I am a Man More Sinned Against than Sinning: Lear & Oedipus sample essay

The concepts of justice in Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear and Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the King are extremely debatable. In both books the main characters face tremendous shame, and find themselves in sinister conditions. Both heroes blame themselves for doing this and not doing that, and for valuing one thing over the other. As the authors of the books portray the actions of these two tragic heroes, we can see that even though their actions may be wrong and foolish, nonetheless both Oedipus and Lear realize their wrongdoing, confess, and repent. This fact means that no matter how bad, unjust, or haughty their deeds may have been they deserve respect and honor. However, the majority of characters in the books failed to understand this fact and treated heroes very badly.

The motivation of King Lear is transparent throughout the book. He is a powerful king, who does not value lives of “some inferior men,” and treats them without respect. In addition, he is blind enough to fail to tell the difference between genuine love and fake flattery. This way, it is obvious that even though he is wrong, he is sincere and natural. His elder daughters, on the other hand, are very hypocrite, and seek to deprive the old man of his riches. They are much more wrong in their actions because they know exactly what they want, and they know how they should act in order to get the desired. This way, they are not being natural at all. They deceive the foolish king, and then they reveal their true cruel intentions. Realizing the sinister plans of his daughters, king Lear finally realizes how bad a person he had been. In addition, he understands that he brought up cruel, haughty, hypocrite, sinister villains, who do not love him at all. This punishment is more than the old man can endure, and eventually causes madness and consecutive death. His punishment also consisted in the realization of how horrible his past had been.

Oedipus, on the other hand, had a completely different punishment. Unlike Lear, who was responsible for the entire situation, Oedipus had no idea about what was expecting him. As a kind person, he decided to avoid the prophecy and escape Corinth. Contrarily to his best intentions, he only expedited the approach of the inevitable. And although his mistakes and foolishness consisted in his self-confidence, and distrust in destiny, nevertheless his punishment was too big. Oedipus did not expect such a rapid turn in his life, and he realized his wrongdoing in the end of the book. It is obvious that it was him who suffered the most from the complexity of the entire situation. The punishment he carried was too hard for him.

Both tragedies Oedipus the King and King Lear portray the heroes that had chosen the wrong path, and had wrong worldview. As a result, both heroes were punished by something greater than a man, a greater being. Lear was punished for the way he ruled, and the way he treated other people. He was also punished for treating people as an inferior class. The way his two daughters treated him after his retirement was the punishment he could not stand. After understanding their real intentions, he realized what a bad person he had been. This realization was the greatest punishment Lear faced. Together with the other ones, it was much more than the old man could endure. Similarly, Oedipus was not ready to face the real facts about his past and his parents. As a result of his wrong behavior and beliefs, he was tremendously punished by fate and by people. In addition, same as King Lear, Oedipus’ punishment was shame and sorrow.

The two heroes of the tragedies have gone through their own destined paths. The saying, "I am a man more sinned against than sinning" is attributable to both characters. Both heroes had wrong worldviews, and have committed mistakes on their way. However, the punishments the heroes had to endure were too harsh. Not only had they faced hypocrisy and betrayal, but also they both understood how wrong their beliefs and actions had been. The compound punishments the two tragedy heroes had to carry were too harsh from a psychological point of view. However, they both understood that this was the price they had to pay for their mistakes.Order custom essay now!