The Most Villainous of the Evil

Throughout King Lear, most of the characters have proven themselves to be villainous and disloyal. However, there are a few characters that rank above the rest in their amounts of villainous behavior.

            Edmund is a man who holds no bond sacred. He deceives both his brother and father, all in the quest to gain power. Not only is he deceitful, but he is also willing for others to die as a result of his actions. This evil nature is especially apparent when Edmund tells Cornwall of Gloucester’s alliance with Lear. He does not give a second thought when Cornwall declares that Gloucester should be killed. Arguably there is a reason that Edmund is angry at Gloucester; he was constantly regarded as the lesser son and Gloucester was embarrassed to be his father. However, there is no reason for Edmund to have so much hatred towards Edgar. Edgar treated Edmund like a true brother, trusting him and confiding in him. Edmund completely misuses this trust to stab Edgar in the back. Once Edgar runs away, Edmund forgets about him and searches for his next victim.

            Goneril is a villain to all throughout the play, and destroys lives with no regard for others. Goneril has a certain amount of control over Regan, so Goneril gets the blame as the mastermind of the evil treatment of Lear. She ruthlessly casts him out to suffer in the storm, hopefully that it will lead to his demise. After learning that Lear is still alive, she makes sure that those who help Lear will be punished as well as plot to kill Lear himself. She then punishes Gloucester by removing his eyes. Regan’s idea to kill Gloucester is cruel, but at the same time uncreative. Goneril creates a twisted scheme to be sure that Gloucester will continue to suffer after the punishment, rather than escaping her though death.

            Therefore, while both characters are evil, Goneril is the most villainous character in the play. Edmund deceives others but doesn’t do any of the dirty work himself. Goneril, on the other hand, takes direct action to inflict pain on the innocent.

Explication of Robert Frost's "Bereft"

In Robert Frost’s poem Bereft, the speaker is hiding inside his home while a storm rages on outside. The storm knows the speaker is lonely and depressed. Throughout the poem, nature is personified as torturing the speaker and constantly reminding him of his sadness. The season is changing from summer to autumn and the narrator does not like that the leaves fall off the trees. He says “Leaves got up in a coil and hissed, blindly stuck my knee and missed” (9-10). The narrator uses a metaphor to describe how the wind picks up the leaves and makes them nearly hit the narrator. The narrator believes the leaves are purposely trying to hit him. This poem also has a lot of imagery, especially in the line “Looking down the hill to the frothy shore?” (6). This line makes the reader image looking down at the ocean and seeing the white froth on the shore. This evokes the idea that the narrator is contemplating suicide to relieve them of their sadness. The main idea of this poem is that the narrator feels isolated and lonely, shown through the lines “Word I was in my life along, word I had no one left but God” (15-16). These lines demonstrate that someone very close to the narrator has passed away.

            The idea of loneliness is also very apparent in King Lear. After being betrayed by Goneril and Regan, Lear has no one left to turn to. Right when Lear feels most alone, a massive storm begins. This storm further reminds Lear of his daughters’ betrayal. The storm outside reminds Lear of the struggle taking place within his own head, since he has nothing left and nowhere to go. Just like in the poem, nature is a constant reminder of the emotion that Lear wants to ignore. Lear also perceives nature to be working against him as an antagonist, just like how the narrator of the poem believes nature is the enemy.

A Complicated Relationship

King Lear was deceived by the people who he holds most dear. Goneril and Regan, who he has nourished and supported, turn their backs on Lear and leave him out in the storm to suffer. With nothing left, Lear has nowhere to direct his anger but to the raging storm. Lear shouts “Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea, or swell the curled waters ‘bove the main” (3.1.5-6).  Lear is pleading with nature to let him die. Lear further shows his anger towards his daughters’ betrayal, saying “Crack nature’s molds, all germens spill out at once that makes ungrateful men” (3.2.10-11). Lear figures that nature is the reason that Goneril and Regan are ungrateful and asks that nature creates no more ungrateful people.

            Lear then says “Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters. I tax not you, with unkindness. I never gave you kingdom, called you children; You owe me subscriptions” (3.2.17-20). Lear admits to himself that he has no control anymore. He has lost control of his life and his power, and he realizes that he has no control over nature. However, he still harbors great animosity towards nature because he feels like nature has taken his daughters’ side in the argument.

            However, Lear also feels like nature does some good in exposing criminals. Lear warns criminals “Tremble, thou wretch, That hast within thee undivulged crimes unwhipped of justice” (3.2.54-56). Here, Lear is saying that anyone who committed a secret crime should be fearful of the storm.

Lear reveals his overarching reason for his hatred of the storm within his mind; that it reminds him of his children’s ingratitude. Lear exclaims “This tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling else save what beats there. Filial ingratitude!” (3.4.15-17). An aspect of nature that Lear despises is that fact that nature can’t be escaped. This relates to his feelings, too, because he is obsessing over his situation and isn’t thinking about anything else. Lear hates the fact that he can’t escape his own head.

Lear’s encounter with Edgar gives him another revelation about nature. He realizes that since Edgar isn’t wearing clothes made out of nature, he is not indebted to nature in any way. This gives Lear the idea to take his own clothes off as well. Lear hopes that by freeing himself from nature’s debt, he will no longer feel an obligation, thus feeling a sense of freedom.

Why is Everyone so Gullible?

