Predisposition in Lear

Predetermined psychological set plays an immense role in governing the behavior of characters, which plays an instrumental role in the development of characters and the play itself. many of the larger characters such as Cordelia, Edgar, Edmund, Goneril and Regan, and Lear himself.

Cordelia is predisposition to be honest, righteous, and forgiving. In Act 1, Scene one Cordelia refuses to flatter her father, as her sisters have done in order to gain dominion over certain fractions of the Kingdom. Despite the fact that she truly is the one who loves her father the most, she states: Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty/ According to my bond, no more nor less.” (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 93-95) She will not imitate Goneril and Regan’s affectations for personal gain. Her father, King Lear, mistakes this for ingratitude and she is banished. She harbors no ill will toward her father even at this point. Toward the end of the play, she learns of Lear’s failing sanity and poor treatment and takes it upon herself to find the King. She sends out one hundred men to search for her senile father out of genuine concern. This is evident in the following passage: “O you kind gods!/ Cure this great breach in his abused nature./Th’ untuned and jarring senses, O wind up/Of this child-changed father.”(Act 4, Scene 7, lines 15-18)

Edgar is also righteous and forgiving, though gullible enough to be tricked by his brother, Edmund. Edgar is wrongfully blamed for attempting to incite Edmund to aid him in the murder of their father, the Earl of Gloucester. Edmund wrote this letter to get Edgar out of his way to further his plot to take over his father’s territory. Because of this, Edgar was banished. He lived his life disguised as a wretched beggar. He, like Cordelia, held no hostility toward his father. In Act 4, Scene 1, Edgar sees his blinded father for the first time, lead by a poor, old man. Edgar is immediately effected by this. He exclaims: “But who comes here?/My father poorly lead? World, world O world!/But that thy strange mutations make us hate thee,/ Life would not yield to age.” Edgar then agrees to lead his father,who still knows not Edgar’s true identity, to Dover. He eventually kills Edmund in order to avenge his father and himself.

Edmund, In contrast, is predispositioned to be evil. He was born outside of wedlock and was therefore considered “base” or “lowlife. ” Along with this, Edmund was born under poor star alignment. “My father compounded with my mother/ under Ursa Major so that it follows I am rough and lecherous.” ( Act 1, Scene 2, Line 139-142) This is an accurate prediction based on his actions. Edmund tricks his father into banishing his brother, has affairs with two different women, allows his father to have his eyes manually gouged out by Cornwall, and orders Cordelia and Lear to be captured and killed. However, when Edmund is nearing death, he rebels against his predetermined nature. After hearing Edgar’s tales of his father’s misery, Edmund states “ This speech of yours hath moved me,/ And shall perchance do good...” (Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 201-203) After this, he tells Albany and Edgar of his plans to kill Cordelia in hopes that she can be saved in time.

Goneril and Regan are naturally power-hungry, competitive, heartless greedwhores. They flatter their father to gain territory, Regan following Goneril’s example of spewing rich lies. After they have milked their father of his kingdom, they begin to treat him poorly. Goneril attempts to rid Lear of his Knights, which deeply upsets Lear, as is notable in the following passage :”I'll tell thee.(to GONERIL) Life and death! I am ashamed/That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus,/That these hot tears which break from me/ perforce/Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs /upon thee!/Th' untented woundings of a father's curse/Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,/Beweep this cause again, I'll pluck ye out/And cast you, with the waters that you loose,/To temper clay. Yea, is 't come to this?/Ha? Let it be so. I have another daughter,/Who I am sure is kind and comfortable./ When she shall hear this of thee, with her nails/She'll flay thy wolvish visage. Thou shalt find/That I'll resume the shape which thou dost think/ I have cast off for ever.”(Act 1, Scene 4, lines 301-318) Lear then goes to find Regan, who demands that Lear apologize to Goneril. lear becomes furious and storms out of the castle into a fierce storm. The sisters are completely indifferent to the fact that their father was in danger. They not only wrong their father. Goneril has an extramarital affair with Edmund, planning to kill her husband so that they can be together. Regan also has an affair with Edmund. Eventually, Goneril even kills her own sister.

Lear is intrinsically stubborn and hotheaded. After Cordelia refuses to exxagerate the love she holds for him Lear says this: “Let it be so. Thy truth then be thy dower./For by the sacred radiance of the sun,/The mysteries of Hecate and the night,/By all the operation of the orbs/From whom we do exist and cease to be—/Here I disclaim all my paternal care,/Propinquity, and property of blood,/And as a stranger to my heart and me/Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian,/Or he that makes his generation messes/To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom/Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relieved/As thou my sometime daughter.” ( Act 1, Scene 1, line 110-122) In this except, Lear angrily banishes Cordelia, whom he formerly loved the most out of all of his daughters, leaving the two lying sisters in full control of his Kingdom. Lear also displays his stubborn nature by refusing to ask Goneril or Regan for shelter after he storms(no pun intended) out of the castle into the tempest. Even when he goes mad with senility he still maintains his stubborn nature by escaping from Cordelia’s men .

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