Explore the significance of aspects of dramatic tragedy in the following passage and in relation to the play as a whole.

Introduction Shakespeare creates dramatic tragedy in the passage through Lear’s fatal decision to ‘divide in three our kingdom’. The irony of Lear’s action is heavy and the passage is infused with tragic implications. Far from preventing ‘future strife’ his fatal decision makes, chaos, destruction and his tragic fall inevitable. This essay will directly focus on and analyse Lear’s fatal decision to sever his kingdom into three, and will also trace the tragic implications this has on his psyche and his ‘most opulent daughter’ Cordelia. To support my claim I will embark on a close and critical analysis of the passage, as well as, looking at Act 3 Scene 2 and the denouement of the play where Lear’s decision to divide his kingdom results in his tragic downfall. Paragraph One  Shakespeare creates dramatic tragedy in the passage through his exploration of King Lear’s fatal flaw which will eventually lead to his harmatia. Lear’s fatal flaws include his excessive hubris and bad judgement which is exhibited in his devision of the love test. Shakespeare emphasises Lear’s tragic flaws through the use of personal pronouns and imperative command, ‘tell me my daughters,’ which combined with the capitalistic and quantitive language, ‘which of you shall doth say love us must,’ highlight Lear’s extreme arrogance and foolishness. Lear’s fatal flaws causes him to believe that he can make love, which is ineffable, into something that he can physically own and or see and hear in outward verbal displays of affection. Shakespeare’s presentation of Lear’s incessant craving for verbal and hyperbolic displays of love in the exposition, sets up the framework for what G.Greer called the ‘nightmare structure’ of the play, as Lear’s tragic decision caused by his fatal flaws have devastating consequences that dominate the play. Despite ‘King Lear’ being written in a pre-Christian world, Lear’s decision to abdicate the throne and divide his kingdom would have contravened the natural order and caused an unsettling atmosphere amongst contemporary audience members, as kings by divine right are Gods representative on earth and should not abnegate responsibility. Paragraph 2 Shakespeare further creates dramatic tragedy through his use of bitter irony that is interlaced throughout Lear’s speech. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony combined with the sinister use of language and juxtaposing sibilant and fricative sound patterings, ‘unburdened crawl towards death’ and ‘we shall express our darker purpose’ creates a cacophony of harsh and discordant sounds which effectively produce a foreboding and bleak atmosphere, as it cruelly foreshadows the tragic implications of Lear’s fatal decision to divide his kingdom. Lear’s decision to sever his kingdom between his daughters based on their verbal and hyperbolic display of love and affection, would have been particularly unsettling for the 17th century audience members, who would have had the civil war and years of political and religious upheaval fresh in their memories. This is supported by critic R.A.FOAKES who stated that the contemporary response to the play was that it was ‘unactable’. So much so, that for a substantial amount of time, Nathum Tate’s version of King Lear formed the basis of all stage representations.