Question

In the play king lear, what do you think evokes pathos: Goneril and Regan’s betrayal of their father, or lear realizing he was an old fool?

Answer 1

King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It tells the story of Lear who diowns and disinherits his youngest daughter of his kingdom upon her inability to flatter him. He divides his Kingdom to his other two daughters who later in the play betrays him. King Lear is a play much like other Shakespeare plays which uses pathos to drive the point home. Pathos is an emotion that is evoked inside the viewer viewing a particular scene. Pathos is the invocation of pity and fear inside the audience and it's one of the three modes of persuasion. In King Lear, Goneril and Regan's betrayal of their father evokes pathos from the given options. The betrayal on the part of daughters evokes a response of pity from the viewer for Lear, his ignorance and failure to understand that his youngest daughter loved him the most elevates this feeling. The viewers could see this but Lear was blind and gradually found himself at the recieving end of the cunning and selfish daughters. Lear realizing that he was an old fool is anagnorisis (realization), another important element in the development of plot in drama.