Introduction
King Lear is one of William Shakespeare’s most devastating tragedies. Sigmund Freud argued that people seek power or accept domination due to their desires, anxieties, and fantasies (Brunner n.d). These psychological aspects are a recurring motif in the cascading tragedy of King Lear. The tragedy involves an old king whose hubris creates an aspiration for more power than he already had as an absolute monarch (Roberts, 2017). It also involves two daughters with such a monumental desire for power that they are willing to ignore morals and ethics on their quest. The third daughter of King Lear, on the other hand, aspires for a fair and natural relationship with her father. In spite of her benignancy, she also has illusions about her power as the daughter of King Lear, an illusion that quickly fades away. From a different perspective, the actions of King Lear create opportunities for power within the kingdom. Desires, anxieties, and fantasies move many of the king’s subordinates to fight for a share of power. The clamor for power by the different individuals and factions gradually precipitate into a crisis that includes war, treachery, murder, and betrayal (Shakespeare, 2005). From a philosophical perspective, the most powerful man in the kingdom, King Lear, aspired for more power. The king’s aspiration precipitates a slippery slope cascade of events that not only destroys the king’s family but also ruins the entire kingdom. The paper focuses on the desires, anxieties, and fantasies of the main characters in King Lear, to show that personal interests were the primary propellant for tragedy in the play.
Background Information: Summary of the Narrative
The main narrative in the tragedy of King Lear is relatively simple. King Lear is a powerful but aging British Monarch. Being a monarch, Lear can rule for life but is now tired of life at court and the obligations of kingship (Roberts, 2017). In his quest for retirement, Lear wants to bequeath his kingdom to his three daughters, Goneril, Legan, and Cordelia. The three daughters are princesses hence entitled to a share of the kingdom by right of birth. However, King Lear desires something in return for giving up his kingdom. His desire is for absolute love from his daughters. He thus has his daughters publicly express their love to him. Goneril and Legan make majestic professions of love leading to King Lear giving them a third of his kingdom each (Shakespeare, 2005). However, Cordelia makes no such professions. Hence, the king takes away her inheritance and splits it between Goneril and Legan. Unfortunately, the two daughters are scoundrels who blatantly lie to their father about their love for him to earn shares of the kingdom. Goneril and Legan proceed to treat their father with contempt and cruelty, leading him to lose his mind. When Cordelia, not Queen of France by marriage, tries to save her father, Britain ends up in armed conflict (Shakespeare, 2005). The conflict leads to the violent death of all three daughters of King Lear and then the death of the old king from a broken heart. The tragedy is complete.
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The Importance of Power
Among the primary themes in the main narrative in the play, King Lear is how important power is to the kingdom, although it is merely a passing fantasy to its holder. Power is most important to the masses. As long as the right person wields power and uses it in the right way, the masses flourish or in the very least, remain safe. As long King Lear remained on the throne and focused on ruling Britain, the nation prospered and remained in peace. To some extent, the importance of power, as reflected in the play takes Machiavellian approach. As the Italian philosopher Machiavelli argued, the fate of the kingdom depends on the fate of the king (Cundiff, 2017). For the masses, power was important, so was stability at the center of power. However, for the holders of power, it was only a fleeting fantasy and a stepping-stone for more power. King Lear, the most powerful person in the play wanted to enjoy the trappings of power without the responsibilities that come with it (Roberts, 2017). He also wanted power over the love members of his family. Goneril and Legan were already as powerful as the daughters of the king but aspired for more power by taking over their father’s position (Shakespeare, 2005). Cordelia also failed to understand the need to swallow her pride and appease her power-hungry father for the sake of the kingdom. These characters failed to notice that the importance of power lay with the masses, not the rulers. For failing to understand the importance of power, the entire family of King Lear paid the ultimate price.
The Attitude Different Characters have Towards Power
From a psychoanalytical perspective, the attitude of all the main characters in the play followed the same motif of desires, anxiety, and fantasy. Indeed, it is possible to apply the three components of desire, anxiety, and fantasy on every character who held or aspired for power in the narrative (Shakespeare, 2005). Beginning with the tragic main character, Lear held or the power in the kingdom but still harbored desires, anxiety, and fantasy. His desire was for the undying love of his three daughters. Because of his hubris, the King could not have imagined that his daughters would lie to him. After all, he was not only their father but also the king. However, due to his anxiety that his daughters may not love him, as they should, King Lear gives them a very simple test. The test involved the daughters simply professing their love for the king at court. King Lear also harbored a powerful fantasy (Shakespeare, 2005). The fantasy involved him living a life of pleasure and comfort without the obligations of kingship. King Lear would give up his source of power as a king and adopt a new source of power a father whose daughters loved and adored. The desire and anxiety made his powerful status insufficient for King Lear. Conversely, his fantasy led to his eventual downfall.
