Storm Scene In King Lear

STORM SCENE IN “KING LEAR”: The storm scene constitutes the mechanical centre in “King Lear” as in “Julius Caesar” it will be recognized as the dramatic back ground to the tempest of human emotion . A C Bradley says “The storm in ‘King Lear” coincides with the storm in the human affairs and also with the storm which is present in the heart and soul of “King Lear”. And it is not ordinary storm it a night of black winds, a night “Wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch, The lion and the belly-pinched wolf Keep their fur dry.” Stapford Brooke says that “No word can tell the imaginative greatness of the scene on the black and lovely moor and in Lear’s black and lovely heart.” The storm scene reflects king’s sufferings and the lessons he learns through these sufferings. According to Moulton, the purpose of the storm is not confined to marking of emotional climax; it is one of the agencies which assist in carrying it to its height. King Lear is a willful man and he suffers due to his wishes because he does not hear to others. The king physically struggles against the storm which symbolizes certain things. There is a storm in external and internal world, disturbance in human nature and in outer world. Lear is struggling also mentally with the stormy winds and invoking the gods for help and mercy. He is tearing his white hair and treats his sufferings in different ways with his uncovered head. The image of child and parents is also very significant here. There are gusts of rains and winds, and animals must struggle for their shelter, but king is deprived of all these things. The storm is significant for him, but he does not care for it, because the storm in his mind is greater than the storm of this night. Mental excitement sometimes converts into actual madness. Lear is exposed without shelter to the pelting of the pitiless storm, and he gets wilder with its wildness .Then he is suddenly brought into contact with the half naked Tom. Previously he had said, “My wits began to run.” Now the sight of Edgar completely unhinges his mind, and he strips off his clothes. Lear is a society in him, and when a king dies, he does not die alone, but a whole of society dies with him. Lear’s destruction can be employed to the whole of the kingdom. In fact, it is a process of purification. The king would regenerate after it; he would be reformed after it. The storm symbolizes the wrath of God and is a warning for the ingratitude and disobedient children and of approaching doom. King realizes in these scenes that what is distinguishable, and what is the contrast between animals and human beings. Man’s life is as cheap as beast and it is nothing. He has experienced that there is no moral values in human life. Lear says, looking at Edgar’s madness. “Is man no more than this? --- unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art.” It is a tremendous speech. The Fool says that the king is suffering due to his daughters’ treatment. He expects nothing from nature because violence done by daughters is greater than that of the storm out side the door. Kent also says that never before in his life, he has seen such groans of roaring winds and rain. Wind, thunder, rain and lightening are the fitting elements for Lear’s passion. Their rage is but the soulless reflection of his rage. He calls on them to blow and crack their cheeks, to drown the churches to the steeples; they can never reach the height of his passion. It seems that nature at this time joins hands with cruelty that has already been shown to Lear by his daughters. 1

The storm is also a summoner for the suffering of sinful people. The idea of poetic justice is there. Sinners or wrong doers must be punished by law of nature. Lear’s sin is not so great as the punishment he is facing and he cries: “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” Lear concentrates all his attentions on the moral significant of storm. In these scenes, and after it, he thinks for the first time for others and for the fool. He was egoist before it, and it is the first sign of feeling for others. “My wits begin to turn Come on, my boy. How dost, my boy? Art cold? I am cold myself. Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart. That’s sorry yet for thee.” A. C. Bradley says that it is the rage of storm that awakens in him a great change. Now he learns the falseness of flattery and brutality of authority. It is in the storm that he thinks perhaps for the first time in his life, of the dreadful fate of the world rather than of himself. He pierces deep into the hidden blackness of mankind. Lear is trying to become sane. A conflict is there between sanity and insanity. Every thing pertaining to morality is symbolized by the storm. In the end, it (Storm) symbolizes death also. King is proved a fool now and the fool who is his loyal servant disappears after it because there is no need for the fool. King himself is turned into a fool as he says: “Make no noise, make no noise, and draw this curtain. So; so, so, we’ll go to supper in the morning, so, so, so.” In short, storm signifies the universal disorder. It symbolizes disturbance in hell, in heaven, in earth, ‘in Lear’s external and internal kingdom, and in human mind, it is a symbol of chaos (disorder). Moreover, the storm scene provides a great depth to the meaning of the play. Written&Composed By: Prof. A.R.Somroo M.A.English&Education. 0661-610063 Khangarh.

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