King Lear

Tragic it is (working title)

It is undeniable that both plays are in fact tragic. To what degree is debatable. The play King Lear starts out with Lear disgraced by his daughters because they would not allow for his knights. As a result King Lear decides to leave the castle and goes insane. To add insult to injury, all three of the daughters in the play die at the end and King Lear himself dies at a result of grieving. On the other hand, Oedipus the King is also a tragic play. The play Oedipus starts out with Oedipus trying to figure out as to why his country is plagued. Oedipus then tries to figure out as to who killed Laois and accidentally stumbles himself with his own past and stumbles upon a prophecy that was about him. This prophecy said that Oedipus would kill his own father and go to bed with his mother. Lear eventually figures out that he actually did kill his dad, which turned out to be Laois and slept with him mom Jacoste.

Both tragedies are of two different eras but have similar characteristics. Both King Lear and Oedipus had to reevaluate their lives because their lives had drastically changed for the worse. They had no control over their futures and they were both bound to suffering by their foolishness. In the case of King Lear, Lear decides to give to his land to Goneril and Regan, although they didn't deserve it. They used flattery to get the land and Lear was fooled. Cordelia on the other hand was honest and said that words cannot express her love. Lear misinterpreted her words and foolishly banished her. Oedipus followed a similar path. An oracle gave him a prophecy and he completely and foolishly believed everything. This led him to leave his parents and eventually kill his father Laois. Another evident similarity between the 2 plays is that the gods and nature treated both Oedipus and Lear harshly and unjustly. The gods had already planned out a path for Oedipus and they had no reasoning