King Lear :: essays papers

King Lear In William Shakespeare’s classic play, King Lear, the title character gives a memorable speech that brings to light the effect of wealth on the way people perceive mistakes. When you were a kid and you did something wrong your mother or your father probably told you, â€Å"well everyone makes mistakes.† Lear adds another dimension to this concept. In more modern terms, his speech basically says that it’s much easier to detect sin and wrong in a man who bumbles around in filth with a shopping cart full of God-knows-what, all wrapped up in garbage bags, than it is in a man who pulls up in a Jaguar and is wealthy enough to hire people to floss his teeth. However, when King Lear actually delivered the speech, there were no Jaguars, and there was no dental floss. There probably weren’t even shopping carts or garbage bags. In fact, I’m quite sure there weren’t, so King Lear’s speech might not be quite as accurate now as it was in his time. It was a different society, a different world. In fact a particular situation of very recent time comes to mind, which shows just how outdated Lear’s speech might be, since there was of course no crack cocaine back then. Most people who pay attention to current events will know where I’m going with this. Last week I was flipping through the newspaper (keep that in mind) when a very familiar name caught my attention. Ex-baseball star Darryl Strawberry had once again been arrested for a series of completely ridiculous and outrageous behaviors. â€Å"Sinful,† in more King Learly terms would be an understatement when addressing Strawberry’s most recent crimes. â€Å"Robes and furr’d gowns hide all?† It’s quite the opposite in this case. The public eye has actually been nothing less than relentless in poring over and pointing fingers of shame and â€Å"look at him isn’t that terrible?!,† all at Darryl Strawberry, the rich and famous baseball hero. His sin is plated with anything but gold. But you know what? There might be some bum walking up the block from me right now, selling the same crack cocaine that got Mr. Strawberry in trouble. I wo uldn’t know about it, and neither would anybody else (law enforcement officials, for example). No one can see his small vices, despite his â€Å"tatter’d clothes.