Responsibility in King Lear: Family, Justice, and Foolishness

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Who or what ultimately most responsible for what happens in a person's life?
King Lear is believed to be one of the famous tragedies of William Shakespeare’s. The play was
written in 1606 and it's all about the legend Leir of Britain. The overall picture revealed by the
play is how the main character tried to split his kingdom into different portions for his daughters
based on declarations of their love (Bennett, 89). The king wanted to retire from the leadership
and he decided to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters. Through flattery and praise,
the king gives the largest portion to the daughter whom he loves most. AL the three daughters
use their languages to convince the king. Regan falsely tried to convince the king and she gets a
large share. On another hand, Cordelia truly loves his father and she is not in the position to
convince his father since she is sure of the love she has to his father, unlike other daughters.
Cordelia fails to claim a share and Lear is infuriated and disinherits and he decided to give entire
land to Regan and Goneril (Cavell, 71).
In order to explain the theme of the play on what is responsible for what happens in someone's
life, there are three aspects to appreciate in the play. The aspects which determine what is
responsible for someone's life are; the fools integrity exhibited in the story, the family problems
illustrated in the play and the issue of justice which shows the major theme many characters in
the play are struggling for (Desmet,123).

Generally, King Lear is the play that confuses the issue of foolishness and morality. The issue of
foolish is what determines what is responsible for someone's life. The theme tries to mingle with
the wisdom as shown in the play by different characters. The king is shown as the character that
appears to be foolish when formulating decisions. The king has plenty of money and he is not
giving apt decisions. For example, the king decides not to give a share of his land to her daughter
Cordelia who honestly loves him (Etzold, 67).The trait revealed by Shakespeare shows that
failure to use apt decision is one of the virtues that control different people and this is clearly
illustrated by King Lear. The issue of fool integrity is evident in the first four lines of the play.
The author shows how Lear finds the line that is between wisdom and foolishness. The entire
role played by the fool shows how someone becomes wise through use of humanity. Through the
aspect of humanity, the play tries to indicate the entire concept of how Lear transformed from a
man of pride to ignorance. The shakes sphere tried to reveal the moral foolishness and the issue
of ignorant decisions as revealed by Lear. The virtue of ignorance and poor decision is one of the
virtues which determine what is responsible for what happens in someone's life (Lehnhof, 187).
In addition, the Shake sphere has explained on how family problems can a key factor in
determining what happens in someone's life. In the play, one can trace the elderly nobleman who
is named as the Gloucester. The man experiences family problems and this is observed from his
illegitimate son known as the Edmund in the play. The son is the one who tricks his father by
telling him that Edgar his brother wants to kill him. Due to this flabbergasting life the despairing
Gloucester goes ahead and tries to commit suicide. Gloucester lucky enough didn't commit
suicide because his son Edgar saved him from the havoc (Lehnhof, 197). The play at this time
builds more tragedy since it's the same time Goneril tried to poison Regan for not speaking the
mere truth to his father. Lear is in danger and after a short time he passed away while his