Aging and Hubris - Jenny Ge, Helen Shen, Jason Zhang, Douglas Zhang (read e books online free .txt) 📗

One might say that the story of King Lear begins with aging and hubris—that the events in the story are set in motion by Lear’s deteriorating mind as a result of aging. In the play, an old Lear makes a foolish decision to allocate his land to his three daughters, Cordelia, Regan and Goneril; he wishes to do so on a basis of how much his daughters love him.

This notion stems, perhaps, from Lear’s diminishing self-confidence and pride, and a wish to boost his ego by reaffirming his daughters’ love for him. Lear, however, wants to maintain his authority, even after stepping down from the throne. In other words, Lear wishes to keep a proud image despite a diminishing reason to do so once he relinquishes his title. He wants to remain in his niche, but he doesn’t want to continue functioning as his niche requires.

This train of thought is possibly reflected in modern day society; as people grow old, they hope to retain their ways of living, but it becomes increasingly difficult as their bodies and minds change over the years. Aid is needed, family is relied on—Lear trusts his daughters to respect him even though he is becoming older, frailer, weaker, but his folly results in his demise. Indeed, the fool chides Lear for his blindness to the truth caused by his old age—that it is impossible to “keep a king’s state without a king’s responsibilities.” (Draper 532) Lear is becoming feeble in both body and mind, and his judgment is no longer sound.

In Elizabethan times, the human life was commonly divided into three periods: childhood (to about the age of twenty-five), middle life (to about the age of fifty), and old age. Various Elizabethan authorities then broke down these periods into more specific ones, often relating an age to the influences of the planets and atmospheric conditions, and although there were many disagreements over when each period began and ended, the third period of life (the older stage) was generally placed under the influence of Saturn, cold, dry and melancholy.

This is because the third period lacks the heat and vitality of life that is present in the earlier stages (the middle stage is usually placed under the influence hot, dry Mars). Humans in the third period of their life experience a reduction in their vital forces, so much so that their body becomes "cold as well as dry, digestion is impaired; the humor black bile predominates and causes the analogous mental condition of 'melancholy', a state of emotional extremes and instability that may even bring madness before death." (Draper 535)

The Elizabethan concept also relates the third period of life to decrepitude and senility, a relation that many Elizabethan dramatists were aware of and took into account when writing their plays. Thus, these common beliefs influenced the portrayal of the young and the old in literature, and ultimately, shaped the relationship between the young and the old in King Lear.

The Old Age of King Lear

The play of King Lear is a tragic story and the theme of aging on King Lear is a contributing factor. The chaos begins when the old King Lear surrenders his kingdom to his daughters in exchange for their demonstration of love.

KING LEAR
"Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburdened craw toward death." (1.1.38-43)

Lear is old. His body can no longer support so strenuous a life. His perception towards aging is that younger generation should take on the role of governing and the elderly should rather sit back and enjoy a little rest and peace. Lear's old age leads to his intellectual decay, even his two daughters ,Goneril and Regan, took advantages of this fact and cajoled Lear into relinquishing his realm to them. His follies due to his old age are confirmed by them after his casting off of Cordelia and Kent:

REGAN
'Tis the infirmity of his age. Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.

GONERIL
Then must we look from his age to receive not alone the imperfections of long-engrafted condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them. (1.1.295-302)

As the play progresses, the motive of old age, as one might expect, becomes all the more dominant. Even though King Lear is fully aware of his senility, it is yet still too a drastic a change after the renunciation of his power. As Lear beats one of Goneril's attendants and that is reported by Oswald, Goneril discloses her true feelings to his father:

GONERIL
Idle old man
...
Old fools are babes again and must be used
With checks as flatteries, when they are seen abused. (1.3.17-21)

Revealing her true attitude, Goneril here entitles Lear as useless as well as childish, since Lear has already handed over his power. With his dotage, Lear is told to seek guidance and discipline by his other daughter Regan who adopts a similar notion as Goneril:

REGAN
Oh, sir, you are old;
Nature in you stands in the very verge
Of her confine. You should be ruled and led
By some direction that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. (2.2.145-151)

