Beginning of Essay
"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive". Sir Walter Scott may not have intended to describe the tangled web of secrets that fuels Shakespeare's tragedy "", but it certainly applies. Secrets come in many shapes and sizes, and in works o ....

Middle of Essay
.... that his daughters do not love him. What follows plunges Lear into the depths of hell, and then through his eventual realization of this secret, he is able to redeem himself. Shakespeare writes this story in a manner that the reader understands the cause of Lear's problems, but Lear himself does not. This draws the reader into the story because the reader knows that Lear's actions will lead to his downfall. As the story progresses the reader begins feeling very sympathetic towards Lear, because they understand the failure of Lear to expose the secret. Without the secret, however, a lot of heartbreak would have been saved, but there would have bee ....