The Unaccomodated Man

In King Lear, the play shows us a strong theme of unaccomodated man, which means
unfurnished with the extras of civilized man. ear and !loucester were all had lac" of
#udgment and got mistreated $y their family mem$ers, which leads them to $ecome
unaccomodated. %illiam &ha"espeare used various aspects of imagery to reveal and
develop the theme of unaccomodated man. The three categories of images that he used the
most are decay, animal and torture.
'ecay image is a ma#or type of imagery used in the play. It is the main cause which leads
ear, !loucester, and (dger to $ecome unaccomodated. In the $eginning of the play, ear,
the )ing of (ngland, wanted to divide his "ingdom into three parts to give to his daughters. In
order to get the land, he demanded his daughters to give him a speech a$out how they loved
him. *is older daughters, !oneril and +egan, o$eyed him, however, his younger daughter
,ordelia refused. %ith anger, ear gave his "ingdom to his !oneril and +egan and exiled
,ordelia. *e himself had "ept a hundred "nights and wanted to live at his two older
daughters- place one after another. .et, he did not realize he had lost his authority over
!oneril and +egan, even to his country, after they received his lands. *ere was the first
mista"e ear made which leaded him to a unaccomodated man. The decay image showed
this is/
0ool 1To )ent2 &irrah, you were $est ta"e my coxcom$.
ear %hy, my $oy3
0ool %hy3 0or ta"ing one-s part that-s out of favor.
1I. iv. 4456782
The 0ool offered )ent his coxcom$, a hat wear $y the fool. %hat he said was )ent must $e
mad li"e a fool to follow ear when he lost all his power, where he was really trying to tell
ear that he had made a $ad decision of dividing his "ingdom to his two daughters who did
not really loved him. In the same scene, the 0ool also said that thou hadst little wit in thy
$ald crown when thou gavest thy golden one away. 1I. iv. 699569:2 This time, he said this
straight to ear that ear has little wit $ecause he had given his crown away. The $ald
crown sym$olize ear-s situation now as lac" of authority, where ear had no crown on his
$ald head. *owever, ear still thought his daughters would o$ey him. *is had "ept his
foolishness even when !oneril and +egan tried to get rid of his one hundred "nights to ma"e
him totally lost control. ;fter !oneril announced that she only allows ear to have fifty men,
ear went to see +egan. <ow, +egan said she can only tolerant twenty five men, ear told
!oneril that,
I-ll go with thee.
Thy fifty yet doth dou$le five5and5twenty,
;nd thou art twice her love.
1II. iv. 84958442
ear still thought one of his daughters would love him. *e thought !oneril loved him $etter
than +egan since she could let him to have more of his own servants than +egan allowed. .et,
ear did not realize that his two daughters had united together to against him. ;ll of these
showed us that the unaccomodated ear was decay.
;nimal image is a type of imagery that used very often in the play. They compare human
character-s $ehaviors with animals. ;ll though animals were at the $ottom of the ,hain of
=eing, &ha"espeare should us that sometimes humans can $e as cruel and insignificant as
animals are. %hen ear went to see +egan and complained a$out !oneril-s madness toward
him, he said, oo"ed $lac" upon me, struc" me with her tongue most serpentli"e upon the
very heart. 1II. iv. 6>656>82 ear compared !oneril to a serpent $ecause of the acts of
ingratitude she has committed. ;fter drive out $y the daughters, ear, )ent and the 0ool met
(dgar who was in disguise. (dgar pretended himself as poor mad Tom who was mistreated $y
his daughters. ear then said, Those pelican daughters. 1III. iv. >62 ?elican is a "ind of $ird.
The mother $ird would go out to search for food for her children. &he gave half digest from
her stomach to feed the $a$y $irds. ear said this sentence here to show that Tom-s daughters
were li"e the pelican $irds where they suc"ed the $lood out of him. ear pitied Tom, and told
Tom that, unaccomodated man is no more $ut a poor, $are for"ed animal as thou art. 1III. iv.
66@566A2 *is $elief is that without the trappings of society men are no $etter than animals.
This suggests ear, at this point, sees these possessions as the main thing that separates
humanity from animals.
;nother important imagery in the play is the torture image. In (liza$ethan world picture,
people would get punished for their wrongdoings. ear faced his first punishment after
!oneril and +egan droved him out. *e/
contending with the fretful elements B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
tears his white hairC
which the impetuous $lasts, with eyeless rage,
,atch in their fury, and ma"e nothing of.
1III. i. D, :5672
The !od was unhappy a$out what ear had done. *e let the nature punish ear for his
mista"es when ear did not have a shelter. ;fter !oneril and +egan found out that !loucester
had helped ear escape, they ordered men to capture him. 0or his punishment, they said/
+egan *ang him instantly.
!oneril ?luc" out his eyes.
1III. vii. A592
*ang !loucester would have made him less painful, however, pluc" out his eyes would really
torture him more. This order set $y !oneril was not only the punishment for helping ear, $ut
also the punishment to !loucester for he was having affairs and mistreated (dger. ;t the end
of the play, ,ordelia was "illed. ear cried in front of her $ody that, why should a dog, a
horse, a rat have life, and thou no $reath ant all3 1E. iii. @:75@:62 The death of ,ordelia was
the worst punishment given to ear $y !od since ,ordelia was his dearest person on earth.
;lso, it gave us a reason that caused ear, the unaccomodated man, to die.
In King Lear, most of the images are used were in metaphors and similes. The imagery
include decay images, animal images and torture images. They were used to convey themes in
the play. ;s examples showed a$ove, &ha"espeare used these imagery to reveal and develop
the theme of unaccomodated man.