Intentions are apart of everything we do , we aim to achieve something and sometimes we are successful and sometimes we don’t follow through.It is apart of our human nature to have intentions.Sometimes our intentions our inspired by knowledge , Shakespeare could be considered to be one of the best play writers and authors in the world and regularly delves into the the genre of tragedy in his plays.Aristotles poetics are a document that outlined what Aristotle believed made the perfect tragedy and tragic hero, it is evident that Shakespeare had a knowledge of Aristotles poetics when writing the play King Lear by the way it evoked emotion from the audience.His use devices were how he showed this in King Lear.

The Tragic hero is a theory that Aristotle recognised about the protagonist of a story or play in the genre of tragedy, he believed that for a tragedy to be successful they must evoke emotions of pity and fear within the audience or reader, and the purging of emotions. Aristotle believed a good tragic hero was someone who was not better or worse morally than a normal person so that audience could identify with the character. The tragic hero is a character who makes an error of judgement which ultimately leads to their own desolation in a tragedy “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” is what Aristotle believed.He believed there are certain traits that a tragic hero will posses to create the perfect tragedy these traits are hamartia, peripeteia, and anagnorisis. A characters hamartia is the tragic flaw they have that ultimately will lead to their downfall, a characters peripeteia in a tragedy is when the protagonists fortune turns from good to bad and their anagnorisis is when the character has a realisation.Shakespeare was an English play writer, he is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist.Shakespeare clearly had knowledge of the Aristotelian tragic hero because he illustrates many of these characteristics in the protagonists of his plays , in King Lear we can see he uses all shows all these characteristics through his main protagonist Lear from language features in the script intending to make the audience to feel emotions through out the play .

Everyone in the world will have a flaw wether they are aware of it or not ,Aristotle believed that one of the characteristics a tragic hero must have is their hamartia; the fatal flaw leading to the heroes downfall.In the character Lear we can see his hamartia at the beginning of the play when he decided to divide his kingdom and give it to his daughters.He demands that his daughters tell him  “which of you shall we say doth love us most.” in order to inherit the kingdom.We discover in this part of the play that Lear’s hamartia is his pride and need for love and devotion by the fact that he needs praise and devotion from his daughters to feel like his daughters are worthy of inheriting the kingdom from him and when Cordelia his only honest daughter says “I love your Majesty according to to my bond no more ,nor more less” it sends Lear into rage and he banishes her from the kingdom and then later in the act banishes his loyal servant Kent because he disagrees with Lear’s decision.Cordelia never said she didn’t love her father she just did not go over the top with her confession of love but Lear’s arrogance and need for love and devotion wanted greater than what she confessed to him ultimately ending up with the two most loyal and faithful people Lear has around him gone.In the Script Shakespeare intends to use the theme of blindness and eyes to show the audience Lear’s Hamartia , the blindness King Lear possessed was a mental flaw to see the truth “Hence and avoid my sight” one of the many references to sight and eyes Lear makes, we can see he wants Cordelia out of his this sight of ignorance he has cerated that he is the most important and loved person to everyone around him.In act 1 when he believes his two malicious daughters lies about how much they love him but cannot see Cordelias true love for him it shows us what he is truly blind of and that’s the reality in front of him.  “…for we Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see That face of her again. Therefore be gone Without our grace, our love, our benison.” The ignorance Lear has towards his two eldest daughters fake confessions of love leads to his misjudgement and ultimately his downfall.During this the Audi

