Idealistic and Realistic Theme of Family in King Lear

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In this essay, I'm going to discuss the realistic theme of Family in both "King Lear" and "Pride" and the reader's idealistic or realistic impression of this theme.

A realistic family is depicted in each text. In King Lear, Gloucester and his son Edgar are betrayed by his bastard son Edmund. Edmund always felt illegitimate and lower than his brother, this built up and insufferable rage inside him and caused him to turn his father against his brother. Edgar was the rightful heir to the role of Earl of Gloucester as he was the oldest and legitimate son. Gloucester showed favouritism to Edgar growing up. This was a realistic part of family during the Elizabethan period.  Gloucester turns on Edgar very quickly because he fears for his life, he is so perplexed that his first son was supposedly out to kill him. Later in the play Gloucester finds out is was Edmund who had deceived him and suddenly Gloucester has an immense sense of guilt and sadness as he realizes he turned his back on his own family.
In Pride, we also see examples of realistic family. Joe's parents still feel like they have partial control of his life and they get angry at him when he does something that they don't agree with. 






I noticed in all three texts that deception is a key theme. William Dane, Silas' friend, uses his habit of taking pity to play a cruel trick on Silas. He steals money from a dying deacon whilst Silas is having a fit. William blames Silas for what happened and Silas, a naturally trusting person is in shock. William who is supposed to be a man of God, deceives his close friend and as a result, Silas' fiancee leaves him and Silas is banished from the church. In King Lear we see that deception is a major theme. Edmund deceives his own father into thinking his other son Edgar is trying to kill him, when in truth it is Edmund that is plotting against them both. Edgar is like Silas in this situation, an honest man wrongly accused. 
Silas decided to leave his own country and people, like Joe in 'Pride' to move to a community that seems happy just 'like the gay community in 'Pride'

 I noticed that life is hard for Silas in Raveloe, as it is for Joe in 'Pride' and Lear in 'King Lear.Silas is gossiped about by children and adults a like.'Old master Marner looks like a wizard'. Cordelia may know how he feels, when her father gave her away but at least she had 'France', Silas has no one. Lear is eventually cast away by his two oldest daughters as he goes into a state of madness and confusion.


While all three texts have dysfunctional families, I noticed that they all treat it in a different manner. The Cass brothers, Dunstan and Godfrey hate each other. Dunstan is blackmailing his older brother because he knows Godfrey's secret that he is married in secret to a drug addict named Molly and they have a child. In 'Pride', Joe's parents make him feel bad about who he is. LGSM make him feel good about himself. In 'King Lear', Lear makes Goneril miserable, he curses Goneril and forces Cordelia to leave. Silas knows the power of healing with plants everyone at raveloe believes he is a wizard, like the characters in 'King Lear' they are superstitious which was a common trait for a person during this ancient time. In 'Pride', people are fearful of those who are gay. In Raveloe there is a great sense of community just like in Wales.

In 'Silas Marner' and 'King Lear' we see how the loss of power effects two different characters. Silas has a vast amount of gold which he had saved for 13 years, he feels a great sense of power and joy from holding the money. When the gold gets stolen, Silas is devastated. He accuses a man at the Rainbow of stealing it purely based on emotion. In 'King 'Lear' Lear starts off with power but he gives it all away at once and the lack of power drives him mad and he acts based purely on anger and hatred.