Poor Cordelia?

So after hours of anger, stress and frustration resulting from the fact that I have been feeling so tired recently that I think I have wasted time sleeping (yes laugh all you want XD), I'm back in business again, attempting to cram in or selective study whatever I can with the pathetic time left, no thanks to the mediocre education system we have here.

I have never been actually that fond of Shakespeare's work, but I must say that King Lear really beats all his other plays to the dust. For one, it had the most logical and impactful ending in my opinion, as compared to his other works like Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night, in which the endings were often slip shod and full of loose ends as our master playwright attempts to tie them up, often getting the audience entangled with him. Now, you must be wondering, how logical can the ending be when the good character of the play, Cordelia, dies in the end? Why did Lear and Gloucester have to die when they are already punished for their mistakes? Where is the sense of moral justice?

If you are thinking of that, I will say that that is probably a shallow way of looking at things. This is because you had probably subconsciously programmed your mind to think of life like how it should work in fairytales and superhero cartoons, where the good triumphs over evil, and everyone lives happily ever after. Oh well, just take a look around you, or flip the papers if you are free. You can be sure to find young people dying all the time. A teenager, great sports player, excellent in academics, popular with friends found dead in his bed the next morning. A young man, financially able and at the peak of his career, died in a car accident while on his way to get married. It's the same case with Cordelia actually, though I personally think that she might have lived if someone had remembered and took action earlier. But this is how the world runs, it's illogically logical. The possiblities are endless and at their most unpredictable, and whether it happen to be a happy or sad thing is all based on Man's own set of logic and consciousness. I think this is what Shakspeare had intended for the audience to realise from this horrible tragedy too, not to think of WHY it happen, but WHY CANT it happen.

From the way I look at things, I think all the characters have a reason for their deaths. Edmund could not have said it better "The wheel is come full circled." Indeed, Edmund was killed by his brother Edgar because of HUMAN justice, where the good will natually defeat the bad as it is commonly assumed to be. Goneril and Regan died basically under the same category too, where they are ultimately punished for the way they had treated their father, as well as their greed and selfishness which led to their own self destruction.

What about Lear and Gloucester? They are basically two old men who had made mistakes, realised them in the end and die before they can do anything. Now, refer to the quote by Edmund again. If you look at the play carefully, who were the characters present at the beginning of the play when Lear made his biggest mistake?

---Lear
---Gloucester
---Edmund
---Cordelia
---Goneril
---Regan
---Kent

Notice that these characters are the ones that died by the end of the play. (Ok, I assume Kent died too, cose he said " I have a journey, sir, shortly to go:/My master calls, and I must not say no.")

Now you ask, what about Edgar? Why didnt he die also? I think Shakespeare intend him from the beginning to be the "pilgrim" of the play (he refered to his experience as "my pilgrimage" in the last act anyway). Which means he is suppose to observe and experience the going on of the "Old world" so that he can be ready to start the new world when it's over. This is why he was not present at the beginning of the play, neither was he present when Gloucester made the mistake of believing Edmund. And I guess that's why Shakespeare had to kill off all the characters belonging to the "Old world" at the end too.

Haha. I think that I'm confusing everyone with my points. Just take it that I'm talking nonsense if you dont get what I mean.XD

Anyway, back to the last point of why I feel that King Lear is the most impactful ending. Just look that what Kent said just before Lear dies.

Vex not his ghost. O, let him pass. He hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer.

I must admit that I was actually quite emotional when I read that. It's like the full impact and realisation of Lear's suffering coming on at you at that moment. The imagery is really effective in showing us how Lear must have suffered throughout the play, how he was drove from anger to self delusion and finally madness. Poor guy. I cant help but think that it's a good thing that he died actually, considering what he had gone through. At least his suffering will be finally over. =/

Haha...I think I better stop now before Shakespeare got tired of turning in his grave and decide to jump out. XD