King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.

Lear, the
aging king of Britain, decides to give up of political responsibility by
transferring power to his daughters. First, he puts his daughters
through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril
and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers.
But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent,
saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her
father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. However, his
daughters betray him and Lear slowly goes insane. King Lear is a tragic
hero who transformed from being an arrogant king to a humble one.

A tragic hero is a type of character in a tragedy, and is usually the

protagonist. Tragic hero is a man of high position that has heroic traits
that earn them the sympathy of the audience, but also have flaws or
make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own downfall and
sometimes lead to the downfall of the others. However, this tragedy
arouses pity and fear inside the audience which causes purification.
King Lear seems to be a logical person when the play begins with King
Lear announces his plan to divide the kingdom among his three
daughters. His aim behind this division is to unburden himself from the
responsibilities of government and to spend his old age visiting his
children. Moreover, he intends by this division preventing any future
struggles. However, his arrogance and his love of flattery appear when
he commands his daughters to say which of them loves him the most,
promising to give the greatest share to that daughter. The first scene
reflects his nativity as he cannot understand the true love of his
daughters. He is selfish and obstinate and his autocratic obstinacy
drives Cordelia out of his kingdom. Another flow in his character is
rashness. King Lear refuses Kent’s advice when Kent tells Lear he is
insane to reward the flattery of his older daughters and disown
Cordelia, who loves him more than her sisters do. Lear turns his anger
on Kent, banishing him from the kingdom and telling him that he must
be gone within six days. Moreover, when he goes to live with Goneril,
he shows ill-judged rashness when he strikes Oswald. His rashness and
impulsiveness appear when both Goneril and Regan refuse to allow him
any servants. Outraged, Lear curses his daughters and heads outside in
the storm. His clash with Goneril initiates the crisis of his madness

His instability increases when he meets Regan and Goneril. When

Regan refuses to accept him and to bring him in her house, he leaves
her and we witnessed the last egocentric Lear when he calls the storm
to destroy the world. Lear’s madness is because of the abusive
treatment and the ingratitude of the two daughters and because of the
fool’s sarcastic remarks which intensified the distress in Lea’s heart and
mind. One of his remarks when the fool asks him to wear the coxcomb
because he is a fool as he has divided his kingdom among his daughters.
He hints at the dangerous situation in which Lear has put himself,
foreseeing that Regan will treat Lear no better than Goneril did.
=Sweet fool and bitter fool
Moreover, the fool blames Lear and drawing his attention to his fault
because he became old without being wise.

Lear’s change starts gradually .His change begins when he shows

sympathy for the fool. He asks the fool “How dust? My boy? Art cold?”
this shows that through his suffering, he begins to think of the
condition of the others around him not just himself. He becomes
sympathetic person. Before Lear enters the hovel, he reflects on the
people who have to be in the storm without protection. Lear starts to
feel pity and attacks hypocrisy and hidden evil. He sympathizes with the
fool and speaks about real needs moralizing on degrees of suffering. He
identifies with the human conditions at its most basic.
It is only when he is re-united with Cordelia that we can see the real
effect his madness and the change it has brought in him. This is when
we see the tender and humbled side of Lear's character. He is obviously
ashamed at the way had treated Cordelia at the beginning of the play
and begs her, "I pray you now forget and forgive," thus realizing he had
done her wrong. He feels ashamed at his treatment for Cordelia and
this brings the end of his madness. The new reborn Lear appears in the
presence of Cordelia when he says I’m a very foolish .. man. He neels…
asking for forgiveness. He scares about his defeat because he now finds
the value of life beside Cordelia. Yet, Cordelia’s death destroys the new
Lear. Weather we accept Cordelia’s death or not, Lear dies a better
man. He has been transformed into a humble, simple and loving
person.
By the end of the play he can express his emotions, use good
judgement, and he does not take things for their face value. This shows
how his emergence from a world of blindness and ignorance, and his
change in character has enabled him to understand the people
surrounding him, human nature, poverty, injustice, things which he had
previously not even known existed. He had gained his knowledge too
late.