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EveryKing. In each of us there lies a king. ... Each of us is an Everyking. Citation
Everyman. "Everyman, 15th Century." Medieval Sourcebook. 7 May 2006. ...
Submitted by eparsons on May 29, 2006
Category: English
Words: 1688 | Pages: 7
Views: 159
Popularity Rank: 73,761
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In each of us there lies a king. This is how we comfort ourselves whenever the measly portion of comfort that life has allotted us seems to get smaller. We like to fill ourselves with a sense of self-worth, of deserving the respect of a king, insisting that we can nobly rise above the struggles, decisions and complications which plague human life. Unfortunately, this is a fruitless task since no one, not even kings, can escape the moral duties which are part of human existence. The eternal toil of humanity is present in the play King Lear, by William Shakespeare. To display the universality of human existence, Shakespeare has placed each of us inside a king, instead of the other way round. In this way, King Lear becomes an embodiment of every individual, and the play itself becomes a critique of society which provides a moral similar to the 15th Century morality play, Everyman. Everyman's quest willing to find someone to die with him follows human nature through the maze of temptations and values we all experience. Lear himself takes on the role of Everyman. The trials and tribulations that both Lear and Everyman undergo are symbolic of what each human individual must experience. As they approach death, they come to an understanding of death's inevitability, learn to supersede materialistic standards to embrace the virtuous, and reject vindictiveness, both of which are represented by the other characters.
There are similarities between Lear and Everyman from the beginning of the play, when it is established that the respective protagonists have not long left to live. For Lear, the advance of old age marks his "crawl toward death" (Shakespeare 1.1.40), and in Everyman, Death himself brings Everyman news of his impending "pilgrimage" (Everyman). In both plays the universality of death is emphasized. Neither Lear's rank, nor the better moral character he exhibits by the end of the play prove to be a barrier to death. Similarly, although Everyman succeeds in...
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