Kng Lear

I believe the failure of the “mother” presence is because of Lear’s eternal instincts of being a king. In the text he seems to see emotional awareness to be weak and unstable. He believes that women should only have these feelings and emotions and be able to control. He draws a fine line between femininity and masculinity. When it the time come for Lear to give away his territory to his daughters and the events that occur to him are vents that he never thought he would face in spite of his family, so he sees the other side of masculinity. He is betrayed, becomes venerable, and feels the hurt of losing his favorite daughter to the tow that betrayed him. The phrase "These are the tears of ashamed self-knowledge, manly tears caused by a realization of what his original childish demands” tells me that is finally accepted his human nature to feel defeated and unloved. He realized that even the ones he thought were the closest ones to him and told him what he wanted to hear are not always trustworthy and honest for the right reason. I agree with Kahn’s statement that King Lear admitted feeling the power of feminine presence into his world as the situation began to get out of control. The tears that he cried were not longer considered a “woman’s weapon” in which he felt to defend himself. All of Lear’s reactions towards Cordelia do seem like he is resisting the “mother” presence but I do not think agree with Kahn’s statement that Lear’s action is the repressed identification with the mother. I think that deep down he knew what was happening but didn’t want to believe it. He knew that he was feeling vulnerable but didn’t want to show it to his daughters or their husbands. He knew that he had been fooled but wanted to keep the tough king exterior.