In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke described the effect that a complete perversion of the social order had on its citizens. He watched as the French Revolution destroyed a monarchy, publicly massacred tens of thousands of people, and replaced the old order with a new one. Burke described how this new structure decimated the minds of many, so entrenched in their ideals of social roles that radical change could only drive them mad. Their resistance to a new ideal has shattered their beliefs and pushed them to the brink of madness. This same effect can be seen in the mind of Shakespeare's King Lear. A man, an archetypal king, so immersed in his ideals of hierarchical social roles that any deviation from these roles pushed him to the edges of his mind. He had little idea of ​​the more natural human bonds that exist between people, the bonds that Shakespeare defines so well. For this reason, when the roles in which he invests his life fall apart, Lear can only grasp the threshold of madness. From this madness, however, he discovers the natural bonds that extend longer and much deeper between human beings. King Lear's madness was a passage that destroyed his ideal of the social role and replaced it with the discovery of the most natural human bond. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To understand this delineation, you must first understand Lear's ideal of social role. He is a king, or better yet, the king. Entering the play, Lear states, “Present to the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.” (I,i-34) His first words are a command, and the response is: 'I will, my lord.' Lear must be unquestionably obeyed. His appearance throughout the first scene is great. He gives great commandments, taking out a map of his lands and dividing them among his daughters like a god. He also refers to himself in the implied collective, using the words "we, us and our" to refer to his own actions: Tell me, my daughters, / Which of you loves us best, / May we extend our greatest generosity . .. (I,i-51-52) Ultimately he is self-centered, and rightly so. Monarchical social roles place the King at the top. His clearest visions of this hierarchy of roles are found in the request just cited. Lear demands that his daughters publicly display their competitive love for him through speech. It's a ridiculous request from anyone but a king. What he asks for is intrinsically good; he is a father who seeks the natural love his daughters should have for him. However, he is attempting to embrace this love through the lens of his social ideals; that is, his daughters should express this love as subjects to their king. King Lear is obviously immersed in the ideals of a hierarchical order and the social roles this implies, the rejection of which will lead directly to his descent. The descent into madness begins with the answers to the aforementioned request. His first two daughters respond with glib, false speeches about their unquenchable love for their father. Lear is extremely pleased with this, as the speeches correspond to his idea of ​​his social role in relation to his daughters. These two daughters, Regan and Goneril, have no feelings for natural human bonding and are simply filling their roles. They receive their prize. Cordelia's response, however, is far from fulfilling a duty. When asked what she can say to get a more "opulent" response than the other two, she simply states, "Nothing, my lord." (I,i-88) Lear is enraged. She is asked to explain. I love your majesty/ According to my bond, no more, no less... Miyou generated, raised, loved. I / I return those duties, as they are right, / I obey you, I love you and above all I honor you. (I,i-93-97) She does not respond as a descendant of a king, but only through her 'bond' as a loving family member. It is an honest answer, the one that Shakespeare uses to define the natural relationship between a father and a daughter. Lear, however, cannot accept this and quickly banishes her from his life. He denies all my paternal care, / the closeness and ownership of blood, / and as a stranger to my heart and me / holds you forever. (I,i-111-14) Although he loved Cordelia more, her rejection of a social ideal made Lear loathe her forever. Cordelia's rejection, and Lear's inability to accept it, was his first step down the slippery slopes of madness. Other rejections of established social roles soon followed. When his most faithful companion Kent abandons his role as a simple subject and argues with Lear's recklessness, he is exiled. Lear will not accept arguments; "Do not stand between the dragon and his wrath." (I,i-122) In the space of a few passages, Lear loses his most loving and loyal companions. And only because a couple of characters have deviated from his social ideals. He then requests that his two "faithful" daughters host him and his hundred knights for the rest of his life. This preservation of the knights despite his retirement favors his downfall. His daughters will not host him with a retinue of hateful knights. They are not respecting their role as princesses to a king by not allowing this sequel. The fault here, however, lies largely with Lear. Trying to explain his need for knights, he states, "Oh reason, not the need!" Our vilest beggars/ Are in the poorest superfluity./ Allow not nature more than nature needs,/ The life of man is as good as that of beasts.' (II,iv "259-261) Lear cannot accept life without the affirmation of his place in the hierarchy. There is no other reason for the knights other than his impenetrable idea of ​​social order. Without this order, beings humans are simply beasts. This idea does not change after his madness, but now he is destroyed, and Goneril, without any kind of natural familial connection with his father, connives against him: 'Oh, lord, to the stubborn men / The wounds that they themselves cause / They must be their schoolmasters. Close the doors.' (II, iv-297-299) This is not something that should be said of a king, and certainly not of a father. They are like machines, they embrace no love for their father nor social role nor natural bonds tears Lear to pieces. The social order collapses. He is no longer a king in the burning storm: "Here am I your slave / a poor, infirm, weak and despised old man." social role reversal begins to distort Lear's mind; as the madman states, '...you have made your/ daughters, your mothers mad...' (I,iv-164-165) The reversal observed in his family spreads through Lear's mind. In one of Shakespeare's most intrinsically ironic scenes, a once-mighty king is enduring a wild storm with only a fool and a lying subject who is destroying himself to the point of madness. Take away from my senses every other feeling / Except what beats there...' (III,iv-12-14) The awareness of not being at the top of a pyramid has destroyed his incarnation the discussion of role reversal comes spoken through the mouth of the fool: When the priests are more in words than in substance; When brewers spoil their malt with water; indebted squire, nor poor knight; when slanders do not live in tongues, nor cutpurses do not reach the crowds; when the usurers tell their gold that I collect, and the prostitutes and whores build.