King Lear and the Basilikon Doran
The Basilikon Doron is an ornately significant document for the pivotal role that it plays in exemplifying the Jacobean court and its usage of the local allegory for recounting the royal power and accountability. Furthermore, this discourse is a highly useful recap of the way in which James I viewed his association with his family as well as the people of his kingdom, both of whom are bound to perceive James I as their regal father.
The Basilikon Doron is precisely a list of qualities that make an individual a good leader and an ideal king. For an individual to be an effective leader, it is arguable that the individual’s public identity is of high significance when compared to the individual’s life and the actual self. As stated by James I in the Basilikon Doron, “a king is as one set on a stage,” which denotes that a king is always under the scrutinized by the citizens of his kingdom.” He goes on to describe that an ideal king or a leader is always judged by the deeds and actions he does, irrespective of how insignificant they might be. In disagreeing that the public life of the king is of higher significance than his private life, The Basilikon Doron could possibly be regarded as the tipping point; even a true leader, James I regards the significance of appealing, or apparently seem to be appealing to his subjects above everybody else.
There are numerous instances where King Lear violates the ideals of a king. The horrendous nature of the suffering of King Lear, the persistent and constant continuity, the demolition of not just the family but of the profound emotional ties between father and children, the commotion of a complete kingdom and loss of his sanity by King Lear, all indicate the work of very strong forces. The rapidity with which the topic results in a calamity is yet another hint.
King Lear, while representing himself as a great leader, (mis)uses his power to project a synthetic personality toward his subjects. Underneath his affluent physicality, Lear tussles to preserve and uphold his confidence within himself as he always relies on the constant appreciation and veneration from his subjects to feel satisfied about his identity. A person who is a frontrunner having forged beliefs and unbalanced values is bound to fail in his role as a leader. King Lear, as a play was designed to exhibit the tragedy of a King who slowly becomes an insane. However, in order to become made, it is necessary that one must often go totally out of their mind to achieve the wisdom in order to make out the difference.
The element of ignorance in King Lear is apparent when he checks his daughters on the degree of love they have for him. This he does for determining a genuine method to endow the divided kingdom between them. It is in the eminence of their responses, his decision would depend upon; however, the principal motive for this inquiry strikes a personal bit of Lear which is the constant thrive to feel respected and lauded.
Tragedy covers a purging of insanity and deprives a King of his throne and brings him on to his knees, after which he discovers the qualities of an ideal King. As he begins to understand the various elements like love, certainty and uprightness, he attains sanity and eventually succumbs in wholesomeness of the soul. Possibly, the greatest war that King Lear fought was the battle that he won within his own self, and even though he died to the submission of Edmund, his soul rests in his own satisfaction.
The actions of King Lear and his daughters bring about the collapse and chaos to the kingdom of England. Social structures disintegrate, overseas invaders intimidate the land, and, in a noticeably non-filmy conclusion, the death of every individual in the play is almost tragic. The stance is very miserable and distressing, as many of the difficulties are left unsolved even as the play concludes: there is not a single individual left to take over the throne and accept sovereignty, and righteousness and virtue are left unrestored to their appropriate positions within the kingdom’s social structure.
The primary flaw of Lear – his lack of awareness and acumen, is abetted and supported in the violence that this unawareness does to the social structure through the elements of pride and obstinacy. His dupe persistently keeps reminding of this fact before the same is disappeared by the end of act III. Lear arrogantly rejects to hear the voice Kent about the reasons for having deprived Cordelia of her legacy. Even though the other characters have their own flaws, these are much insignificant when compared to the faults of King Lear, as he as the king had covered up the faults of all other being a King.
Works Cited
James, King. "Basilikon Doron or His Majesties Instrvctions To His Dearest Sonne, Henry The Prince." McIlwain, Charles Howard. Political Works of James I. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918. 3-52.
Shakespeare, William. "Introduction to Shakespeare's King Lear." Abrams, M.H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993.
