King Lear - A Happy Ending would ruin the Point of King Lear

Introduction

The paper attempts to discuss 'The Tragedy of King Lear', a play of the 17th century written by Shakespeare. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how a happy ending would come out in ruining the point of the play. The play based on tragedy proved to be a success on account of the emotional appeal it carried with it, but which would have been lost had the plot ended with a happy note. This is an argumentative paper and is based on the thesis statement mentioned below.

Thesis Statement

“The emotional outbreak among the readers that the tragic ending evokes would surely be lost if the plot culminated with a happy ending. Also, the purpose of the play would not have been served as thesetting, themes, motifs, and symbolsall demanded an ending based on tragedy.

Discussion

'The Tragedy of King Lear' is one of the greatest dramas written by Shakespeare, together with 'Hamlet', 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Othello' and 'Macbeth'. The story of King Lear and his daughters, one of the themes that have preoccupied scholars of popular traditions, is considered to be the best play produced with a tragic ending to date. The play by Shakespeare was an excellent display of tragedy, in which he portrayed tragedy along with kinship. Shakespeare has written plays that relate to romance and sorrow. Examples include the likes of 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Julius Caesar', but this play was rather different primarily because of how it ends. Lear, King of Britain, old authoritarian and ill-advised, has three daughters: Goneril, wife of the Duke of Albania; Regan, wife of the Duke of Cornwall and Cordelia, whose hand the King of France aspires. King Lear asks his daughters as to how much each loves him before he divides his kingdom between the three. The first portrayal of madness can be seen here through how King Lear starts to have rather odd conversations with his daughters while he demands as to how much each daughter loves him. Goneril and Regan both proclaim that they love him the most, while Cordelia, who truly loves her father, is unable to express it. She speaks bluntly, “Love, and be silent,” (Act 1. Scene 1, pp. 60). Her inability to express her love infuriates him and he disinherits her.

The madness portrayed here is in the form of anger when Lear disinherits Cordelia despite the fact that Kent tried to clear things between the two. Lear divides his kingdom amongst the other sisters, on condition that he, along with a hundred knights, is maintained by one of them taking turns. This constitutes a grave mistake on part of the King; a mistake that deserved to carry harsh repercussions. So a happy ending would have ruined what would have been an appropriate response to the blunder that the King makes by disinheriting his only loyal daughter. Retired Duke of Burgundy, King of France accepts Cordelia without a dowry. The Earl of Kent, ...