From Darkness To Light: Shakespeare's King Lear and the Indian Gunas

Abstract

This paper analyses Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear in the light of the Indian Guna theory to depict the process of inner maturity that takes place within the hero's mind. Shakespeare's focus in this play (as with his other tragedies) is on the soul of the hero where the real action takes place. In probing into the core of the king, the ace dramatist delineates the process of a gradual evolution of Lear's consciousness from a dark state of Tamas, through the active Rajas, and its final state of Sattva and beyond. The soul of this powerful tragedy lies in Lear's transcendence even beyond the Sattva, which alone proves that "ripeness is all."

Keywords: Shakespeare's King Lear, Indian Gunas, Guna theory-Indian philosphy-ignorance-darkness-realization-transformation-consciousness, Shakespearean tragedies, Alfred Harbage, Conceptions of Shakespeare, Kabuki Shakespeare, Russian Shakespeare, African Shakespeare, Indian Shakespeare.