Connection: King Lear and Power

In King Lear the decisions of the characters are fueled by their greed for power. We see that even the love between family can be torn apart by the need for power. These power struggles can be seen even today, and in King Lear you get a glimpse at what feelings might be behind the war and politics of these dealings today. What caught me the most is how much the people we (the audience) see as being bad believe in their eternal rightness; disregarding the obvious signs of wrongness and hurt. Goneril and Regan are so focused on seizing power that they refuse to see that they are torturing their own ailing father into madness (until it's too late). Edmund is a different case. He sees and knows what he is doing to the people that once were very close to him, people that he shares blood with, yet he still continues. He believes his quest is righteous because he deserves power. He thinks it was stolen from him, that fate played a cruel trick. In his reasoning he wrongly puts the blame on his family instead of on years of social norms. Shakespeare inspired a whole slew of different plot themes that are utilized by many writers today. The Chronicles of Narnia, Goose Girl, Fall of a Kingdom, Abarat, the Looking Glass Wars... to name a few. In King Lear, Shakespeare presents the ultimatum in these feelings because you finally understand why power was so important, and you understand why these people felt justified in their actions. The end justifies the means. Shakespeare dealt in different worlds, but he used subjects that spanned generations and cultures... it is one of the reasons he was a king of his craft. He makes us feel what the 'bad-guy' feels... which has been much lost in literature today. His characters have depth and feelings and come alive... and therefore we see a mind in their madness.