King Lear II.4.264-273

Context: Goneril and Regan are trying to convince Lear that he doesn't need any knights.

As one can tell from the very beginning of the play that King Lear is a flawed character. Although the initial judgment of Lear seems to make his rashness his ultimate flaw, this passage reveals Lear's true flaw, and ironically, he recognizes it picks the wrong solution. Lear's true flaw is putting value in appearance or/and superfluous things. There is no reason for Lear to keep his knights besides to show-off to people that he still have some authority. He argues that "Our basest beggars / Are in the poorest thing superfluous," that even beggars have things that they don't need. He continues saying that if people are reduced to live only according to their needs, they will be no different from animals. This moment reveals that Lear is no fool. His ability to conceptualize such argument hardly proves Lear as a rash being. The irony is that he understands his need for superfluous things, which is also an irony in itself. And then of all the virtues there are, he asks for patience. For a man who values more superfluous things than anything else, what he truly needs is humility. Patience is no solution to Lear's problem. By having value in appearance or superfluous things reflect Lear's authority, which gives way to pride, and it is pride that throws Lear into madness.

-Alex Lai