The Core Blog

Political correctness aside, the opening line of Pride and Prejudice is a near-platitude that seems old-fashioned, but often still rings true today. The author's biting wit comes a few sentences later when this powerful statement leads to squabbles about favoritism and superficial characteristics that so often lead love astray.

Rich men coming into town and lots of single girls to marry off. How exciting!

We're finally starting a book that wasn't written by a white man, which is timely considering Columbia is about to welcome the Class of 2013, which is 50 percent minority.

All the death is almost unbearable. The most noble characters survive, but they, too, have lost so much because of betrayal and greed and lust. The suicides, murders and other deaths blur into one horrible ending.

For brevity's sake, one assumes, the battle is over before it begins. And talk about a surprise ending: The good guys lost.

Lear and Cordelia have been captured. Edgar convinces Gloucester to flee with him to avoid death. The only bright spot in this tragedy so far is Edgar and Cordelia's loyalty to their fathers despite their parents' betrayal.

Regan: She betrays her father and kicks him out of her castle. She also plays a role in blinding Gloucester and will do anything to beat her sister to win Edmund.

Goneril: She also kicks out her father. Now, she's trying to have her husband killed so she can marry Edmund.

Edmund: He lies to his father so that Gloucester will kill Edgar, his brother. Now he has Goneril and Regan fighting over him, and he has told them both that he loves them while waiting to see how things work out.

Despite her father's betrayal, Cordelia forgives him without a thought. That kindness seems to begin to snap Lear out of his madness and proves Cordelia's decision at the beginning of the play not to take part in the foolish games her wicked sisters were so eager to win.

Meanwhile, the war between the British and the French is just about to begin.

With all this selfish dishonesty, it's odd that Edgar lies to his father to save him. Disguised as poor Tom, Edgar leads Gloucester to what he thinks is the top of a cliff so he can commit suicide. After Gloucester faints, Edgar tells him a devil led him the cliff, and he survived a horrible fall, a miracle.

That lie is enough to convince Gloucester to live, but what are the morals surrounding this? Did Edgar do the right thing? What other options did he have, and would any of them been more decent?

The problem with aligning oneself with rats is that they'll eventually do to you what they're doing to your common enemy.

The war hasn't even begun, and already Regan and Goneril are starting their own furtive battle over Edmund. Meanwhile, white knight Cordelia is back with an army and a doctor, hoping to fix all of her father's problems.

The play is getting more difficult to put down. The acts are shorter, packed with action as the multiple conflicts come to a head. What more could we ask?

Edgar has finally reunited with Gloucester, who is now suicidal because of his cruel treatment toward his son. Goneril is making a play for Edmund, but her sister may be in a better position now that her husband, Cornwall, was killed by his servant trying to prevent the cruel treatment of Gloucester.

Albany returns home to find that Goneril is mixed up in all this treachery, and he is disgusted.

The betrayal by family plays a dominant role in King Lear, and it seems to overwhelm another, related issue: The inability of parents to judge their children's motives.

After being tortured and blinded by Cornwall and Regan, Gloucester calls for Edmund, only to find out that his bastard son has betrayed him. Much like Lear, Gloucester took Edmund's word as an opportunity to turn on his other son. It would be easy to justify these actions as a parent's undying love, but why did they both so willingly turn on their other child?