Clear instances of evil include Edmund betraying his father, brother, Goneril, and Regan by turning their father out into the storm; Regan blinding Gloucester; Edmund engaging in affairs with both Goneril and Regan; and Edmund sending the note to kill Cordelia and Lear. These are all easily actions that one might find instances of banal evil, cold, cruel, and self-interested.
The play offers other, more difficult forms of evil though as well, and it takes much of its power from them. Kent tells Lear that he does evil in conducting the contest to see who will inherit Britain. On the heath, Lear sees the homeless wretches and says "O, I have ta'en / Too little care of this!" Gloucester recognizes in his blindness that he was unjust to Edgar. Edgar's withholding of his identity as he leads Gloucester to Dover also seems evil, for it denies Gloucester a chance to make a meaningful repentance and reconciliation. And the gods themselves are accused of using us "for their sport."
So, the play seems to contrast active evil with passive evil. The selfish can be compared to the oblivious. This later meditation on the many ways suffering is perpetrated because of our moral blindness, or the privilege that allows us to not see "feelingly" indicts everyone who does not actively pursue good.
Kent, the Fool, and Cordelia offer examples of goodness. Kent and the Fool refuse to abandon Lear even though he has been foolish and cruel, even though they stand to gain nothing by it, and even though they both suffer for their loyalty. This is gratuitous goodness in an unjust world. Lear also shows incredible kindness—a great king hesitates in the storm and insists that his servant the fool find comfort before he enters the cave. The nameless servant who vainly seeks to defend Gloucester from Cornwall and Regan's attempt to blind him is a reminder that in the midst of horrific evil one can still stand up for virtue.
Finally, Cordelia is the best example of active virtue. She forgives her father and returns to comfort him. At their reconciliation, she offers Lear what he most needs—dignity and respect:
O, look upon me, sir,And hold your hands in benediction o'er me:No, sir, you must not kneel.
Her gestures do not change outward political reality, yet they address the problem of the play: man's inhumanity. In the play's most tender moment, Lear seeks to spend the rest of his days reliving in an endless loop that moment of reconciliation and forgiveness, the greatest gift one can give:
No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,And ask of thee forgiveness
The world is somewhat restored at the end, though nearly everyone has died. Edgar and Albany are left to pick up the pieces of the kingdom, and both seem to somewhat misinterpret the magnitude of the tragedy that has just played out, but the audience should be moved to see that the final good of the play is the empathy that the best characters have been taught to "see feelingly." The audience then is gifted this deep wisdom without having to live through the suffering, and that too is an example of the play's good.
In King Lear, good and evil are represented by truth and falsehood. Good people tell the truth: their words and their deeds match. Evil people tell lies: their words are the opposite of their actions. Lear's tragedy is that he puts too much faith in words and fails to understand that what people say can differ from what they do.
Cordelia is one example of goodness. She is so sickened by her sisters' false flattery at the beginning of the play that she refuses to exaggerate her love for her father. She keeps her words of affection plain and simple. This enrages her father, who wants an extravagant show of love and loyalty. He disinherits her. However, she is true and faithful to him, which he understands too late. The king's fool is also a good character; he speaks the truth to Lear.
General and Regan, the two older sisters, represent evil. They will promise their father anything and tell any lie to get hold of his kingdom. They profess undying devotion and adoration, but, as soon as they get power, they treat their father horribly. When he is too weak to do anything about it, they break all their promises to him and show him disrespect and contempt.
These are just a few examples of good and evil in the play. Anyone can speak flattering words. Evil people lie. Good people tell the truth.
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