"A net of good and evil"

At first glance, The Tempest and King Lear could not be more dissimilar. The Tempest is a lighthearted romp on a secluded island with odd characters that encounter conflict yet all live happily ever after. On the other hand, King Lear is a heart wrenching tragedy steeped in familial betrayal and injustice. Yet there is one theme that ties the two plays together: that is the theme of compassion. This theme is more obvious to readers/viewers of The Tempest – especially in the final scene wherein Prospero chooses to be merciful and forgive all. While this theme is widely overlooked in critiques and analyses of King Lear, it is an absolutely critical component of this play. If one were to peel away the gore and brutality of King Lear, the innermost structure of this play is comprised of a compassion for others which both deepens the tragic element of the play and also adds an undeniable beauty.

In the introduction to King Lear in The Necessary Shakespeare, David Bevington asserts that Shakespeare "pushes to its limit the hypothesis of a malign or at least indifferent universe in which human life is meaningless and brutal. Few plays other than Hamlet and Macbeth approach King Lear in evoking the wretchedness of human existence" (656). Similarly, the Spark Notes study guide for this play notes that "King Lear is a brutal play, filled with human cruelty and awful, seemingly meaningless disasters. The play's succession of terrible events raises an obvious question for the characters—namely, whether there is any possibility of justice in the world, or whether the world is fundamentally indifferent or even hostile to humankind." (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear/themes.html)--Sparknotes is not appropriate in a scholarly paper. It cannot be denied that the terrible and brutal elemants of this play are jarring. As such, they cannot be overlooked. But to focus solely on the brutal aspects in King Lear is to understand half of the play and to lose the very rich meaning. For ultimately, in King Lear , Shakepeare presents a message of hope and unconditional love that can buoy one above the evil and brutality inherent in humankind.

One of the first redeeming examples of loyalty and/or compassion in the play is presented through the character of Kent. Lear is enraged because his daughter Cordelia will not shower him with flattery and as a result he disowns her and gives her share of his estate to her sisters. Kent is unable to stand idly by and see Cordelia mistreated so. Even though Lear is clearly not in a reasonable state, Kent is forthright with Lear and bluntly urges him to "check his hideous rashness" (1.1.151) Lear repeatedly cautions Kent to keep quiet, but when he will not, Lear banishes Kent and gives him six days to leave town. Later in Act I, Scene IV, we see another example of quite impressive loyalty, when Kent disguises himself as Caius so that he may remain in service to Lear – the very man who banished him so coldly. Introducing himself to the audience as the disguised Caius, Kent says : "Now banished Kent, If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemned, so may it come thy master, whom thou lov'st, shall find thee full of labors." (1.4.1) Indeed, Kent remains loyal to the sometimes crazy, sometimes enlightened Lear throughout the play. Kent is with Lear when he dies in the closing scene. Shortly thereafter when Albany tells Kent and Edgar that together, they shall now rule the realm, Kent responds with one of the last two lines in the play: "I have a journey, sir, shortly to go. My master calls me; I must not say no." (5.3.327) It seems that the master Kent is speaking of is Lear, and that the journey he is referring to is to the land of death. Throughout the play, Kent has personified a selfless servant who truly views his only purpose as serving Lear. As such, it is a dreadful mistake to overlook the importance of the character of Kent when interpreting the themes of the play. His emotions, compassion, loyalty and actions in response to Lear's misfortune and suffering are touching.

Yet Kent is not the only character who demonstrates some sort of angst or suffering in response to the distress of another. King Lear who opens the play with a demonstration of absolute power and intolerance seems to evolve and grow as a person at the same time that his power and possessions are stripped from him. It is when Lear is at one of his lowest points, homeless in the midst of a raging storm, that he first shows signs of empathy. Thinking about the poor, he laments that he did not care for them when he was King: "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you from seasons such as these? Oh, I have ta'en too little care of this!" (3.4.27) Later, in a show of either madness or humanity good– or perhaps both, Lear sheds his clothes in comraderie with Edgar who is disguised as the unclothed madman, Poor Tom.

