King Lear and Kingdom Out of Heartbreak - Assignment Example

? number] Comparing Brave New World, King Lear and The Crucible Written years apart from each other, Brave New World, King Lear and The Crucible provide wonderful insights about man and his society. King Lear shows man as a cruel being, and his society rife with lies and deception. King Lear’s two daughters, Goneril and Regan professed their love for their father but once they got what they wanted, they forgot their promises, tried to bribe him into letting go of all his staff, and left him out in the storm when he refused. Meanwhile, Edmond who was cared for by his father (even when he is an illegitimate child) conspired against his brother Edgar so that in the end, Edgar was forced to flee and live like a lunatic beggar. In The Crucible, Abby is a hateful woman who deceived people in order to get what she wants, even when people could die because of her lies. Meanwhile, in Brave New World, the deception was not as apparent because the characters are “conditioned” to accept what was given to them. But then at the end of the story it becomes obvious that it is the World Controllers who manage the social norms and belief systems – what people thought to be true are only constructions of other people. What causes lies and deception? The belief in predestination is one theme that is present in all three books. In King Lear, Edmond provides a valuable insight: This is the excellent foppery of the world that when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity. (Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 2) For Edmond, man’s belief that nature and gods control the destiny of humans has led people into thinking that nothing can be done to change the course of such destiny. People born under a bad sign grow up to become bad people that the wrong configuration of the stars leads to unsuccessful transactions and woeful states. People think that they have no choice, but in so deciding, they give up their right to change their destiny. In the end, Edmond is essentially saying, people deserve to be lied to and deceived because they do not realize how much power they have over their own choices. Meanwhile, The Crucible echoes the same theme. In a confrontation between John Proctor and the Judge Danforth it was said, “Do you know, Mr. Proctor, that the entire contention of the statein these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children?” (Miller 12). Here, one can see that the belief in the Divine has shaped society so much that most people will no longer question things if they “came from God”. If one used the name of the Divine, then it was equivalent to an unbreakable law, an unchangeable truth. This unthinking process of faith has allowed Abby and her friends to manipulate the people of Salem, and as readers will realize that it is just like in Shakespeare, where people think that God is absolute, and nature’s temperaments are but symptoms of God’s “emotions”. Brave New World is another thing because its society does not believe in a transcendent God. Instead, everything was manufactured – even the religious experience could be recreated through community sessions and soma. But then again, the sense of the absolute is still there - Alphas can be completely socialized–but only on condition that you make them do Alpha work. Only an Epsilon can be expected to make Epsilon sacrifices, for the good reason that for him they aren't sacrifices; they're the line of least resistance. His conditioning has laid down rails along which he's got to run. He can't help himself; he's foredoomed. (Huxley Chapter 15) People were conditioned by society in many ways (through hypnopaedia in the case of Brave New World, through social norms in King Lear, and through religion in The Crucible) and were expected to act according to their conditioning. Man cannot choose who he wants to be – his functions are limited by what nature (or man in the case of Brave New World) has given him. The nature of truth is also called into question in the three books. In King Lear, there was high appreciation for flamboyance and flattery; anyone who does not have these characteristics do not belong. Such belief has led to the banishment of Cordelia, the only daughter who loves the King in all authenticity. In response to Lear’s words against Cordelia, Kent said, “What wouldst thou do, old man?/Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak/When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s bound” (Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 1). Kent is essentially asking, how will people speak the truth if they are bound to be punished for it? Can the truth be bound to the preference of man? Is the truth not absolute? These are also the same questions raised in The Crucible. In this conversation between Hale and Proctor: Hale: Nonsense! Mister, I have myself examined Tituba, Sarah Good and numerous others that have confessed to dealing with the Devil. They have confessed it. Proctor: And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will swear to anything before they hang. (Miller 29). Like King Lear, The Crucible shows that man tends to associate “truth” on things which are accepted in the society, if it supports the common knowledge. If something is unusual, then it cannot be the truth. But we know for the fact that this is a crooked definition of the “truth”, when taken this way, then one can say that everything one believes to be true is simply a preconception of another person; hence, there is no truth. When one realizes this, it becomes a real problem, because then it means that everything is just an illusion, that the world is really like that of the Brave New World where truth is seen as a menace. In his conversation with the Savage, the Controller said, “Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning; truth and beauty can't. And, of course, whenever the masses seized political power, then it was happiness rather than truth and beauty that mattered” (Huxley Chapter 16). Are people really willing to forego the truth in exchange for their happiness? Is happiness and wellbeing really the highest good of all? Reading the three books, it seems as if truth is not absolute, and that it can be sacrificed for the wellbeing of the community. But then again, what does that say of society? If truth can be changed on a whim, what then is real? Characters in the three books align themselves with what is accepted in the society, they gain power over the others. Regan, Goneril and Edmond gained power and wealth; Abby and her friends became judges at the witch trials and the brave new world was under the rule of the World Controller. Do they become honest individuals just because they hold power over the society? Of course not, but it is only the readers who know this because the characters in the story have no inkling of what is going on in the minds of these characters. Another theme that comes into question in these three stories is the nature of love. What is love, truly? In King Lear, Goneril said: Sir, I love you more than words can say. I love you more than eyesight, space, and freedom, beyond wealth or anything of value. I love you as much as life itself, and as much as status, health, beauty, or honor. I love you as much as any child has ever loved her father, with a love too deep to be spoken of. I love you more than any answer to the question “How much?” Goneril talked about love as boundless, one that cannot be quantified or rationalized. She professed a great, undying love, which shouldn’t have been so easily broken. But then at first provocation, Goneril spoke ill of her father, and turned him away from her home. Is love meant only for the perfect? Or is love like that of Cordelia’s who was so cruelly cast out by her father but still wanted to regain his kingdom and put Lear back in his throne? If love was that of Cordelia, then why did she had to suffer? Why did she die in the end? In The Crucible, Abby said, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? …I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now” (Miller 12). What was in the face of John Proctor that Abby described as “love”? Was it lust? Does love always have to involve lust and passion? If Abby was truly in love with her master, how then can she wish ill of him? Man is a complicated being, and defining love, what the Bible defines as the greatest of all virtues, is such as difficult task. It is an experience which differs from one person to another. It goes beyond definition, but then, unlike Goneril’s version, it is my belief that it is an absolute. Like truth, it cannot be changed to suit the preference of individuals. Love may have different expressions, different manifestations, and cannot be categorized right out. Perhaps Goneril may have loved her father, but then, her love is all too shallow compared to that of Cordelia and Abby. Meanwhile, Abby may love John, but her motivations may differ. Perhaps, it is the complicated nature of love that led the world controllers in the Brave New World to do condition individuals to detest romantic and family love. While trying to explain to the Savage why they do not permit the showing of Othello, the Controller said, People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about. (Huxley Chapter 16) Much of the drama in the world comes from strong emotions such as love. King Lear gave up all his kingdom out of heartbreak. Abby hurt her friends and neighbors so she can get the attention of the man she loves. John had self inflicted wounds because he wanted to get rid of his love for the “strumpet” Lenina. All these made man unhappy, and none of the three stories justified the need for love, neither did they justify the modern preconception of love as a pleasant feeling. Works Cited Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. BLTC Research, 2008. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Methuen Dr. Ed. Susan Abbotson. London: Methuen Drama, 2010. Print. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Project Gutenberg, 1997. Read More