We've been talking about the redemption for a variety of characters toward the end of the play, specifically for Lear. What made the idea of redemption for Lear real to me are his actions, not his words. (Well, some of his words detail his actions. But it's the actions-- not the talking about it-- that demonstrates an attempt to atone for his wrongs and those changes ultimately bring about a sort of redemption for him.) As he drags Cordelia's body onstage, he declares, "I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee." What a contrast to the first act of the play, where he kicks Cordelia out of his house and withholds her third of his kingdom because he does not feel that she properly flattered him. He is the one wronging Cordelia. Now, as someone tries to wrong her by killing her, Lear does not simply protest their wrongdoing but enacts vengeance upon the slave for trying to wrong his daughter. He protects her from unrighteous judgment even though months before, he was the one passing unrighteous judgment upon her. This demonstrates a repentance, an understanding that he wronged her and a willingness to make it up to her tenfold. So when Lear whimpers, "She lives! if it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that I have ever felt," he believes that his acts of protecting her against the first hangman and carrying her body to safety have made up for the sorrows he inflicted upon himself by treating her badly at the beginning of the play and pursuing flattery rather than truth. In a way, it's almost lovely that Lear dies thinking that Cordelia revived. He believes that he was ultimately able to save his child.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Redeemed by works, not just by grace
We've been talking about the redemption for a variety of characters toward the end of the play, specifically for Lear. What made the idea of redemption for Lear real to me are his actions, not his words. (Well, some of his words detail his actions. But it's the actions-- not the talking about it-- that demonstrates an attempt to atone for his wrongs and those changes ultimately bring about a sort of redemption for him.) As he drags Cordelia's body onstage, he declares, "I kill'd the slave that was a-hanging thee." What a contrast to the first act of the play, where he kicks Cordelia out of his house and withholds her third of his kingdom because he does not feel that she properly flattered him. He is the one wronging Cordelia. Now, as someone tries to wrong her by killing her, Lear does not simply protest their wrongdoing but enacts vengeance upon the slave for trying to wrong his daughter. He protects her from unrighteous judgment even though months before, he was the one passing unrighteous judgment upon her. This demonstrates a repentance, an understanding that he wronged her and a willingness to make it up to her tenfold. So when Lear whimpers, "She lives! if it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that I have ever felt," he believes that his acts of protecting her against the first hangman and carrying her body to safety have made up for the sorrows he inflicted upon himself by treating her badly at the beginning of the play and pursuing flattery rather than truth. In a way, it's almost lovely that Lear dies thinking that Cordelia revived. He believes that he was ultimately able to save his child.
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I had the same thought at the end of the play. It was sweet and redemptive that Lear thought she was coming back to life. It made the entire thing so much more sad. It was hard to think he was a bad guy after that display.
ReplyDeleteI love how you can see that dramatic change in him, from banishing his daughter in the first act to mourning her so sincerely in the last. It is sad, but if you view it from a Christian perspective, it's more important that he was redeemed than if he survived or not. I thought his death was less sad than that of Richard in Richard II, for example, because Richard is never so clearly redeemed.
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