King Lear

King Lear is one of my all time favourite stories. It is known as one of the more difficult Shakespearean tragedies to study, so of course my year 12 English teacher decided that that would be our Everest. Gripped with anxiety and fears that an OP less than perfect would lead to a life of drug addiction and homelessness I decided to read the play over my holidays. My paranoia was a blessing in disguise because I developed my own appreciation of the story as a whole, instead of being dragged through a horrible drawn out over dissected rendition in class. Upon doing so, I had trouble understanding what was so terrifying to most about studying the play. Yes it’s long and a lot happens, but Jesus Christ, take some Ritalin and focus for two seconds please darlings. For those of you who don’t know, here is a brief rundown of the story in terms that absolutely everyone can understand. Here we go:

Rich daddy (King Lear) decides to divide up his empire between three darling daughters. When decision time comes the bitchy two faced daughters (Regan and Gonerill) are all smoochy and flatter daddy, therefore getting a sweet cut of his ‘hood. The nice genuine daughter (Cordelia) is all honest n’ shit and doesn’t go over the top in declaring her undying love for her father, thus offending daddy’s over inflated ego, so she gets exiled. Surprise, surprise! Bitchy daughters turn on daddy and he ends up with no empire, no house and no love. Daddy’s empire breaks out into war and for some reason daddy gets caught out in a storm and goes absolutely crazy and then realises the error of his ways but it’s all too late. Then everyone dies. The end.

Now if you don’t understand that you probably don‘t understand why I haven’ been snapped up by Cliffe’s notes already.

Anyway, this play really resonated with me when I was 17, and the same concepts that I took from it then I still find myself drawing upon now. The scene when king Lear loses his mind in the storm is an extremely powerful metaphor as the storm works only to heighten the reader’s sense of chaos, both physically and in Lear’s head. It is at this point in the play, when Lear has totally cracked and he tears off his clothes to frolic in the violent raging storm, that he comes to a vast number of epiphanies, finally seeing the error of his way. The message is clear: sometimes it is at the depths of our darkest hour and the height of our madness that we truly come to know ourselves. It is at this point, the lowest point, that we find the wisdom and the friendship we’re so desperately seeking is often our own. Some of us can then take this and know that despite whatever fear we may hold for the horrible things that life throws us, we do not run from them, though we may plunge head long into despair and hopelessness, we can always be there for ourselves. It’s very powerful to know that whatever unfortunate occurrences may befall us, there is always something to be taken from them, even if it is simply a greater sense of self. It is also a very powerful thing to know that you can trust yourself - as a friend - to be there. (Though asking for another hand is not a weakness- just your humanity showing.)

Seriously though, read Shakespeare - he invented the word “bubble”, what more do you want?