Essay tracing King Lear's progress in Act II Literature Essay

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Analysis of King Lear in Act II
The decisions that people make have a lot of influence on their journey through life. In the tragic play of William Shakespeare, King Lear is a flawed man who cannot determine the truth and this leads to his downfall. The journey of King Lear in the play takes him from denial to isolation leaving him broken. The denial of King Lear emerges when he failed to see the true colors of his daughters. This denial causes so much rage especially when he perceived that Cornwall and Regan were thoughtless of his leadership. As a result, King Lear results in isolation as he hopes he will be able to redefine himself. Lear moves through the different stages of life and he later becomes a victim of his own poor decisions. This paper will examine the transformation of King Lear throughout Act II. It is in this scene where the emotions of King Lear that caused his unexpected circumstances will be defined. The essay will also discuss the transformation of Ling Lear from the rage of denial to isolation which occurred in a single act.
Denial is an insentient defense mechanism that is used to get rid of anxiety by denying thoughts, facts, and intolerable feelings. In the play, the denial of King Lear is derived from the failure of the king to see the deceitful actions of Cornwall and Reagan (Kordecki, Lesley & Karla Koskinen). Additionally, King Lear cannot see the true intentions of his daughter and her husband because their thoughts are masked by deception. When Lear and his cohorts arrive at Gloucester castle, Kent hails at the king who asks why his messenger was placed in stock. Later Lear finds out it was Cornwall and Reagan who did it but he refuses to believe that both would disgrace and imprison someone. King Lear says “They durst not do't….they could not do it… it is worse than murder" (p. 213). The fact that King Lear does not believe that Cornwall and Reagan cannot mistreat his servants indicates denial and self-deception.
Because of denial, it becomes very hard for King Lear to believe that Reagan, Cornwall, Goneril, and the husband of Reagan do not respect his leadership as a king. He even fails to see the true motives of his daughter Reagan and her husband. To hide the truth he ends up ...