Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear

William Shakespeare vividly portrays the relationship between Lear and his daughters in the tragedy, King Lear. In the play, Lear incessantly pursues love, authority, and solace. His relationship with his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan, is dysfunctional. The research on the family rel...

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Main Authors: Ali Termizi, Arbaayah, Deng, Jianbo, Mani, Manimangai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Knowledge Hub Publishing Company Limited 2024
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/1/118816.pdf
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author Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
Deng, Jianbo
Mani, Manimangai
author_facet Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
Deng, Jianbo
Mani, Manimangai
author_sort Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description William Shakespeare vividly portrays the relationship between Lear and his daughters in the tragedy, King Lear. In the play, Lear incessantly pursues love, authority, and solace. His relationship with his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan, is dysfunctional. The research on the family relationship in King Lear generally relies on traditional feminist and psychological methodologies. However, this study takes a different approach by examining the father-daughter relationship between Lear and his daughters through the Bowen Family Systems Theory perspective. This article examines the father-daughter relationships in the tragedy by using the concept of differentiation of self in Bowen Theory. According to Bowen’s scale of differentiation of self, the levels of differentiation of self of Lear, Goneril, and Regan range from 0 to 25, whereas Cordelia’s level of differentiation of self falls between 25 and 50. The findings also suggest that Lear’s connection with his daughters is abnormal due to their low levels of differentiation of self. This interdisciplinary study offers a novel way of character analysis in literary works. Additionally, it introduces a fresh perspective to studying father-daughter relationships and various family relationships in drama and other literary genres.
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spelling upm-1188162025-07-24T08:09:29Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/ Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear Ali Termizi, Arbaayah Deng, Jianbo Mani, Manimangai William Shakespeare vividly portrays the relationship between Lear and his daughters in the tragedy, King Lear. In the play, Lear incessantly pursues love, authority, and solace. His relationship with his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan, is dysfunctional. The research on the family relationship in King Lear generally relies on traditional feminist and psychological methodologies. However, this study takes a different approach by examining the father-daughter relationship between Lear and his daughters through the Bowen Family Systems Theory perspective. This article examines the father-daughter relationships in the tragedy by using the concept of differentiation of self in Bowen Theory. According to Bowen’s scale of differentiation of self, the levels of differentiation of self of Lear, Goneril, and Regan range from 0 to 25, whereas Cordelia’s level of differentiation of self falls between 25 and 50. The findings also suggest that Lear’s connection with his daughters is abnormal due to their low levels of differentiation of self. This interdisciplinary study offers a novel way of character analysis in literary works. Additionally, it introduces a fresh perspective to studying father-daughter relationships and various family relationships in drama and other literary genres. Knowledge Hub Publishing Company Limited 2024-09 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/1/118816.pdf Ali Termizi, Arbaayah and Deng, Jianbo and Mani, Manimangai (2024) Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Forum for World Literature Studies, 16 (3). pp. 460-478. ISSN 1949-8519; eISSN: 2154- 6711 https://www.fwls.org/plus/download.php?open=2&id=1155&uhash=6ade893c3bb38b6a6794f70e
spellingShingle Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
Deng, Jianbo
Mani, Manimangai
Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear
title Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear
title_full Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear
title_fullStr Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear
title_full_unstemmed Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear
title_short Differentiation of self of Lear and his daughters in Shakespeare’s King Lear
title_sort differentiation of self of lear and his daughters in shakespeare’s king lear
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118816/1/118816.pdf