In Act II of King Lear, Edmund shows his true deceitful nature. He uses trickery to run Edgar out of the kingdom and secure Gloucester’s inheritance. Once Edmund hears that the Duke of Cornwall is planning a visit, he decides that will be the perfect time to carry out his plan. Edmund knows that Gloucester wants to have Edgar arrested, so he makes sure that Edgar runs away. He tells Edgar that Gloucester knows where he’s hiding but he has a chance to leave while it’s dark. Edmund twists the reason of Cornwall’s visit to scare Edgar, telling him that he is coming to have him punished. Edmund then tricks Edgar into drawing his sword and cuts his own arm. Once Gloucester enters the room, he pretends like Edgar attacked him. Edmund tells Gloucester that Edgar tried to persuade him to conspire with him and got angry when Edmund refused. His trickery is all to accomplish one goal- to receive Gloucester’s inheritance. Gloucester feels so deceived by Edgar that he tells Edmund he will find a way for him to become his heir.

            Edmund’s deceitfulness also shows a lot about others. All the characters are so quick to believe Edmund, causing them to make very impulsive decisions. Edgar believes that Gloucester is angry at him and runs away without hesitation, not even stopping to ask Gloucester why he is angry. After hearing of Edgar’s “plan” to kill him, Gloucester demands that Edgar will be executed and whoever helps hide him will be punished. The Duke of Cornwall also falls for Edmund’s tricks. After hearing stories about how loyal he is to Gloucester, Cornwall decides that he wants Edmund to work for him. This is all because Cornwall believes Edmund is trustworthy and virtuous. These impulsive decisions made by Gloucester and Cornwall show that they are impulsive and gullible, since they both make rash decisions about Edgar’s death sentence without even trying to listen to his side of the story. 

Explication of "Those Winter Sundays"

In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, a young child tells about all the work his father has to do during the winter. The narrator starts the poem saying “Sundays my father got up too early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold”. This line appeals to both visual and sensory imagery. The “blueblack” cold refers to dark winter mornings, and the image of these freezing mornings reminds the reader how cold it gets on a winter morning. More visual imagery is used when the father is described as having “cracked hands that ached”. This refers to how easily skin gets dry in the winter. The boy hears the wood “splintering and breaking”, which are examples of auditory imagery. Instead of merely saying that the cracking of the wood was loud, the reader can image the sharp breaking of a log being chopped by an axe. His father is described as the one who “had driven out the cold”. This evokes the idea that it takes a lot of work for the father to keep the house warm. The narrator wants to pinpoints how hard his father works, shown by the observation, “No one ever thanked him”. The narrator also randomly mentions that the father “polished my good shoes as well”. All of these devices help the narrator show how hard his father works for his family.  

A Rank of the Characters

The rank of the characters in terms of loyalty:

1. Hamlet- He always remains loyal to his father by condemning his mother for marrying Claudius. Then, after the ghost appears, Hamlet’s entire life revolves around getting revenge for his father’s death.

2. Horatio- Horatio never deceives Hamlet and keeps his promises to Hamlet that he won’t talk about the ghost or that Hamlet is only pretending to be insane. Also, as Hamlet’s faithful servant, he is willing to die for Hamlet as he is dying.

3. Laertes- Although he expresses his grief through violence, he is hungry for revenge against Hamlet after the death of Polonius.

4. Polonius- Polonius remains loyal to the king at all times, and even dies while following the king’s orders.

5. Ophelia- Ophelia remains loyal to Polonius and follows his every wish. This includes returning Hamlet’s letters and trying to figure out why Hamlet is depressed.

6. Gertrude- Gertrude does not remain loyal to the late King Hamlet, shown by the fact that she marries Claudius. She is also not loyal to her son Hamlet because she constantly disregards his feelings.

7. Claudius- The least loyal of all the characters; he kills his own brother out of greed.

"Cross" Poem Explication

In the poem “Cross” by Langston Hughes, Hughes tells the story of a bi-racial child who does not know his future. The title, “Cross” has several denotation. An obvious denotation is the cross associated with Christianity. However, it can also mean a cross of two things. The narrator starts out saying “My old man’s a white old man, and my old mother’s black”. This shows the reader that the narrator has a Caucasian father and an African-American mother. They then continue on saying “If I ever cursed my white old man I take my curses back”. This means that the narrator regrets saying some mean things to his father.

            The next stanza focuses on the narrator’s mother. The narrator says that “if I ever cursed my black old mother and wished she were in hell, I’m sorry for that evil wish and now I wish her well”. Now, the narrator has expressed prior animosity for both his mother and his father. However, more of the anger seems to be directed towards his mother. The curse is specified as telling the mother that she should go to hell. Now that the mother has passed away, the narrator regrets that wish.

            The narrator then gives details about his parent’s death and says the father “died in a big fine house” but the mother “died in a shack”. This shows the lack of equality during that time period. Even though the parents shared a child, the father is very wealthy and does not support the mother. Being bi-racial, the narrator wonders where they are going to die. They think that since they are half black, they can’t live in a mansion. However, being half white, the narrator thinks that they are more privileged than to live in a shack. This statement further illustrates the separation during that time period and the important that was put on race. Throughout the poem, the narrator uses informal language such as “ma” and “gonna”. This diction shows how the narrator lacks the class that is often associated with the white race.