The play is really fatalistic, sure, and everyone that does anything dies. But I think it might be a little reductive to assume that Shakespeare was being nihilistic by having all (or the majority of, anyway) his characters die. To be fair, everyone does die in real life, regardless of the decency of their lives; Mother Theresa and Gandhi eventually died, and Hitler died and Stephanie Meyer (presumably) will die.
WHenever I watch a movie or read a book/play/whatever about death, the whole generally accepted notion is that death is tragic, but birth is beautiful. I certainly think that breath is beautiful, but I tend to think of it like a good book: as much as I love beginnings and middle parts (for the most part, second acts are usually my favorite), I'm always really happy to have a good ending (not to be confused with a "happy" ending).
In Lear, Regan's poisoned, Edmund's stabbed, Gloucester collapses, Goneril stabs herself, Edmund dies, Cordelia dies, Lear dies, etc. But even if everything had gone really well for everyone, if the world in which they lived was filled with decency and kindness, they'd all have died anyway.
I guess I don't really know what it is I'm really saying besides taking issue with the idea that the portrayal of tragedy is necessarily tragic, or even that a work focused almost entirely on the deaths of its many characters is necessarily tragic.
And I tried to work a snipe at 500 Days of Summer in this, but those jokes are getting old enough to vote.
I never thought about the idea that all people who enter this world will eventually die. It is true, but I am one who loves a really HAPPY ending. But I was captivated by the writing of Shakespeare and wouldn't have changed the outcome of this story. At the end of my life, the final chapter, I too will die. GREAT INSIGHT!
ReplyDeleteI like this insight. I liked what you said about death not necessarily being a sad ending. Yes, everyone dies in the end, but I think the end had to come in this story in order for the reader to really realize how we feel about the characters.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning I disliked Lear very much, but in the end when he dies, (and I think it's because he dies in sorrow, without being able to forgive himself), I felt bad for him. In this example of death, Shakespeare helps us realize how much Lear has developed as a person. His character is opposite of what it was at the beginning. If he would have died at the beginning, I would've been happy because I didn't like him.
Because of his character development and growth, it was more of an emotional event when Lear died. If you are an optimist however, It was a great time for Lear to die, only because of his state of mind. He was humble and seemed selfless, everything he wasn't in the beginning. When he dies in the end, we can be happy because he's learned from life and become something better, we kind of like him.
I loved that you grouped Mother Theresa and Gandhi together, and then Hitler and Stephanie Meyers. I know these are post about a tragedy, but I can't help laughing! I don't think the tragedy is that everyone dies, because like you said everyone dies, I think the tragedy is that they didn't get the time to have a group therapy session.
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