Heart of the Storm in The Tragedy of King Lear

Exploring Its Signifiance on Themes of Suffering and Nihilism

Dec 2, 2008

Weather in Shakespeare's plays is used for various dramatic purposes. This article focuses on analysing the character development of King Lear within the story.

The storm which Lear runs headlong into as he leaves Goneril and Regan is most commonly seen as a mirror of Lear's mood. Regardless of its source, it is doubtless that Lear is affected by this experience. Most broadly, Lear can be seen to be influenced positively or negatively. This article explores both points of view:

Lear Gains An Increased Self-Knowledge and Awareness of Humanity

Shifting away from society and confronting nature to experience self discovery is a common trope in literature. Lear enters a state where "When the mind’s free,/The body’s delicate", away from unfilial daughters, and with those faithful to him, namely Kent, the Fool, and Gloucester. He starts to exhibit a refreshing sense of resilience, challenging himself to tide the storm: "Pour on, I will endure."

Above all, he gains an increased empathy to common man: "Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, /That thou mayst shake the superflux to them/And show the heavens more just". This is seen when he recognizes his own condition in the disguised Edgar. From this angle, Lear finds a shelter within the storm, and the scene is a recess and salve to his suffering.

Lear Moves Towards Madness, and His Gained Knowledge is Nihilistic

The storm might be interpreted as displaying an apathetic posture. Although Lear calls out for "the great gods/That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads", to punish those who have sinned against him, this never happens. Bloom has noted there is no sense of relief, victory or justice in the villain’s deaths in the play. Unlike the biblical Job, a character which is frequently linked to Lear, there is no redeeming God who vanquishes foes, nor rewards, in King Lear.

Lear is also never freed from the feelings from for his daughters’ lack of love, which constantly rankle him. Rather than blunting these feelings, the storm makes them more acute:

Lear remains entrapped by the same thoughts which brought him to the storm This is also seen through the moment where he meets Edgar.

Rather than experiencing kinship with another man, Lear remains embroiled in his own condition, and can only interpret Edgar’s position in relation to his own, as being caused by daughters. Mark Van Doren identified recognition scenes in King Lear as being incomplete and unmutual, which instead of providing relief as per convention, enhance tension, and "enlarge our misery without enlightening it." Lear’s recognition of Edgar might possibly be seen as such.

The Fool in King Lear in the storm also does not see the storm as enlightening. Stephen Greenblatt remarked that the Fool's comments are more corrosive than loving, and indeed the character is markedly different from the Feste who cheerfully rounded up Twelfth Night. Instead, his comments are dismissive, such as his snide remarks to Lear that "court holy water in a dry house is better than this rain-water", or pessimistic, in his bleak prophecy which implies the time "that going shall be used with foot" will never occur. The Fool presents the view there is nothing to be gained, and everything to be lost in "this cold night [that] will turn us all to fools and madmen".

Hence, Lear’s declaration, announced whilst dramatically tearing off his clothes, that "Unaccomodated man is no more but such a poor bare forked animal as thou art.", holds neither meaning nor hope. It is not a positive recognition of identity, nor a increase in self knowledge, but a line which emphasizes the insignificant, naked state he is in, a point in his descent to eventual madness.

Lear's Self Discovery

When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I found ‘em, there I smelt them out.

Truly he has learnt something during the storm. However, this learning is not a positive one that allows him to regain control over events and steer his life and Britain’s towards an optimistic beginning. Instead, the storm is a premonition of the "cheerless, dark, and deadly" conclusion the play is moving towards to.

Biblography:

The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean Howard, Katherine Eisaman Maus

The copyright of the article Heart of the Storm in The Tragedy of King Lear in Shakespeare Tragedies is owned by Jing Heng Fong. Permission to republish Heart of the Storm in The Tragedy of King Lear in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.