In Act 1, Scene 2, Gloucester and his illegitimate son Edmund reveal two contradictory views of human agency. Gloucester looks to the heavens to explain the troubles of the world: "These late eclipses of the sun and moon portend no good to us. Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by sequent effects"(1.2.109-12). Edmund mocks his father's beliefs and instead places the blame for human misery squarely in the hands of humans. He asserts:
This is the excellent foppery of the world, that
when we are sick in fortune (often the surfeits of
our own behavior) we make guilty of our disasters
the sun, the moon, and stars as if we were villains
on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves
thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance;
drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced
obedience of planetary influence; and all that we
are evil in, by a divine thrusting on (1.2.125-33).
What do we make of these philosophical speeches? Do these speeches tell us about the character of Gloucester and Edmund? Do they expound on a major theme or debate in this play? Given the events of the play and the reaction of the characters, does one of these views prove correct? Is our belief in God "the excellent foppery of the world"? Is this a play in which the divine controls human agency or humans themselves?
King Lear definitively shows that human misery is not necessarily caused by human action. However, at first glance it would seem just the opposite when Edmund succinctly states in his speech, “when we are sick in fortune (often the surfeits of our own behavior)” (1,2,126-127). From Edmunds wording it seems cut and dry what the cause of misery is, “our own behavior”. However to leave it there ignores two very important details. Firstly Edmund says specifically “often” our problems are caused by our own actions, which leaves the door open to interpret that human misery is not in fact exclusively caused by our actions. The second detail to take into account is that Edmund is the villain of the play, obviously he thinks the misery he is spreading to others is caused by others' actions. If he were to acknowledge that outside forces could cause misery in one’s life he would by proxy acknowledge that his actions are causing misery. Essentially he states that misery in one's life can only be caused by one’s own actions to absolve himself of the horrible deeds he will commit later in the play. Lastly we can look to the causes of misery at the end of the play. Specifically the deaths of Gloucester and The King. We learn of Gloucster’s death when Edgar explains his “heart / (Alack, too weak the conflict to support) / ’Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, / Burst smilingly” (5.3.232-235). From this we gather that Gloucester essentially died of a heart attack. I think the misery of a death by heart attack is because of Gloucester’s own actions. Instead it was simply luck that killed him. A similar idea can be seen in the King’s death when just prior he exclaims, “Pray you undo this button” (5.3.373). I believe this action alludes to another heart attack because the feeling of shortness of breath the king attributes to a tight button on his shirt is a common symptom of a heart attack. Once again, as is with Gloucester’s case, a heart attack is not directly because of the king's actions, and instead is simply caused by bad luck. Ultimately, the play shows the potential for outside causes of misery through the circumstances and wording of Edmund’s speech as well as the causes of two major deaths.
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