King Lear is one of the most tragic parables ever presented in literature, dealing with betrayal, family deception, madness and violence. In presenting such tragic themes and ideas in his play Shakespeare uses a subplot to mirror the main action which then enhances the effect of the lessons of the parable. In both stories, parents are deceived and betrayed by their children, one of the most abominable crimes of Shakespeare's time. It is this mistreatment by the children that drives both Lear and Gloucester to madness and then death. But they are not entirely innocent victims who fell due to the evil intentions of their children. Both have made critical and constant errors in judgment that have caused their downfall, and both must realize their mistakes before they die. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the first scene of the first act, we are introduced to Lear's misguided reliance on artifice and flattery that catapults the action of the play and leads to both his positive transformation and, sadly, his death. Before dividing his kingdom among his three daughters, Lear asks "which of you shall we say loves us best, / that we may extend our greatest bounty" (King Lear Ii51-52). From the beginning it is obvious that Lear equates quality with quantity, as he so brazenly states that whoever says they love him more will receive more. He does not realize that exaggerated praise and flattery are not the same as sincere love and affection, something Lear will have to learn very painfully. The responses of his daughters Goneril, Regan, and finally Cordelia further show Lear's lack of understanding. Goneril and Regan both make exaggerated and obviously dishonest claims of love. For example, Goneril describes his love as "a love that makes one poor of breath and unable to speak" (King Lear Ii60), quite surprising considering that he is actually speaking at the time. When Cordelia, Lear's loving and honest only daughter, explains to Lear that his sisters are lying to him, "why do my sisters have husbands if they say / They love you all?" (King Lear Ii99-100), and that she loves him too much to lie and flatter him and therefore will say nothing, completely misses the point. This opening scene clearly presents the reader with Lear's major error in judgment that he will have to overcome by the end of the play. While Lear depends so heavily on words and flattery, Gloucester trusts too much in what his eyes see, and thus falls prey to Edmunds. cunning and deception. In the second scene Edmund begins his plot to discredit Edgar in the eyes of Gloucester so that he, the illegitimate son, gets everything, including property, title and material wealth. While Goneril and Regan use words to get the answer they want from Lear, Edmund uses Gloucester's trust in appearance and his own eyes to deceive him. He pretends to have a letter from Edgar that he is trying to hide from him when in reality he knows that Gloucester will ask to see the letter. Gloucester himself alludes to this dependence on sight and appearances when he asks for Edmund's letter in his use of vocabulary. He says "let us see. Come, if it be nothing, I shall not need glasses... Let us see, let us see" (King Lear I.ii.35-44). Because he has read these words himself, Gloucester does not truly doubt for a moment their validity and immediately becomes violently angry at his son without even questioning the situation. As he says moments after reading the letter, "O bad, bad! His own opinion in the/Letter. Abhorred bad, unnatural bad, detested,.