Hi to all that I have not converst with for some time. I went from Benedict to Benedict1 to Benedict3. Not sure why I needed to do that, other than forgetting my password.
Anyhow,
King Lear is such a beautiful topic, and Character. When I think of King Lear, I think of someone who has always "played the part of King" and has always done the right thing according to societies assumptions of what the right thing is. The plays the part and believes that his IS the part so much that he internalizes 'every inch of a King'.
But toward the end of the play many people, most everyone, excepting myself, see him as going crazy as he feels the water on his naked body.
To me the reality recognized of his youngest daughters love for him, and the fake presentations made by himself and his other two daughters gives him his first glimps into reality. Whereas prior to that point everything was a roll to be played.
Once the recognition of his youngest daughters love for him was recognized he felt naturally and directly for the first time. She was being truthful, and although it is difficult to be truthful in love, King Lear recognized it for the first time just prior to walking out into the rain.
He felt emotional reality during his recognition of what daughter truly loved him and was direct with him, then he felt the sensation of water on his skin. Something very real, in the moment. Nobody can tell you what you should feel when standing naked in the rain any more than somebody can tell you how you should feel when a daughter flatters you or is direct with you.
Beautiful, in that when most people say King Lear is going crazy, I say that he is getting his first glimps of reality, painful as it is.
Timbuktu2 wrote:
When I think of Lear I have an image in my mind. He's naked on the heath and I see the words "Ecce Homo", here is man. I'm not Christian but I see the image as a kind of crucifixition, the universal fate of man. Happy New Year!
