Suffering, the Mask of King Lear?

In King Lear, suffering was painful for two people, and the giver necessarily wasn’t an enemy, pain can be from the ones you love. A storm isn't something you would think of when pain comes to mind, but it’s an element and part of your environment. People also play a role in the element of your environment as well, even possibly shaping the circumstances. In our lives people balance the goodness we feel, and provide us with different experiences and emotions. The pain that surrounds us comes in many forms, specifically, mentally and physically. In Gloucester’s case, the physical form is key. After all, getting your eyes gouged out must be an excruciating way to experience
pain. The blinding of a person is not only painful, but demeaning and
tormenting too. Imagine being blinded and having to experience the world
all over again. The frustration of depending on other people and learning how
to navigate your surroundings, with all the grace of a child. This kind of
suffering could lead to suicide, and it would have, except Gloucester was blind
and couldn’t see that there was no cliff to throw himself off of. His enemies
didn’t want to kill him, but they already did, internally (emotionally). The internal (emotional) death is the final stage of mental suffering. Many stages are shown in King Lear, as he breaks down from a powerful man to a
crazy derelict, all because of someone close to him, that he trusted, stabbed
him in the back. The family is part of your environment and so is the weather. A storm can be a gusting hurricane or a conflict with your sister. Both
conflicts cause damage, and the damage may or may not be repairable. In the case of King Lear, his mental state diminished rather badly. Lear saw
small rodents on his arm and even an elaborate courtroom scene, all in his head. The pain of falling down from grace and having your own children disown you and
refuse you love you was too much for old King Lear. The king was not in good
health, and not the young man that he used to be. The
general poor health and stress from the family were physical things Lear dealt with. A weather-beaten, hallucinating king isn’t a very good king. The stress and anguish of both enemies and elements on a person are enough to break them in every way possible. The process of taking away, or
stripping the needs of a person is clearly shown in Shakespeare’s King Lear. As jumbled as this entry is, reflects just as much confusion I have about the true theme, or “element” behind the play of King Lear. The discussion in our last class helped, but there are so many different things we can take away from the play. If there was anything I would remember about King Lear would be the moment of The Storm, and the battle of his true self. I am writing an essay in another class that correlates with King Lear beautifully. Even though, they are separate time periods and worlds away from the same situation. The similarities remain there because it is an act of struggle that I think we all face at one time or another.