In the beginning of the play Lear was walking on sunshine he has England below him and he shines his authority , control and wisdom down on the people, however at the end of the play things have dramatically changed for the worse for Lear. This is Lear’s Peripetia or his reversal of fortune brought by his own error of fortune, another characteristic Aristotle believed made a good tragic hero. Lear’s error all stemmed from his Hamartia and hubris , his pride made hime blind to the reality in front of him and banished Kent and Cordelia the only people who were truly loyal to him , this left him vulnerable to Regan and Goneril plotting against him and ultimately drives him mad.A language device that Shakespeare used to show this reversal of fortune and Lear’s changing sanity was the use of Verse and prose.These are two different styles of writing that Shakespeare is using to represent different things through the play to show his knowledge of the Aristotelian tragic hero. Verse is writing in iambic pentameter,Verse can also be called poetry and tends to have a regular rhythm, and is divided into “stanzas” rather than paragraphs. Prose could be called “normal language” it is what we use in everyday speech , when a character is not speaking in iambic pentameter it shows they are less important or losing their mind.In Act 2 we see Lear’s speech begin to break and become less sophisticated in this act ,This is a reflection of his power  and his love for his daughters, he is confused what is happening at this point.Shakespeare uses this language device to show him falling in the heart chain of being.We can see that his verse is becoming more and more broken and this is the beginning into his journey into insanity.He uses this to evoke pity in the audience as Aristotle defined made perfect tragedy.The audience or reader feel pity for him cause they can see his fall from being and told how much he is loved to being mad and left with no one around him who cares for how he is.Another way that Shakespeare showed the beginning of Lear’s peripeteia was through the symbol of the storm.The storm is invented to show how Lear a frail old man has been left homeless by his two daughters, this is a complete reversal of fortune from when Lear lived up in a palace.The Storm represents how Lear is feeling at this time and the chaotic state of England, it is in chaos because of the turmoil going on in the kingdom cause by Lear.The storm represents Lear’s madness as well “Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain!” a quote that Lear says during the storm showing that he isn’t afraid of the storm at all even though it is a storm he should be afraid of in reality , just another sign that he is loosing his sanity.This makes the audience feel uneasy because England is falling apart.Shakespeares use of language devices shows a clear understanding of the characteristic of peripeteia Aristotle believed was essential to a tragic hero.

Anagnorisis or recognition is the third key characteristic to a tragic hero.”Recognition, as the name indicates, is a change from ignorance to knowledge” as Aristotle defined . As the play goes on Lear begins to have moments of recognition before his downfall.Lear began to realise that he failed to see the true love in front of him and loyalty because of his excessive pride and is now beginning to see all his mistakes once he reunited Cordelia.Shakespeares choices of words and animal imagery are used to show Lear’s recognition and also show his evident knowledge of the Aristotelian tragic hero.”They told me I was everything.’Tis a lie – I am not ague-proof” The daughters told him he was there everything in order have their part of the kingdom, When Lear says he is not ague-proof is referring to the fact he isn’t bullet proof and he is recognising that he missed this fakeness of his two eldest daughters.He recognises that he was wrong to banish Cordelia  “if it be so,It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows “ he has seen how he was and wants to redeem himself in her eyes for all the pain he caused her by banishing her in hopes that this will bring her back to life.Through out the play Lear repeatedly used animal imagery to convey himself and his daughters in different ways , he referred to himself as a dragon a wrathful mighty mystical creature and his daughters as animals such as foxes , snakes and vultures showing the audience he thinks his daughters are just like animals that are vicious, sneaky and predators that are going to pray on him.However in the last act when he is reunited with Cordelia he is on his knees for forgiveness he has become much more gentle “We two alone will sing like bird I’ the cage” the animal imagery used here is very different to earlier when he was wrathful and referring to himself as a dragon , now he just wants to be peaceful with his one daughter that loved him like a birds are together rather than arrogant.Another example we see of this animal imagery cage is “At gilded butterflies” another peaceful animal that is at the bottom of the food chain and just flutters around calmly and in peace.This is very evident that Lear has now come full circle from being a wrathful ,arrogant, ignorant King.Shakespeares intentions through the use of this is for the audience to come full circle from feeling angry and at unease about Lear and his past decisions to sad and pitiful that he has ended up dying of a broken heart due to his foolish judgement and decision making.

In the play King Lear it is evident to us that there are parallels to the Aristotelian tragic hero and the main protagonist of the play King Lear, Shakespeare uses many language devices and themes to show us the characteristics of the tragic hero and his intentions to take the audience on an emotional journey through Lear’s decision to split up his kingdom.