Is Adversity Due To Self Actions? (Speech)

Sitting back at the beach relaxing, watching the sun set! This is how easy everybody wishes their life was but the reality is... it's not that simple.

In all aspects of life there are different obstacles that we have to overcome but overcoming this adversity is different for everyone.

In the play King Lear, both Lear and Gloucester come to realise the mistakes they have made after faced with adversity.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, we watch Scout's adversity of transition from a perspective of childhood innocence to one of adult perspective where there is evil all around.

In the poem Home Burial, we witness the adversity brought upon by a child's death and as a result of this adversity a breakdown in marriage.

In King Lear, the parallels between Lear and Gloucester are made clear. Both have loyal and disloyal children, both are blind to the truth and both end up banishing their loyal children and making their disloyal children their heirs.

Because of these mistakes both Lear and Gloucester are faced with immense adversity but only come to realise these mistakes after becoming faced with this adversity.

In Lear's case, Lear had to deal with going insane after being put out into a terrible storm by his two unfaithful daughters, Goneril and Regan. While the storm put into perspective the fact that Lear was powerless it was his own madness that made him realise the wrong he had done by his faithful daughter, Cordelia. This brought the determination to set things right and using his inner strength he comes to cherish Cordelia above everything else to the point that he would rather live with her in prison than to rule as king again.

In Gloucester's case, he had to deal with becoming blind after he had his eyes gouged out. After this incident occurred he finds out that his illegitimate son Edmund had been the unfaithful son all along. Gloucester then gives up all hope and calls upon the gods to take him. With the help of a beggar-which in fact was his son Edgar- he is lead to believe that he falls off a giant cliff and is lucky to have survived. Once Edgar reveals himself to his father and declares that he is still loyal, Gloucester finds the strength to carry on.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout isn't overtly faced with adversity but if it hadn't have been for Atticus' wisdom she wouldn't have had an easy understanding of the world.

In the beginning Scout was an intelligent 5-year-old girl