How does the dramatic opening scene of King Lear unleash the radical and powerful forces that result in the traditional order being overturned?

Many components of the opening scene in King Lear introduce themes and issues that become apparent throughout the main plot of King Lear. One such component is the stress on the importance of language within the court. While Reagan and Goneril are strong advocates of the 'glib and oily art' that is court flattery, Cordelia instead refuses and Kent is the only character who agrees with her position against her sisters. While Lear is incensed that Cordelia cannot copy her sisters and merely attempt to verbalise her feelings for her father, the play shows, through Lear's perepeteia and the play's cathartic ending, that Kent and Cordelia were indeed correct. The play ends with Kent summarising 'The weight of this sad time we must obey,/ Speak what we feel not what we ought to say', a sententious rejection of the traditional 'Court holy water [flattery]' and a call for a new mode of courtly diplomacy.

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Answered by Felix S. English Literature tutor

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