King Lear by William Shakespeare (Book Review)

King Lear
By William Shakespeare
Published by Penguin Books
Price: $8

King Lear is old and wants to retire from ruling his kingdom. Well, he doesn't want to FULLY retire. He still wants all the pomp and respect of being a king without all the responsibilities. Kinda like Bill Gates stepping back from Microsoft and letting other people run it day to day. His plan is to divide his kingdom between his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. But Lear is a proud man and he divides the land according to how much the three sisters suck up to him. Goneril and Regan go full rump kissing and thereby gain his favor. As for Cordelia,  she just says she loves him without exaggeration and ostentation. This doesn't sit well with her father who promptly disinherits her and pawns her off on the King of France.

Lear just wants to chill with his 100 knights. Just party and hang out at Goneril and Regan's castles in a rotating schedule of a month each. Of course,  it costs a lot of money to feed and house such a retinue and the two sisters aren't feeling it. Besides, Lear is also showing signs of senility and bad temper and they're afraid they will have their powers taken away on a whim just like Cordelia was banished. Or worse, what if Lear gets in a bad mood and orders their arrest or execution? They begin to scheme to take away ALL of his power.

In a parallel shadow of the main plot, the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester, one of Lear's nobles, hatches a plot to disenfranchise his legitimate brother, Edgar, from his father's graces and take his place as his heir.

Everywhere in King Lear, there is the theme of the young supplanting the old, of the children overthrowing the father. It reminds me a lot of Zeus and his brothers turning on and killing their father Cronus. It must be some primeval urge that goes back to the darkest recesses of humanity's memory. I can kinda see Goneril and Regan's point....but they go over the top when they decide to MURDER. I guess they think how can you reason with someone that is an absolute dictator? They felt threatened but at some point they go full on EVIL and take sick pleasure in all the bloodshed they order. They would agree with Kylo Ren's maxim: "Kill the past".

Another theme that really stuck out to me was relying too much on appearance and words. Judging the goodness of a person through flattery and blindness to truth. You can't reward someone or value them because they kiss your ass. It's better to value sincerity instead of surrounding yourself with sycophants. Even the king's fool can see everything that is happening! It's the two fathers, Lear and Gloucester, that seem to be the last ones to know what their children are capable of. What human beings are capable of when it comes to fear and power. Regan and Goneril remind me a lot of Kim Jong Un. They would be the type of people to forgo a normal shooting squad for their father and instead blow him away with a antiaircraft gun!

For all its darkness, King Lear has a great beauty to it, and comes very close to or exceeds the ancient tragedies of Greece. Sometimes I believe there is more of God in Shakespeare than the Bible. More wisdom in his plays than in any Buddhist scripture. What can I say? I am an idolater.

My Grade: A+