Source: "How Do We Judge King Lear?" in Crit.icism, Vol. XIV, No.3, Summer, 1972, pp. 207-26.
[Arnold asserts that although other characters in the play including Edgar, Gloucester, Albany, and Cordelia-are transformed, Lear's own progress toward self-knowledge and spiritual regeneration is never completed. The king is certainly more sinned against than sinning, the critic admits, and he doesn't deserve to suffer as he does. However, Arnold maintains, Lear's self-righteous, self-pitying temperament is evident throughout the drama, and he never fully apprehends or acknowledges that his egoism and passion for vengeance have contributed significantly to his plight. The critic also shows how the speeches of Lear's "comforters,» especially Kent and the Fool, heighten our understanding of the king; and he argues that Goneril and Regan, before their shrewd rationality becomes excessive viciousness, are reasonably concerned about their.....
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