Hamlet and Lear: Blindness and Sight

This is my essay for literature class. Hope my teacher doesn’t pass out again. sigh. Christianity is controversial.

Hamlet and Lear: Blindness and Sight

Shakespeare published the first folio of Hamlet as early as 1603 (Wright 14), and published King Lear nine years after that in 1608 (Harbage 27). We know the publishing of both plays chronologically overlapped each other due to later revisions of the folios. I point this out because I think the subject matter of both works are complementary in their sharp contrasts; more similar to each other than any two of his other great tragedies: Julius Caesar, Othello, or Macbeth. Both King Lear and Hamlet are about kingdoms gone wrong: an old man who too readily dismisses his kingdom, and a young man too hesitant to take up his. The similarity of their “opposites” goes on causing me to believe that Lear answers the many of the questions that Hamlet raises. My thesis is to show how the sharp contrast of character development, moral implications, and consistent narrative create a complementary relation between Hamlet and Lear.

The consistent revelation of characters in King Lear contrast the growing complexity of the characters in Hamlet. In Lear, we know what to expect in the first act from Cordelia, Regan, Goneril, Lear, Edmund, Kent, and Gloucester: Cordelia is honest; Regan and Goneril are dishonest and calculating; Lear is passionate and unstable; Kent is steadfast; Edmund is evil and calculating; Gloucester is foolish; and Edgar is innocent. This is the reverse of how we are introduced to the characters in Hamlet. In Hamlet, we don’t really know if Claudius is guilty until the end; Gertrude still remains suspicious; Hamlet seems questionable for killing his classmates; Ophelia becomes more enigmatic; Polonius is a mystery; even the loyal friend Horatio is ambiguous about his loyalties until the end. Even the ghost does not remain consistent as he begins inciting revenge and bitterness towards Claudius and Gertrude, while he later stops Hamlet from criticizing Claudius and reprimands Hamlet to save Gertrude’s soul (3.4.125). Though the ghost changed his appearance from a suit of armor (1.2.212) to a “habit” (3.4.155), this was probably not what provoked Hamlet to say that the ghost’s demeanor would take away all of his revengeful thoughts (3.4.143) than the ghost’s change of character—most likely due to Purgatory(1.5.5). Lear and Hamlet are opposite even in their title characters: Hamlet appears rational but seems to be losing his capabilities, whereas Lear gains lucidity at the end.

In Lear morality is explicit, whereas in Hamlet it is implicit. The contrast of moralities is determined by the characters’ approach to suicide, the characters’ moral attitudes, the characters’ final actions, and the story’s ending. In Lear, Edgar reprimands his father’s wish for suicide saying “men must endure their going hence even as their coming hither” in other words, people should receive death the way they received birth by not committing suicide. In Hamlet, almost every character seems to be suicidal or commit suicide—Hamlet thinks about it; Ophelia is accused of it; Gertrude commits it perhaps unknowingly; Claudius is forced to; Laertes inadvertently; Polonius through his own spying; and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring about their own death sentences. Hamlet only stops Horatio from killing himself by commanding him to live to tell his story, keeping Hamlet’s view on suicide morally ambiguous.

In Lear, the main characters have a “Christian attitude”; that is, they are forgiving—Edgar forgives his father and Cordelia forgives Lear. Only Edmund is judged, and even then Edgar offers “charity”(5.3.167) towards Edmund’s final hour, allowing Edmund time to retract his evil deeds. In Hamlet, the main characters are judgmental: Hamlet reprimands his mother; Ophelia makes Gertrude feel guilty which “it spills itself in fearing to be spilt” (4.5.22); and Hamlet makes Claudius drink of the poisoned cup. In Lear, the main characters confess a multitude of sins rather than judge others; Lear and Edgar ramble about sexual immorality, which does seem likely to be about their own sins, but about sins which we know to be true for Goneril, Edmund, Regan, and even Gloucester. In Hamlet, however, the main characters judge other people’s sins rather than confess their own—Hamlet rants about his mother and uncle, and Ophelia seems to be “guilting” Gertrude about the death of her father as well as handing Gertrude and Claudius flowers symbolizing flattery and faithlessness (4.5.195).

In Lear, almost every flawed character—King Lear, Gloucester, and even Edmund– repents over their misdeeds before they die. This is in direct contrast to Hamlet, where Claudius and Gertrude die without repenting even though they were given a chance, and Hamlet does not ever say he is sorry for the death of his classmates. Each of these “moral endings,” or “good attitudes,” or distinct morality seem be in direct contrast to Lear.

At the end of the play, right triumphs over wrong in King Lear. Edgar, rightful to the throne, becomes king. At the end of Hamlet, however, Fortinbras is a blood-thirsty tyrant who takes the throne with a lame excuse, and Hamlet even offers his vote “my dying voice” (5.2.382).

