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By considering the dramatic effects ‘King Lear’ evaluate the view that ‘despite the appalling
suffering the play is not without hope
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J, Enright claims that within ‘King Lear` ‘the principle characters are not those who act, but those
who suffer`
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This suffering is then again mirrored in the subplot by Gloucester who suffers at the expense of
Edmund
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However, earlier audiences may have more so blamed Lear’s suffering on the later taunting from
Gonerill and Regan
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Cordelia’s return in the latter end of the play not only brings hope to Lear’s suffering but also from a
feminist interpretation can be seen as bringing hope for female empowerment as she leads an army
from France to help save the turmoil
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Nahum Tate’s rewrite of King Lear in 1681 in which Cordelia does not die
supports the idea that the play is a bleak world of suffering
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Because the rewrite was performed for so long only a more modern audience
were able to experience Lear’s suffering after Cordelia’s death
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Much like Lear, Gloucester’s suffering is caused by his child, Edmund and
ultimately this suffering is what kills him
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Whereas, Gloucester blames the gods claiming ‘they kill us for their
sport`
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Through suffering Gloucester gains metaphorical
sight
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Have preserved [him]` when he tries to kill himself
due to suffering
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Edmund both suffers and causes suffering
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Edmund purposefully causes suffering to Edgar and Gloucester, however there is hope
for is characters redemption when he admits that ‘some good [he] means to do, despite [his]
nature`
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From a Marxist perspective Edmund does bring hope to the play as he represents capitalism and
social change
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However because Edgar can be seen as a
characterisation of feudalism and also hope in the play, when he claims that ‘some villain hath done
[him] wrong` it is clear that capitalism is then represented, as the cause of suffering within ‘King
Lear`
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August Wilhelm Schlegel claims that within ‘King Lear` ‘humanity is shipped of all external and
internal advantages and given up prey to natural helplessness`
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This idea would have been supported by the
argument that complete suffering is inevitable because that is the nature of the tragedy genre
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It is true that the original Shakespeare revision is not without hope at all, but this hope
eventually leads to more suffering

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