The Significance of Human Suffering in Shakespeare's King Lear

'King Lear' is acknowledged to be one of the great tragedies in literature and the finest of Shakespeare's tragedies. To go into it deeply is a stimulating and exciting intellectual experience, and a closer acquaintance with the play opens up insights not just into the life the life and times of Shakespeare but, because of the play's universality (applies to every time period, climate & nation), into everyday life here and now. We have various themes interspersed throughout the play, including rash decisions, blind stubbornness, sincerity, hypocrisy, flattery, filial devotion (loyalty), betrayal and treachery, unconditional and disinterested (Cordelia) love and devotion. All these themes fit in the world of today as they did in Shakespeare's times and that is why the play has a great universal significance (Jorgens, 97).

Human suffering is another significant theme in the play. It is intense, violent and relentless (merciless/does not stop). Many of the characters are driven almost beyond the limits of endurance. Goneril and Regan have wounded Lear to such an extent that he feels them now eating away at his flesh. As Lear's heart breaks, his mind disintegrates. He is tormented by feelings of gilt and remorse, shame and unkindness. Both Gloucester and Lear are overwhelmed by their suffering in spite of the efforts of others to alleviate their woes. Gloucester dies of a broken heart after the humiliation of being blinded and the treachery of his bastard son coupled with the remorse of having misjudged his legitimate one, while Lear's moment of greatest agony comes when Cordelia dies. He seems to choke to death, asking for a button to be undone (Goodwin, 45).

The workings of fate are sometimes questioned in the play. Gloucester thinks that the gods are sadistic (enjoy inflicting pain on others), while ...