survived he told him that he saw a "Fiend" above him and the fiend is what made him jump ,”what was that thing which parted from you... it was some fiend”. Edgar used this false identity to inspire his father to live again after he had lost everything.
In conclusion, both in "King Lear" and in "Pride" we see main characters hide their true identities from their families and this shows how influential the theme of identity is in both texts. In "King Lear" we saw both Edmund and Edgar hide their identities from their father, Edgar was pretending that he wasn't Gloucester's son by disguising himself as Poor Tom and by pretending to be a wandering man and Edmund was also hiding his true identity from his father because he pretended to be a good , loving son but he was not loving or good ,instead he was cunning and vengeful. In "Pride" we also saw Joe hide his true identity from his family he doesn't tell them that he is gay or that he is a part of the LGSM group.
Identity is also an influential theme in the novel; “Silas Marner”.
In the novel “Silas Marner” written by George Elliott we also see characters hide their identities from their families. In “Silas Marner” we see Godfrey Cass hide the fact that he is married to a drug addict called Molly he was hiding the fact that he was really a married man and a father. His brother, Dunstan however knew about Godfrey’s secret family and he used it to blackmail Godfrey into doing whatever he asked him to do. Godfrey let Silas Marner adopt his daughter , without telling him that the girl was his daughter and he regrets this later when he cannot have children with his wife Nancy an all he wants is a child so he tries to take Eppie back from Silas but she refuses him.
This is the opposite of both King Lear and Pride.
In both King Lear and Pride we see the children hiding their Identities from their parents, in “Pride we see Joe hide the fact that he is gay from his parents and in “King Lear” we see Edmund and Edgar hide their identities in different ways from their father as I stated earlier in the second question. But in “Silas Marner” we see Godfrey who is the parent hide his identity from his daughter Eppie by not telling her until she was much older that he was in fact her father.
This shows that Identity was an influential theme in “Silas Marner”.
The Theme of Identity in King Lear “By Jhus Orange
Quote
Statement
Comparative phrase
Question 1
Identity is a major theme seen in the Shakespearean Text "King Lear" and is seen from the beginning to the end of the text. We first see Cordelia lose her Identity.
At the beginning of the text, we see Cordelia lose her Identity as a Princess and as Lear's daughter as she refused to confess how much she loved her father King Lear; "Nothing My Lord". Lear says; "Here I disclaim my parental care, propinquity and property of blood and as a stranger to my heart and me hold thee, from this, for ever." But in losing her social identity and her father, she found her father's identity. Lear is so angered by Cordelia's defiance of his will that he took away her dowries on the spot this showed that Lear's Identity was a rash and irresponsible as he didn't think about his actions, both in disowning Cordelia and giving away his land and wealth before he died. This shows that Cordelia lost her identity at the beginning of King Lear.
In this scene we also see the identities of Cordelia, Regan and Goneril, Lear's three daughters. Cordelia shows herself to be honest, she doesn't think she has to tell Lear how much she loves him, she's his father and he should already know that. Cordelia says "So young my Lord, and True" in response to Lear basically calling her immature and she is correct, as compared to her two sisters throughout this text her identity is the most true. She says, "Why have my sister's husbands if they love you all?" , Cordelia is questioning Lear here saying what's the point of the husbands her sisters have if they love him the most? Which is correct. Cordelia's sisters , Goneril and Regan lie to Lear about their identities by saying they love him; "more than words can wield the matter" ,which by the end of the play we see as being a blatant lie, their actions seem more like hate towards Lear during the play and we see this when they both refuse to give Lear and his Knights Asylum not long after this first scene. Goneril and Regan lie to Lear about their identities while Cordelia was honest with Lear, she didn't know what to say so she said nothing, "I am sure, my love's more ponderous than my tongue" she couldn't express how much she loved her dad Lear because she loved him so much and in response, Lear scolded her and took away her dowries. Cordelia's identity is being a good and honest person while Goneril and Regan are the complete opposite. This shows that in this scene the identities of Lear's daughters are shown in this scene.
Edmund's biological identity is the reason for all of his evil actions in the play ,"King Lear".
Edmund is an illegitimate son of Gloucester and at this point in time, illegitimate children were looked down upon society and maltreated. Edmund reveals his identity to us, the audience in the soliloquy he gives has in the second act of the first scene. During his soliloquy he says "Well then legitimate Edgar, I must have your land", when he says this he shows resentment and he mocks his brother saying "Legitimate Edgar" , referring to the fact that he is not the legitimate son he's a bastard child. In the same extract I took from the play Edmund says "I must have your land" Edmund has an evil revelation here and he decides to get his revenge on the world by taking his brother, Edgar's land and his dowries. Edmund's identity is the reason for his evil actions throughout the play , he is the bastard child of Gloucester but he just want's to be treated like everyone else. After living a life of discrimination and maltreatment he has had enough and if you look at it through his perspective everything he did was right, lying to his brother Edgar, tricking Gloucester into turning against Edgar, and telling Cornwall about Gloucester's plans for the king. If Edmund was not a bastard child, he would have never felt angered by the world and he would have never done all the bad things that he did. This shows that Edmund's biological identity is the reason for his evil actions in the play , "King Lear".