Desire, anxiety, and fantasy also define the attitude of Goneril and Legan towards power. The two girls were princesses by right of birth and Duchesses by right of marriage. Goneril was the Duchess of Albany, while Legan was the Duchess of Cornwall (Shakespeare, 2005). These daughters were already powerful at the beginning of the play. However, they also desired more power. Their actions in the course of the play reveal that each of them aspired to rule the entire kingdom, alone. On the other hand, the fact that both Goneril and Legan desired the hand of Edmund in marriage reflects the desire to control their respective husband’s estates as well. Therefore, the two women, Goneril and Legan had a fantasy that guided their actions in the critical parts of the play. The fantasy was ruling the entire kingdom alongside their husband’s estates while enjoying the love of a man they could control, Edmund (Shakespeare, 2005). However, anxiety was also a major motivation for the girls in their quest for power. First, when King Lear demanded the protestation of love from his daughters, their inheritance was at stake. The girls would have been anxious that their father would not believe in their pretended love. The anxiety moved them to embellish their protestations of love. The embellished protestations of love moved the king to the extent that he gave then their shares of the kingdom immediately.
Desire, anxiety, and fantasy also feature prominently in the attitude of Cordelia towards power. Cordelia’s desire is not for power per se, but for the unconditional love of her father. She is the king’s favorite and last-born daughter. Prior to the invitation to profess her love, Cordelia was poised to inherit a better share of the kingdom than her two sisters would. Her special status in court also attracted two powerful suiters, the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy (Shakespeare, 2005). However, her desire for unconditional love meant that the demand for protestations of love was beneath Cordelia. She was anxious that protesting love would demote her to the same level as her sisters. Having to profess her love last also means that Cordelia had noticed what a splendid job of flattery her sisters had already undertaken. In her desire and anxiety, Cordelia developed an attitude towards power that differed from that of Goneril and Legan but mirrored that of King Lear. Over and above her desire and anxiety, Cordelia engendered the fantasy that her father would love her unconditionally without her having to pay the same price of public protestations of love like her sisters. Cordelia chose the power of love over the power of a kingdom and money. Her choice was nobler than that of her sister, yet it still drove her to ruin (Shakespeare, 2005).
The Psychological Influences Concerning Possession of Power
The four main characters react differently to the possession of power. King Lear, the tragic main character reacts to power by trading it, in exchange for a fantasy. On the other hand, the two faithless daughters Goneril and Legan use possession of power as a means of earning even more power. Finally, Cordelia uses power for the good of the kingdom and his family. In order to make a psychological and evaluation of how the four main characters reacted to possession of power, it is necessary to evaluate each character’s behavior at the point of their highest power. King Lear is at the height of his power at the advent of his play. At this point, he is the King of Britain and the father of three daughters (Shakespeare, 2005). Two of his daughters are married to powerful Dukes, and his last-born has attracted powerful suitors. Lear reacted to all this power by trying to trade it for a fantasy. As with most fantasies, King Lear’s aspirations were unattainable. Instead of an easy life gallivanting from one daughter’s estate to the other. King Lear ended up a mad man, roaming in the hearth and enduring remonstrations from his fool.
Goneril is most powerful immediately after receiving her inheritance from her father. She is the Duchess of Albany and ruler of half of Britain (Shakespeare, 2005). Further, she no longer has a ruler over her, which augments her power. Goneril uses her monumental power as a means of acquiring more power and influence. For a start, she no longer wants to support her father and argues that his entourage of a hundred knight is too large and disorganized. Secondly, Goneril desires for the other half of the kingdom that is now under the control of her sister Legan. Finally, she wants to get rid of her husband, Albany, so that she can marry Edmund (Shakespeare, 2005). Goneril desired power, but acquiring power triggered a grander fantasy. She never took the time to appreciate the importance of her power and the wellbeing of her people.
Similarly, Legan is most powerful after getting her inheritance, which makes her Duchess of Conway and ruler of half of Britain (Shakespeare, 2005). Just as with Goneril, Legal is not satisfied with her position and desires for more. First, she does not want to be under any form of control of influence from her father. Legan and her husband Cornwall imprison her father’s messenger, the Duke of Gloucester. She also verbally attacks her father, augmenting his distress into actual madness. Cornwall is also treacherous, as shown by how she tortures Gloucester. When a servant who seeks to protect Gloucester kills her husband Cornwall, Legan aspires to marry Edmund (Shakespeare, 2005). Just as with Cornwall, Legan does not consider her power as a means for serving the community. To her, power is a means to personal aggrandizement. However, in her quest for more power, she gets into a fight with her sister. This fight results in her death through poisoning.
