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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses the way in which their honesty ruins Cordelia, Kent and Gloucester in Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVflwler.rtf
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first performed. This play discusses why honesty is a "tragic flaw" in this play. Discussion The term "tragic flaw" in understood to mean an innate part of a characters personality
that inevitably leads to their downfall ("Tragic Flaw"). In this play, honesty, rather than being a positive trait, results in the death of Cordelia, the maiming of Gloucester and the
banishment of Kent. The first thing to note is that the play turns on the fact that Lears actions at the beginning of the play set in motion a terrible
course of events. When he decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, he lays bare the greed and duplicity that have always been a part of their natures,
but which they have hidden until now. In addition, Lear is a king; a king cannot simply step down because hes tired. He has to remain on the throne until
his death. Lear is abrogating this basic responsibility and he pays heavily for it. Well discuss Gloucester first, since his is possibly the lesser example. He is loyal to King
Lear, and when Regan, Goneril and the rest demand to know where the king is, he says he sent him to Dover, to keep him out of their clutches: "Because
I would not see thy cruel nails / Pluck out his poor old eyes, nor they fierce sister / In his anointed flesh [rash] boarish fangs" (III.vii.56-58). He is honest
in his dealings with Lear, and with Lears daughters, and he pays for it: Regan and her husband, the Duke of Cornwall, put out Gloucesters eyes. Gloucesters honesty earns him
a dreadful penalty. The most striking example of honesty as a tragic flaw, however, is Lears youngest daughter, Cordelia. At the beginning of the play Lear reveals his plan to
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