Jesse

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Jesse Tipton
Mrs. Collins
AP English Literature
February 7, 2013
Nature: The Unbiased Killer
King Lear constitutes as a tragedy because Nature does not decide who lives and who diesbased on whether or not that person is righteous. In the world of King Lear, nature is a ferocious killer, whose weapon of choice is human miscommunication and deception.
Nature is ruthless in itsendeavor to cause fatalities throughout King Lear. Gloucester is an instance of a victim of Nature through the means of deception. He is duped by his bastard son and consequently mutilated brutally. Heironically calls out for his son “Edmund, [to] enkindle all the sparks of nature, / To quit this horrid act” (3.7.94-95). The irony stems from the fact that it is Edmund’s fault that he was perceiveda traitor and thusly punished. Though Gloucester wrongly accused his son of plotting to kill him, he only acted on the information he was given, therefore is guilty of no fault. The blame for thebanishment of Edgar and the downfall and fatality of Gloucester lays on Edmund’s shoulder entirely. Edmund’s deception cost the sight of his father, but is not dealt his just deserts until the end of theplay after Gloucester has died. Were Nature selectively just in its doings, Edmund would have been killed long before he is.
Even though Cordelia is clearly the most morally sound character and theleast deserving of death, she is killed nonetheless. Her death, in itself, is evidence of Nature’s nonselective process of killing in the world of King Lear and contributes to the genre of tragedy.Perhaps the
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most ironic part of Cordelia’s death is that her murderer, Edmund, called for her release just before he died but was too late in his attempt to do some good “Despite of [his] ownnature” (5.3.287). As Edmund makes this command a small sliver of hope is created only to be completely destroyed upon Lear’s dramatic entrance to the scene. The image of the devastated King Lear...