King Lear is a story about a man who decides to give up his land and resources to his daughters. Because of that, he causes a divide in his family, and they all turn against him. He is left with no land, no power, and no family. 

In his solitude, he did, however, grow and was able to find himself. He was left with nothing and felt nothing but chaos around him while his family was splitting apart but this did not last forever. He was able to accept that what he did caused a divide in his family and after accepting what he did and coming to terms with that he had lost the relationship he once had with his daughter. This gave him peace, he no longer felt the chaos surrounding him and was at peace with his situation. 

This resonated with me because not everything lasts forever, and this is especially true about friendships. Friends will come and go, and relationships will change, but if you are stuck in the past, you won’t be able to grow in new relationships. 

This applied to me because at times, I could find myself thinking about the past and what could have been or looking to the future, wondering what could happen instead of enjoying what is happening. Living in the current moment is something everyone can and should do. When you focus too much on the past or future and try and live in a time that isn’t now, you are pulling yourself away from the current and not living your life to its full potential. By living in the moment, you give yourself more enjoyment in what is happening around you and will make it a better memory for later on. 

We are also in a moment where it is easy to get stuck on the past or owrry about the future. Being a senior in high school you can think of all the good times that you had while also worrying about what college will bring. While both of these are valid, it is important not to get stuck in those moments. This period of life only happens once, and if you spend it thinking about what could have been or what will be, then you are taking yourself out of the moment and not living it at all. 

After reading about King Lear, I think all students and readers can learn the dangers of trying to fix the past and the positives of living in the moment. Lear’s life got better when he wasn’t worried about what would happen or what had happened. The same applies to all of us, and we should all do our best to do the same as Lear and live in the present. 

When I walked into first period AP literature on the first day of school, I was ready to challenge certain beliefs that I held about myself and the world. However, I held certain preconceptions that I had not thought about, or challenged in years. These include political ideas, my personal outlook on my own life, views of society.

Previously, I found the wealth gap to be very unfair and thought it needed to change. However, I never thought about a solution or truly considered what lower class families go through. Reading King Lear brought me a new perspective by displaying class disparities from centuries ago. Shockingly enough, these disparities exist today as well. As King Lear was thrown into worse, he realized that the worse conditions had existed the entire time. This made me realize that just because I do not actively experience struggles of poverty in the U.S does not mean it is not actively affecting millions of Americans. Obviously I was aware of the issues, but this perspective made me think of it as a human issue, and not just a poverty statistic.

Towards the end of the story, King Lear realizes that he was in a position of power, so ignoring the problem would only make it worse. When I read this, I was forced to acknowledge my own privilege in my life. I want to understand that understanding the issue is not enough, but trying to make a change by volunteering or doing what I can is essential. 

Not only did this story affect my political and societal thought process, It also changed the way I viewed my own choices. One of my biggest takeaways from King Lear was that characters can be so devoted to one path, and so convinced that they are right, but be on the entirely wrong path. This was seen when King Lear banished his loyal servant and genuine daughter at the beginning of the story. Additionally, Edmund was convinced that he needed approval from his father or others. He devoted his entire life to gaining such approval when none of that mattered in reality. Watching these characters devote themselves to the wrong cause made me re assess the time and energy I spent in my life. Now, I spend more time with family and my closest friends, while also getting a job and doing activities that I genuinely enjoy. King Lear helped give me a bit of clarity that has improved my life. 

In the end, King Lear made me like reading Shakespear even more. At the beginning of the year, I was hesitant to throw myself into stories as Mr. Hiedkamp suggested. Fortunately, I slowly entered the universe of literature and allowed Shakespeare’s story to move me.