Selfhood in Classical Texts free essay sample

A paper which explores the issue of selfhood in several texts, especially William Shakespeares King Lear and Augustines Confessions. The paper explores several texts including The Confessions by Augustine, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, Petrarchs poetry, and Shakespeares drama King Lear and shows that all of these are products of societies in which the dominant religious ethos was Christian rather than pagan. The paper shows that although all the texts share this similar historical feature, fundamentally opposing views of the self (the distinction between outer and inner life) are articulated through the theological texts in contrast with the works of lyric and dramatic poetry. This Christian point of view, of the importance of the interior over the exterior, seems to at first be born out in Shakespeares King Lear. In the first scene, the king of the title is witnessed undervaluing the contribution of his youngest daughter Cordelia, whom honestly tells him how much she loves him, unlike his superficial and cruel daughters Gonoril and Reagan. We will write a custom essay sample on Selfhood in Classical Texts or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page King Lear is set in pre-Christian times yet was written in a Christian era. This might seem to validate the idea that pagan times valued the exterior, while Christianity values the interior. Yet everyone around and outside of Lear sees through his daughters, except the man himself, even at the very beginning. The king of France marries Cordelia without a dowry. Similarly, in the subplot of Gloucester, the man is unable to understand the treachery of his bastard son until he has rejected his true son.