Question 2. Comparing the Theme of Identity in both "King Lear" and "Pride".
Identity is an Influential theme in both "King Lear" and "Pride".
Both texts represent characters who are hiding their true identities from their families.
In the Film "Pride" directed by Matthew Warchus we see the main protagonist Joe, hide his true identity from his parents. Joe is a gay man and he is afraid of telling his parents that he is gay. Joe chose to sneak out under the disguise that he was going to college while he was actually going to meet with the "LGSM" (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) group. Joe showed his fellow "LGSM" members his true identity but he hid it from his family. The first time Joe did a major thing to hide his LGSM membership from his parents was when he told his mum that he was going on a school trip to learn how to bake. Joe didn't actually go on a school trip, instead he went on a trip to visit the Dulais village in Wales with the LGSM . We see him truly embrace his identity in the "Pits and Perverts" ball he has finally been recognized as his own person, he's not known as "Bromley" anymore, "he's the official photographer". Joe has his first gay encounter at the "Pits and Perverts" ball and he wasn't planning on telling his parents ,but when he arrives at home his parent have found out that he's gay from all his "LGSM" photos he had hidden in his room. Joe's true identity had been finally revealed to his family. A silent scene follows where we see, but don't hear, his dad giving out to him and we are left to imagine all the horrible things he would have said to him .In conclusion, in the film "Pride" we saw Joe hide his true identity as a gay man from his family and we also saw how it affected his relationship with his parents.
We also see characters hide their identities from their families in the play "King Lear".
In the Shakespearean play "King Lear" we see Gloucester's son Edgar put on multiple different identities to fool his father into thinking he was a different person. The first time Gloucester meets Edgar after he loses his eyes , Edgar is still putting on the "Poor Tom" persona and Gloucester believes it ,as he literally cannot see who Poor Tom really is. Gloucester had met "Poor Tom" once before, at the hovel and when he remembers him he says "I such a fellow saw, Which made me think a man a worm." Edgar puts on this persona because poor people were looked down upon , people didn't pay attention to them so he thought, he should be a poor, mad person so that he could lay low thinking that his fathers men were after him. He chose to hide his identity in plain sight .Gloucester asks Edgar to lead him to Dover , intending on killing himself, Edgar agrees but really has his own agenda, he was going to save his father from himself. Edgar loses his own identity so that he could save his father's life.
We also see Edmund; Gloucester's younger son hide his true identity from his father. Edmund is a vengeful person; he is angry at the world for treating him so badly because he is an "illegitimate" "bastard" child and he is determined to get revenge on those who wronged him for his biological identity. Edmund pretends to be a good son even though that is not his true identity, he fools his father into going against his half-brother Edgar. Edmund hid his identity as a vengeful person from his family, Gloucester, and we also saw Edgar hide his identity from Gloucester not to manipulate him, but to help him stay alive. To keep his father from trying to take his own life, Edgar convinced his father that he had jumped from a cliff and survived he told him that he saw a "Fiend" above him and the fiend is what made him jump ,”what was that thing which parted from you... it was some fiend”. Edgar used this false identity to inspire his father to live again after he had lost everything.
In conclusion, both in "King Lear" and in "Pride" we see main characters hide their true identities from their families and this shows how influential the theme of identity is in both texts. In "King Lear" we saw both Edmund and Edgar hide their identities from their father, Edgar was pretending that he wasn't Gloucester's son by disguising himself as Poor Tom and by pretending to be a wandering man and Edmund was also hiding his true identity from his father because he pretended to be a good , loving son but he was not loving or good ,instead he was cunning and vengeful. In "Pride" we also saw Joe hide his true identity from his family he doesn't tell them that he is gay or that he is a part of the LGSM group.
Identity is also an influential theme in the novel; “Silas Marner”.
In the novel “Silas Marner” written by George Elliott we also see characters hide their identities from their families. In “Silas Marner” we see Godfrey Cass hide the fact that he is married to a drug addict called Molly he was hiding the fact that he was really a married man and a father. His brother, Dunstan however knew about Godfrey’s secret family and he used it to blackmail Godfrey into doing whatever he asked him to do. Godfrey let Silas Marner adopt his daughter , without telling him that the girl was his daughter and he regrets this later when he cannot have children with his wife Nancy an all he wants is a child so he tries to take Eppie back from Silas but she refuses him.
This is the opposite of both King Lear and Pride.
In both King Lear and Pride we see the children hiding their Identities from their parents, in “Pride we see Joe hide the fact that he is gay from his parents and in “King Lear” we see Edmund and Edgar hide their identities in different ways from their father as I stated earlier in the second question. But in “Silas Marner” we see Godfrey who is the parent hide his identity from his daughter Eppie by not telling her until she was much older that he was in fact her father.
This shows that Identity was an influential theme in “Silas Marner”.
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