Cordelia is most powerful when she becomes the Queen of France by virtue of marriage to the king (Shakespeare, 2005). The play does not show much about Cordelia. She seems most powerful when she lands in Britain with a powerful French Army. Britain and its king, Lear, had been unkind to Cordelia. However, when she comes to power, Cordelia elects to use her power for the good of her homeland and her father the deposed king. Further, when Cordelia, in her current state of power, meets with her now a homeless and insane father, she treats him kindly and with respect (Shakespeare, 2005). Therefore, as opposed to most of the characters in the play, Cordelia does not seek to use her power for her own good but for the good of others. She seeks to restore peace and effective rule to Britain, although she does not stand to benefit from the same, as she is now French. The monumental difference between how Cordelia uses power as opposed to her two sisters augments King Lear’s error of judgment in sharing his kingdom.
Power from a Philosophical Perspective
It may not be possible to find a philosophical theory that does not expressly condemn what King Lear did. From a political philosophy perspective, King Lear’s actions fall under the arguments made by Machiavelli in the book the Prince. Whereas Machiavellianism has been the subject of vilification in modern political discourse, the outcome in King Lear seems to vindicate it. Machiavelli argued that the fate of a monarchy intertwines with that of the monarch (Cundiff, 2017). Any sign of weakness on the part of the monarch will trigger a slippery slope effect that will see various forces clamor for power. These clamors will interfere with peace in the dominion to the detriment of the monarchy itself. Based on the narrative in the play, as long as King Lear remained a powerful monarch in full control of his domain, there was peace in the kingdom. He did not even need to be a good king; the very presence of peace and tranquility would ensure a relatively positive quality of life for the subjects. However, King Lear made a cardinal error as far as Machiavelli is concerned. Lear not only desired love and affection but also ceded some of his power. The perceived weakness of King Lear’s action precipitated a clamor for power. In the end, King Lear had fallen so far from power that a bastard like Edmund could order his execution alongside his daughter Cordelia (Shakespeare, 2005). Most importantly, the war and strive that followed King Lear’s actions brought death, destruction, and suffering to the populace.
The application of a different area of philosophy, such as normative ethics, the actions of King Lear still have negative connotations. Utilitarianism is a set of theories under consequentialism, which is suitable for analyzing King Lear’s actions and their outcomes. Generally, consequentialism judges an action based purely on its outcomes. Further, utilitarianism, as defined by John Mill considers actions as right if they bring the greatest amount of pleasure to the greatest number of people (Thompson, 2015). The first assessment of Lear’s actions is that of a father and leader of a family of four people. Based on the narrative, the actions of King Lear led to the terrible deaths of all four members of his family. First, his favorite daughter, Cordelia died by hanging in the hands of an executioner and under the instructions of a bastard son, Edmund (Shakespeare, 2005). Secondly, King Lear’s second-born daughter Legan dies painfully from poisoning administered by her own sister in the fight for Edmund’s love. The firstborn, Goneril, commits suicide in shame and ignominy when her treachery fails. Finally, King Lear himself dies of a broken heart. Under utilitarianism, King Lear’s actions were an unqualified disaster. As Lear is also the King of Britain, it is important to assess his actions from the perspective of their impact on his kingdom. Based on the narrative, the kingdom was at peace before King Lear elected to divide the kingdom. The division at first pitted two of his daughters against one another in a contest for superiority. The third daughter then invaded Britain with a foreign army leading to armed conflict on British soil (Shakespeare, 2005). The armed conflict led to the death of the entire royal family. Once again, King Lear’s action was wrong and disastrous.
Conclusion
It is clear from the analysis above that desire, anxiety, and fantasy are important components in the precipitation of the tragedy presented in King Lear. A worthy king and father who holds the reign of power in Britain gives in to his desires and fantasies and divides the kingdom between his two daughters. The two older daughters, in turn, give in to their respective fantasies about absolute power and drive their father to insanity. The lastborn daughter then crosses the English Channel with a French army, further exacerbating the crisis. In the end, King Lear dies of a broken heart, having witnessed his fantasy turning into a nightmare that kills all his daughters. From a philosophical perspective, King Lear failed as a king, as a father, and as a human being. From a careful analysis of the entire narrative, the three forces bearing on power as outlined by Sigmund Freud, which is desire, anxiety, and fantasy operate jointly and severally to precipitate the tragedy.
References
Brunner, J. From Religious Fantasies of Omnipotence to Scientific Myths of Emancipation.
Cundiff, J. M. (2017). Shakespeare and Psychology: Emotional Intelligence and Machiavellianism in King Lear and Othello.
Roberts, R. (2017). “We that are young”: Youth and Age in King Lear. Ben Jonson Journal , 24 (1), 96-116.
Shakespeare, W. (2005). The Tragedy of King Lear . New York City, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Thompson, D. F. (2015). John Stuart Mill and representative government . Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
