King Lear Journal #3: Two passages that connect to what I'm tracking

I am tracking the reactions that characters have to certain situations and taking note of the kinds of things they do in response.

Edmund is fed up with the fact that he is an illegitimate child when his brother, Edgar, is legitimate. Because of his resentment of his current situation, he plots against his brother and is able to convince Gloucester, their father, that Edgar is trying to gain the estate. After many more of Edmund's lies, Gloucester responds by saying, "Let him fly far!/Not in this land shall he remain uncaught,/ and found-dispatch" (Shakespeare 66-68). I chose this passage because it definitely reveals the extreme reactions that Gloucester had in response to (the thought of) Edgar gaining the estate. It is unfortunate that Gloucester would jump to such quick conclusions because the information he has been given is not necessarily the truth. He is easily persuaded and this just helps to reveal the manipulation of the other characters that can take place.

Another passage that supports what I am tracking is seen when Kent speaks up against Cordelia's being disowned. Kent tries to inform King Lear that he is being irrational, but Lear's reply is, "Hear me, recreant; [...] That thou hast sought to make us break our vows--/Which we durst never yet--and with strained pride to come betwixt our sentence and our power" (Shakespeare 191-194). I chose this passage because Lear's temperamental reaction here shows that he really was not thinking rationally and he definitely allowed his emotions to take over. He, along with Gloucester, felt that his power was being threatened and as a result he took extreme actions.

It is interesting to me that Lear's reaction was a result of Cordelia's honesty with him in saying that she did love him, but not whole-heartedly. When Kent tries to defend Cordelia, Lear's irrational side comes out and we see the temperamental response. However, Gloucester's reaction was built up of the lies that Edmund told him about Edgar. Although they incorporated different means of coming about, they essentially both received the same reaction in that Lear and Gloucester both executed their anger because they felt affected in some way.