As we have covered in class, love is something (for most
people) that cannot be measured. The problem presented in King Lear of him wanting to know how much Lear’s daughters loved
him has to do with this. Everyone is always willing to know how much the people
they love, love them back. This is demonstrated by Lear in the first part of
the book:
“Tell me, my daughters
Since now we will divest us both
of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of
state),
Which of you shall we say doth
love us most,
That we our largest bountry may
extend
Where nature doth with merrit
challenge. Goneril,
Our eldest-born, speak first.”
King Lear demonstrate in this few lines his deep desire
to know how much the love of his daughters could reach, without noticing that
whatever they may say would be only words, not real feelings, because feelings
as absolutes as love cannot be expressed by words.
Love should be an absolut, so why are we always looking
to know how much people love us instead of thinking of love as this absolut
thing? Maybe, when we feel that we love someone, but within certain boundaries,
this is not really love. It may be respect, or admiration or even infatuation,
but it is not love as many people may think.
So, this is why we find all this lame songs about
love. People desire to know that they are loved, but they want to know how mcuh
can reach this love, which should be impossible because, as I said before, love
should be unmeasurable.
An example of this song, and that reflects what I have
stated before is the song presented above, which I assume most of us have heard
more than once. This rong represent the desire for people to really know what
is love, how much can reach love and the desire to be shown what is it and how
much people is loved.
References:
- Shakespeare,
William. King Lear. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007.
I think no one can define such an illusive emotion like love. We might perhaps be able to talk about a concept of Universal love based on caring and adoration even though we know there are different types of love as it is something that each individual experiences.
ResponderEliminarI totally agree that if King Lear would have understood your concept of absolute love he wouldn't have been blind by the grief of their daughters betrayal and would've made better decisions to divide the kingdom.
That misunderstanding of love lead to chaos!