" Motifs make regular appearances in works of fiction, often as the driving forces behind the themes that span the work as a whole. One piece that shows many motifs throughout its length is William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear”. It tells the tale of the King of Britain, Lear, who gives up his lands to his two daughters, while exiling and disinheriting the third, and his subsequent decent into madness and death. One of the major motifs that shows up in the work is identity, and the disguising thereof. This motif is significant because it advances Shakespeare’s theme that the difference between reality and appearance can only be seen with sufficient wisdom.
The motif of disguised identity appears
early in the first act. The Earl of Kent, a trusted advisor to the king, is
exiled after he tries to defend Lear’s third daughter, Cordelia. However, he returns
in order to further help the King. He states that “If but as well I other
accents borrow, That can my speech diffuse, my good intent May carry through
itself to that full issue For which I razed my likeness.” (1.4.1-4) Kent is
wearing a disguise, and is using a different accent to change his voice, in
order to fool Lear into thinking he is someone else. He is hiding in plain
sight before a person whom he states he loves like a father. To King Lear, the
man before him appears to be a “friendly knave” that he has never met before,
while really he is The Earl of Kent, his exiled advisor. Lear lacks the vision
and wisdom to see what is right in front of him. This is a prime example of the
lack of wisdom displayed by many characters in the play. Even the King’s fool
says the King would make a good fool. Another example early in the play is when
Lear is unable to view the reality of the situation when he exiles the daughter
who is the fondest of him. Lear’s other daughters on several occasions point
out the fact that their father does not display the wisdom of his years. This
motif is also reinforced by Gloucester, who without acumen misreads the
identity of someone close to him. He has a child who is being disloyal, Edmund,
although it is initially unknown to Gloucester, and he instead throws out the
loyal child, Edgar, for his supposed disloyalty. Edgar, after fleeing
Gloucester’s castle, states that “I will preserve myself, and am bethought To
take the basest and most poorest shape That ever penury in contempt of man
Brought near to beast.” (2.3.6-9) Edgar disguises himself as a hermit and
beggar named Tom from this point till near the end of the play. He is obscuring
his identity to hide it from the guards and his father, who are searching for
him. Gloucester, his father lacked the sight necessary to distinguish between
the appearance of loyalty on Edmund’s part and the reality of his deceptive
manipulations. Gloucester tried to arrest his loyal son and kept the disloyal
one in a position from which he was able to capitalize on his foolishness and
bring about his fall later in the play. This lack of sight, and by extension,
lack of wisdom, on the part of Gloucester and King Lear towards those around
them shows their inability to distinguish between the appearance and the
reality of their situations.
Kent in a flak jacket and modern camo. He looks ... surprised.
Gloucester again fulfills the theme in
the third act of the play. Upon finding Lear, the knave (Kent), Tom (Edgar),
and the Fool in the heath, he states “Ah, that good Kent - He said it would be
thus, poor banished man.” (3.4.152-153) In this scene, Gloucester completely
fails to recognize both Kent, of and to whom he is speaking, and his own son
Edgar, both of whom are in disguise. He has known both men for many years, yet
he does not see the reality facing him. He sees what appear to be two unknown
men, while his experience should be telling him that it is the king’s old
adviser and his son. He is completely taken in by the false appearance that is
presented to him. In the next act of “King Lear”, this motif is reinforced when
Gloucester and the Old Man who is guiding him run into Edgar, who is still
hiding his identity with the disguise of Old Tom. Gloucester states “’Tis the
time’s plague when madmen lead the blind.”(4.1.52) Gloucester is referring to
Old Tom as the madman who will be leading him, the blind man. Gloucester is not
“sighted” enough in wisdom to recognize the voice of the man in front of him as
his own son Edgar or even as the old man he met in the presence of King Lear in
the previous act of the play. Even though he has lost his eyes by this point,
he has not gained the wisdom necessary to “see” what is right in front of him.
In the final act of the play, both Edgar
and Kent drop the disguises that they have adopted throughout the course of “King
Lear”. When Edgar reveals to Edmund and the Duke of Albany who he is, and
relates how it impacted Gloucester when he found out, he states “But his flawed
heart-Alack, too weak the conflict to support -‘Twixt two extremes of passion,
joy and grief, Burst smilingly.”(5.3.208-211) The sudden comprehension that
Gloucester endured when he found out his loyal son had been with him the whole
time was enough to kill him. This supports the theme, in that the shock at the
level to which appearance did not match reality in this case was too much for
Gloucester to bear. He simply could not take the newly found wisdom. Much the
same fate followed for King Lear, when Kent revealed his true identity to him.
Kent says that he was “the vey man-“that “from your first of difference and
decay have followed your sad steps.”(5.3.300-303) This is followed shortly by
King Lear’s death, which could be said to be due the sudden knowledge of the
reality of his situation that he receives from this revelation by Kent. He died
because Kent’s identity was revealed and he was unable to accept this new knowledge,
or “wisdom”.
The play, “King Lear” is driven by a
variety of motifs. The motif of disguised identity is developed over the course
of the story through the characters of Kent and Edgar, both of whose identities
are hidden to many of the character throughout the play including King Lear and
Gloucester. This hidden identity motif drives home the theme that the ability
to tell the difference between appearance and reality is based on wisdom."
Any comments, suggestions, opinions on it are appreciated.
Thank you for reading,
Jacob Schluns
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