However, Kent knows that Oswald is carrying letters that will be used against the king, and whether in disguise or not, Kent will not lie. Thus, Kent's attack on Oswald is a reaction to the steward's dishonesty and to his purpose in fulfilling Goneril's orders.
In King Lear, Kent is angry at Oswald because Oswald is carrying letters back and forth for Goneril, Kent's wife, and that Goneril is using the letters to carry out her plan to kill Lear, her father. Kent is also angry that Oswald is not forthcoming with the information that Kent requests from him, so he kills him.
Kent hurls insults and draws his sword against Oswald for bringing 'letters against the king' and taking 'vanity the puppet's part against the royalty of her father'. Regan, Cornwall, Gloucester and Edmund arrive and stop the fight but Kent refuses to back down saying 'anger hath a privilege'.
Oswald, Goneril's steward, is a willing accomplice to Goneril's plotting and a henchman without honor. Oswald adds to this negative perception by failing to defend himself against Kent's attack and by lying that he spared Kent's life because Kent is an old man. These events paint Oswald as weak and dishonest.
The earl of Kent, a nobleman who has served Lear faithfully for many years, is the only courtier who disagrees with the king's actions. Kent tells Lear he is insane to reward the flattery of his older daughters and disown Cordelia, who loves him more than her sisters do.
According to Truskinovsky[4] the case of Lear warrants the diagnosis of bipolar I disorder, most recent episode manic, severe with psychotic features. The manic episode was primary and the psychosis developed on its background, provoked by the increasing agitation and physical exertion.
Why is Kent violently angry at Oswald, Goneril's steward? because Oswald comes with letters against the King and, pretends he has never seen Kent.
Oswald is an insolent, cowardly liar and as self-seeking as the other evil characters. Keen to receive a financial reward, he is only too ready to kill Gloucester when he comes across him in Act IV. His selfish opportunism reflects Gonerill's ambitious rapacity.
In the play, Oswald is diagnosed by one of the 'foremost' doctors in Paris as having congenital syphilis.
Lear runs off when some of Cordelia's search party come upon him. When Oswald appears and tries to kill Gloucester, Edgar kills Oswald and finds on his body a letter from Goneril to Edmund plotting Albany's death.
What happened to Kent in King Lear? King Lear banishes Kent, but Kent disguises himself as a peasant named Caius so that he can remain in Lear's service. By the end of the play, Kent is still alive but suggests that he will soon take his life.
Kent meets Oswald at Gloucester's castle (where both await answers to the letters they have brought Regan) and challenges Oswald to fight. The disturbance and Kent's explanations provoke Cornwall into putting Kent into the stocks for punishment.
Kent spends most of the play disguised as a peasant, calling himself “Caius,” so that he can continue to serve Lear even after Lear banishes him. He is extremely loyal, but he gets himself into trouble throughout the play by being extremely blunt and outspoken.
Edmund's determination to undo his brother and claim his father's title causes him to cut his own arm early in the play to make an imaginary fight between Edgar (his brother) and himself more convincing.
Oswald blames the whole thing on Kent/Caius, who can provide only one excuse for starting a fight with Oswald: he found Oswald's face displeasing. Kent answers Cornwall's questions rudely, without sucking up to him. Cornwall, not at all impressed, orders that Kent/Caius be put in the stocks.
King Lear, the main character, is lead to his downfall as a result of his own choices. These choices lead him to lose everything, which includes the lives of his daughter as well as his own. King Lear's poor decisions are a result of his clouded judgment and arrogant attitude.
Oswald is also merciless with his mother. He rejects her maternal sentimentality. In Act 3, he's just told her that a) he doesn't love his father, and b) he doesn't love her. Oswald doesn't accept the idea that just because he came from Mrs.
Why does Oswald return home? He wants to honor his father, and his father's ghost has instructed him to come. He feels ill, and he wants to marry a Norwegian wife. The "joy of life" compels him to make his mother happy.
She was conceived by Mr. Alving. So, Regina's mother is Johanna and her father is Oswald's father. It means that Regina and Oswald and brother and sisters of each other.
Edmund, Goneril, and Regan all act as antagonists in King Lear, but the real antagonist may be the idea of power itself. In the beginning of the play, when they have relatively little power, Goneril and Regan flatter Lear to stay in his favor and beguile him into surrendering his power.
King Lear | Characters - Sample answer
Edmund seems to be a complex character who can't decide what he wants. This unpredictability makes him an interesting and exciting evil character to watch develop.
King Lear Summary
King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and banishes the third one who loves him. His eldest daughters both then reject him at their homes, so Lear goes mad and wanders through a storm.
Framed by his brother Edmund for the attempted murder of his father Gloucester, Edgar has to hide himself. In taking on the disguise of the beggar Poor Tom, Edgar sheds his noble identity: 'Edgar I nothing am' (2.3. 21).
Goneril poisons Regan to eliminate her rival for Edmund's affection. She plans to support Edmund in killing Albany, her husband, and marry Edmund instead.
Although banished, Kent disguises himself in an effort to stay close to his king. Kent is honest — he will not lie to his king — and he is truly selfless, devoted to Lear. When his attempts to protect Lear from his own impetuous nature fail, Kent assumes the guise of an ordinary man and resolves to protect his king.