As mentioned earlier, Lear is fully aware of his old age, but the changes that are accompanied with his senility is so drastic that he isn't at all prepared for them. He views aging as escaping duties and enjoying his rest and peace, but he doesn't expect loss of power and control over his subjects. His anger towards his two daughters when they are not willing to allow knights with him is seen as a "second childhood" by his daughters, which, when placed beside his own aging, generates a stark antithesis that not only presents Lear's powerlessness against his own daughters, but also mocks Lear of his follies. Although Lear isn't ready to adapt to all these notions of his aging from people around him, he is constantly told that aging was a natural process and he should indeed behave like an old man. As Regan states, "Nature in you stands in the verge of her confine." Nature, with the capitalized N, in the play stands for freedom of action, but this is presented by Goneril and Regan as having an inverse correlation with aging. When Lear ages, he is supposed to be confined by the limited freedom as a result of Nature in himself. The very constrained freedom, when compared to the unconstrained Nature of Goneril and Regan, presents a vivid contrast and leads to the conclusion that Lear should be guided and disciplined.

King Lear, after all the constrains from his daughter, finally comes to the realization that he is indeed old, but old in a sense that he is helpless. His moderate demand of knights for his protection seems too naughty for his age, and he is chided by the younger generation who fills his ears with warnings and guidance. He soon realizes that his daughters are undermining the last bit of his authority. But in his powerless state he could only curse:

Darkness and devils!
Saddle my horses. Call my train together.--
Degenerate bastard, I’ll not trouble thee. (1.4.259-261)

In his very desperation, Lear questions the justice of Nature with such humiliation:

O heavens,
If you do love old men, if your sweet sway
Allow obedience, if you yourselves are old,
Make it your cause. Send down and take my
part (2.4188-191)

Hence, in his grip of strong bitterness, he attempts to rationalize his own pre-existing prejudices. He manufactures reasons to justify all that has happened, the immorality of his daughters, that is, he admits finally that he is "old and foolish" to be willingly blinded by his daughters.

KING LEAR
Pray, do not mock me:
I am a very foolish fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less;
And, to deal plainly,
I fear I am not in my perfect mind. (4.4.59-63)

This is an admission all the more bitter because as Goneril had declared, old men "should be wise". This mental disintegration of old age throughout the play so far is reaching in Lear the stage of insanity.

The Elizabethan era's conception towards dotage suggests too much moist is no good for elderly. The mental shocks that Lear has been experiencing from Goneril and Regan are aggravated by the physical strain of exposure and wandering. Fool described it as "This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen." (3.7.78-79)

Lear, when Cordelia dies in front of his eyes, says how the cold and rain made his teeth "chatter". Hence, in this play aging is closely associated with exacerbated torment. This idea is reinforced at the end by Edgar:

he oldest hath borne most; we that are young
Shall never see so much nor live so long. (5.7.327-328)

Even though this quote could be seen as being addressed to King Lear or Kent, undeniably all the stereotypes and sufferings of King Lear could be traced back to his old age, and all chaos started in his division of kingdom when he thought he could relieve himself of work. The coherent theme of age on King Lear throughout the play along with all the hardship of Lear makes King Lear the play a stupendous tragedy, and what conveys is life, "life as appeared to Elizabethan audience".

King Lear and Hubris

The hubris of King Lear is closely associated with his old age, but while old age is more by nature, his hubris is his ultimate flaw that leads to his downfall. According to Aristotle, all tragic heroes have hubris, Macbeth is a great literature exposing the story of hubris affected ambition. When Macbeth believes the witches’ prophecy, he murders Duncan and gains great power. Unfortunately, this lights the spark of Macbeth’s mad ambition, and his journey of rampage begins. As he gains more and more power, he also becomes more and more proud and confident. In the end, he thinks he is invincible, which leads him to take unnecessary risks, and finally is beheaded.

In the first scene of the play we could already spot King Lear's egoistic demand for total love.

LEAR
...
Which of you shall we say doth love us most
That we our largest bounty may extend
Where nature doth with merit challenge? (1.1.53-55)

He should be over eighty years old starting the play, but the fact that he could still go hunting in scene 3 shows an unusual vitality, suggesting he should be physically grouped into the middle age marked with choler and unstableness. Also, he has been keeping his