In his study Shakespeare: Time and Conscience, Grigori Kozintsev expresses how the plot of King Lear triggers "an unstoppable avalanche of fragments of structures, of attitudes, links, all mixed up in a frenetic movement.” Indeed, Shakespeare's "great" tragedy is a play of extremes, with its presentation of intolerable suffering and its devastating conclusion making the play almost unfathomable. Yet it remains possible to discern the thematic structure of wandering and returning, largely through King Lear's physical and mental journey, coupled with Shakespeare's use of the recurring metaphors of sight, perception and blindness. Moreover, the indiscriminate cruelty of the forces of nature in the play raises pertinent questions about whether a true return, or "nostos," can ever be achieved in the harsh and unforgiving world that Shakespeare evokes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayFirst, Shakespeare's play explores the physical wanderings of its protagonist, marking the tumultuous journey from Lear's palace to Dover through a merciless storm. Due to their respective self-centeredness and naivety, both King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester fall from a state of prosperity and comfort, causing them to flee civilization and see their political authority slip into the hands of a disloyal offspring. Lear's growing helplessness over his drifting status is aptly symbolized by the dismissal of his knights, a poignant loss that prompts Kozintsev to speak of a sheltered "microcosm" in which Lear inhabits before his fall , thus leaving him not exposed to danger. cruel reality of life. In this sense, Lear's departure from royal autocracy into helpless misery shatters his superficial existence, forcing him to grapple with concepts of guilt, injustice, and the extremes of human suffering. The physical journey undertaken by Lear is effectively coupled with mental wandering. as the king's difficulties trigger a descent into madness. Madness, or the threat of madness, hangs menacingly over the play as a whole, reaching its climax in Lear's climactic expression of psychological disturbance during the storm of Act III, Scene II. Using fiery and impetuous language, Lear reveals his ancient temperament by defying the destructive elements of "gush / Till thou hast drenched the steeples" and "Sing my white head", thereby exposing an association between the storm and his own mindset. This expression of madness is not limited to this case alone: ​​throughout his degrading journey to Dover, Lear's speech is littered with non-sequiturs and fractured expressions of torment ("O, well stolen, bird, in the air. Ha! Give the word"), contrasting sharply with the white and fluid verses of the king's opening speech. Therefore, the symbolic meaning of the storm reminds us that although there is a connection between nature and the human spirit, humanity is constantly at the mercy of natural forces beyond its control. In this way, Lear's psychological wanderings lead him to embrace primitivism. of the natural world, causing it to adorn itself with weeds and flowers in the cornfields of Dover. His vulnerability to the "terrible power" of nature indicates the relative insignificance of man, the pathetic fallacy of the storm revealing nature's utter indifference to human suffering. Lear later recognizes that once materialistic goods and flattering, petty words are taken away from an individual, man becomes nothing more thanbasic products of nature. It is this poignant communion with the rawness of nature that forces the audience to confront the merciless and inflexible laws of nature. world, which forces one to ask whether the concept of “return” is feasible in the context of this tragic play. The despair that pervades King Lear is best summed up in the lines spoken by a blinded and desperate Gloucester in Act IV Scene I: As flies to wanton boys, so are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport. (IV.i.37-38) Gloucester's anguished words, augmented by Shakespeare's repetition of the word "nothing" throughout ("nothing can come of nothing"), speak to a disturbing sense of nihilism within the piece. As Kenneth Muir identifies, both pagan and Christian qualities are present in King Lear, a religious ambiguity that may have allowed Shakespeare to explore the idea of ​​a world without moral order or justice. This sense of chaotic disorder is intensified by the apocalyptic dialogue adopted during the play's tragic conclusion, culminating in Kent's haunting question: "Is this the promised ending?" Shakespeare shocks the audience with the outcome of the battle and leaves the good to die alongside the morally corrupt, making it difficult to identify the reasoning behind the play's horrific events. The 19th century critic Algernon Swinburne argued that Shakespeare's tragedy was a "terrible work of human genius" in the way it deprived certain words, such as "redemption", "mercy" and "mercy", of a absolutely meaningless. In light of this, it is possible to conclude that the process of wandering, both in the literal and psychological sense, is fruitless, as the brutality of the forces of nature ensures that a resolution or return is not not possible. However, this interpretation arguably undermines the spiritual journey undertaken by Lear and Gloucester throughout their ordeal – an aspect which suggests that there is a sense of restoration at work in the play. For example, note Shakespeare's use of foreshadowing in Act I Scene I, where Gonoril hyperbolically quantifies his "love" for Lear as "dearer than sight, space, or liberty." It is a cruel irony that these three concepts are the ones torn from Lear and Gloucester as a result of their disastrous errors of judgment, yet it presents the possibility that the characters' great misfortunes could have been avoided. Rather than “blaming the sun, the moon, and the stars for our own disasters,” as Edmund scornfully accuses his own father of doing, perhaps men should learn from their own mistakes. Thus, the motif of blindness, both literally and figuratively, is exploited to great effect, emphasizing the gap between sight and true vision. Even if his eyes have to be forcibly gouged out so that Gloucester can appreciate his son's true nature, Lear's childish moral blindness when he initiates a "love contest" between his daughters transforms into a new feeling of insight and wisdom during his wanderings. An example of this awareness can be seen during the symbolic storm, where Lear demonstrates an unprecedented degree of empathy and compassion for others: Poor naked wretches, wherever you are, who await the bombardment of this pitiless night, how do your unsheltered heads and unfed sides, your looped rags and windows, defend you against seasons like these? (III.iv 28-32) Although both fathers cruelly lost mental faculties and sight, they both acquired the sensitivity and understanding necessary to survive, both within the walls of the. 38.