Separation,Liminality And Aggregation

King Lear lives in an environment of flattery in his early life,which prompts him to form a headstrong personality.In his opinion,everything is either black or white,and he acts on his own likes and dislikes.This also lays the groundwork for his tragic ending.When Lear gets rid of the shackles of the identities of king and father,his spirit and personality gradually develops.He experiences the suffering of human beings,then he achieves his empathy with them and the return of humanity.However,due to the loss of his last spiritual support,Lear dies after his spiritual rebirth.Overall,King Lear’s spiritual development goes through the process of symbolic death,chaotic existence and symbolic rebirth and achieves the spiritual sublimation,conforming to the characteristics of the phases of separation,liminality and aggregation in rites of passage.The introduction part consists of some brief information on William Shakespeare and the foreign and domestic frequently researched themes and opinions about King Lear.Then,Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner’s theory of rites of passage is introduced in this part.Chapter One analyzes the phase of Lear’s separation from his previous life.In King Lear’s family,the three daughters are on the point of getting married,which presages the separation of family to some extent.In the beginning of the play,there is Lear’s ritual of the division of kingdom as the daughters’ dowries.He is credulous of his two eldest unfilial daughters’ flattering words and banishes his youngest honest daughter Cordelia along with the loyal Kent.But the two ambitious and avaricious daughters abandon Lear in return for Lear’s love.All of these are the catalysts of Lear’s separation.The destruction of the identities of king and father makes Lear be in a marginalized and symbolically dead situation.In a stormy night,Lear leaves home.The ritualistic action of leaving home symbolizes his success of separation from previous life.Chapter Two discusses Lear’s phase of liminality.Lear as a chaotic existence starts his spiritual development.In the stormy wilderness,the liminal entity Lear understands the pain of others through his own painful experience,and achieves the empathy with others.After a ritualistic baptism of storm and the help of transitional objects,including the Fool,Edgar and Cordelia,Lear begins to explore the essence and significance of human existence.Although his spiritual development is featured by non-linear growth,he still completes his spiritual development in the phase of liminality.Chapter Three analyzes Lear’s phase of aggregation.Although Lear fails to return to reality,he achieves the reconciliation of spirit.When Lear appears wearing a crown made of weeds and flowers,the ritualistic moment symbolizes his achievement of spiritual sublimation and reconciliation.Even if Lear and Cordelia are prisoned by Edmond,Lear is still satisfied with the current situation because of Cordelia’s company.However,Cordelia,as the last spiritual support of Lear in the nonsensical world,dies unfortunately.Therewith Lear dies in desperate plight.Through the analysis of King Lear’s process of spiritual passage,this thesis thinks that this play reveals the essence and significance of human.Although the protagonist King Lear is dead in the end,he achieves the development of spirit.Therefore,it also praises the merits of human and the return of humanity.