Through the characters’ advice on suicide, their moral attitude, their final actions, and even the ending of the play, we know King Lear to be morally explicit, where Hamlet is implicit. This is despite the fact that Lear is supposed to be about a pre-Christian pagan environment, whereas Hamlet takes place in a Christian society.

In Lear, the true narrative remains constant because the characters’ tales are consistent, the characters’ motives remain clear, and we know who is crazy. This is not the case in Hamlet where a ghost begins the narrative, causing Hamlet to question and test the spirit’s validity. When Ophelia runs to her father with news of Hamlet’s disarrayed appearance, we are able to concoct plentiful theories about this single hear-say narrative. Even Ophelia’s death happens offstage and has contradictory reports. Gertrude tells of Ophelia’s death in a very eloquent and unlikely situation—that Ophelia accidentally fell in the water—but later the priest insinuates to Laertes that her death was suicide. In Lear no such conflicting or questionable reports appear about anyone’s death. Goneril’s motives and foreshadowing actions are pretty obvious; Edmund is mortally wounded onstage; Gloucester’s heart failure was reported by his beloved son; the Duke of Cornwall was wounded onstage; Cordelia was admittedly murdered; and Lear dies onstage. In Hamlet, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern all die before their true motives or actions are ever made known: whether Polonius was really spying for Claudius; whether Ophelia was insane or slept with Hamlet; or whether Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actually knew what was in the letter bearing Hamlet’s death sentence.

In Lear, it is obvious who and when someone is sane and who and when someone is insane. Lear obviously loses sanity in the middle of the thunderstorm, and gains it back when he is convalescing under the care of Cordelia. Edgar acts crazy, but speaks aside so we know he is pretending. In Hamlet, no such clues are given. Most modern literary critics think Ophelia was insane, but some even doubt Hamlet or Gertrude’s sanity. Ophelia says to Laertes, “Pray you remember, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts” (4.5.190) which could be a sign she’s pretending, though why she is endangering herself by harassing the queen in this manner is questionable. Although we could make comparison between Ophelia’s madness to King Lear’s, since both refer to adultery and pick flowers, except that we know when King Lear is crazy and when he is not. We have no such assurance with Ophelia, who does not have an excuse of senility and hands flowers to the king and queen with symbolic significance. Even in Lear’s insanity we know what he says of his faithless daughters to be completely true, but in Ophelia’s insanity she insinuates losing her virginity to Hamlet which does not seem as likely. So through suspicious motives, possibly insane narratives, and inconsistent tales, Hamlet leaves many mysteries where King Lear never leaves a doubt.

As we just examined through character development, moral implications, and consistent narrative—Lear and Hamlet appear to be consistently opposite to each other. Whereas Lear has consistently honest or moral characters, Hamlet appears to have conflicting and compromised characters. Whereas Lear is a clear and happy moral story, Hamlet appears to be vague and disturbing. Whereas Lear has “Christian” morals and values, Hamlet has modernist and enlightened philosophies. Now that we can see the contrast between Lear and Hamlet, let me argue that they are complementary. Let me suggest that Lear is clear and compelling, the characters consistently developed, the motives clear, and the morals “Christian”, while Hamlet is intentionally the opposite because they were meant to be read together. Why else does Edgar hint that he is not crazy, Cordelia’s death to look like a suicide, Kent assume disguise, and the Fool wise—except to parallel Hamlet and Ophelia’s “insanity,” Ophelia’s death, and Polonius’ “foolery”? Why else do Lear and Gloucester share blindness to the good characters who help and preserve them throughout the story, when in Hamlet we share a blindness with the characters to the true and full story? Hamlet is a post-Christian environment about a student questioning reality whereas Lear is a pre-Christian society about a king without a reality. Perhaps Hamlet is raising question to a world that is being lost, so that Lear, whose world is lost, can finally answer it. Hamlet is about a dying society abandoning life whereas Lear is about a dead society achieving life. That is why Lear is repentant where Claudius is not; why Edgar refuses suicide while Hamlet considers it; and Cordelia forgives when Ophelia accuses. Hamlet is exiled to England, while Lear meets Cordelia at Dover Beach to be saved. We must hear its “long, withdrawing roar” (Arnold 25) to understand why Hamlet’s last command was to tell his story. Lear’s last words to everyone are (5.3.312): “Do you see this?…Look there, look there–!”

Works Cited:

Arnold, Matthew. “Dover Beach.” 1867.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Folger, 1958. Print.

“Introduction to Hamlet.” Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar.

Shakespeare, William. King Lear.New York: Pelican, 1970. Print.

“Introduction to King Lear.” Ed. Alfred Harbage

Tags: Christianity, Hamlet, Lear, modernism, Shakespeare