Try to make transitions more organic to the meaning. Later, in Act III, Scene VI, the theme of compassion is prominent again. When Gloucester overhears a plot to kill Lear, he rushes to Kent and urges Kent and the Fool to bring Lear to safety in Dover. Each of these characters are making sacrifices in order to help Lear. In an aside to the audience at the closing of this scene, Edgar commiserates with Lear by saying: "When we our betters see bearing our woes, we scarcely think our miseries our foes...How light and portable my pain seems now, when that which makes me bend makes the King bow" (3.6.102).

The next scene is a truly horrific one, the one in which Gloucester suffers cruel torture for coming to the aid of Lear. But even as he is imprisoned by the cold Cornwall and Regan, he says that he sent Lear to Dover out of compassion "because I would not see thy cruel nails pluck out his poor old eyes, not thy fierce sister in his anointed flesh rach boarish fangs" (3.7.61). Sadly, for Gloucester, this is just the fate he is to suffer, and just after Cornwall grinds out one of his eyes, a random servant – identified only as First Servant shows that we do not live in an indifferent universe as David Bevington suggests. The otherwise anonymous first servant interjects (to Cornwall): "Hold your hand, my Lord! I have served you ever since I was a child; But better service have I never done you than now to bid you hold." He then battles with Cornwall but is slain form behind by Regan. While his appearance in the play is a scant ten lines, the First Servant is a most important character. The First Servant is the personification of compassion – an individual who cannot abide the suffering of another and who endeavors to relieve this suffering, out of the sheer goodness of human nature.

As the play unfolds, the theme of compassion is repeated continually. From the beautiful images of Edgar caring for his blinded father, Gloucester, and trying to give him reason to live, to the gorgeous but tragic ending of Cordelia dead in her father's arms the idea of love, loyalty, empathy and compassion are interwoven throughout.

The Tempest knows none of the gravity of King Lear. David Bevington categorizes The Tempest as a romance in The Necessary Shakespeare. While The Tempest incorporates the romantic meeting and mating of Ferdinand and Miranda, it is classified as a romance more for the idealism that is at the core of the climax. While there are evil plots of overthrowing rulers, they are all thwarted before they come to fruition. For example, just as Antonio and Sebastian are about to murder the sleeping Alonso and Gonzalo, Ariel causes Gonzalo to awaken thereby thwarting the plan. Meanwhile, Stefano, Trinculo and Caliban plot to kill Prospero but again, the loyal servant Ariel intervenes on behalf of Prospero.

Like King Lear, the idea of compassion ushers in the tale of The Tempest and also concludes it. More specifically, the first scene of The Tempest shows a tempest raging at sea and causing a shipwreck. Watching from her secluded island the pure Miranda's emotions are moved by the imagined suffering of those who were on the ship. She laments to her father: "Oh, I have suffered with those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel, who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, dashed all to pieces. Oh, the cry did knock against my very heart!" (1.2.6) Prospero who has arranged the storm tells her that she should not worry because no one was hurt.

The last scene of the play has all the characters together on the stage. Through Prospero's magic, they are all in a trancelike state. One by one, Prospero frees each one from the spell and speaks to them individually. Though he holds all the power at this point – as he has not yet given up his magic - he does not seek revenge upon any of them. To his brother, Antonio, he does demand his dukedom back, but he also offers to forgive him.

The Tempest knows none of the complexity of King Lear but in a much more obvious way showcases the theme of compassion. It seems that Shakespeare may have written The Tempest to serve as an enjoyable diversion for the audience, whereas his intention with a play with the complexity of King Lear may have been to provoke serious contemplation regarding human nature. But whether it is found in the lighthearted romance like The Tempest, or a heart wrenching tragedy like King Lear the concept of the role of both good and evil in human nature never gets stale. Hundreds of years after Shakespeare lived the novelist John Steinbeck wrote the following words in East of Eden: "I believe that there is one story in the world and only one -- Humans are caught -- in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too -- in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have -- There is no other story" (411). It seems that William Shakespeare knew this long before John Steinbeck did. The Tempest and King Lear are perfect examples of the story of the net of good and evil. The former is offered in a simple, light manner, while the latter is the ultimate multi-layered exploration of this compelling paradox that is human nature.