Humanistic Interpretaiton Of King Lear From Perspective Of Dao De Jing

Renaissance humanism refers to the ideals of the cultural, social, and educationalreforms undertaken by scholars, artists, and political leaders in Europe during the fourteenthand fifteenth centuries. Renaissance humanism developed in response to the increasinglyoutdated and limited ideals of medieval scholasticism that had pervaded Europe throughoutthe previous several centuries. Shakespeare as a pioneering figure of humanism in literaryworld lived in the transformative era when feudalism collapsed and emerging bourgeoisiebegan to appear. He may not have extensive humanistic education due to the decline of hisown family, but his education was clearly grounded in the principles of Renaissancehumanism.King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s four tragedies. Shakespeare stood in the position ofadvanced ideology and criticized the hypocritical relationship in capital society by describingthe disorders in royal family and Lear’s ups-and-downs. He affirmed the moral principles ofsympathy and philanthropism displaying the wish of producing an ideal king through moralimprovement. In the play, the playwright made a series of brand new images and their mentaltransformation, which eulogized the ideal of humanism with enthusiasm. However, in thepresence of the darkness of social reality, humanism confronted the crisis that human, lord’screation, was even fallen to mad beggars. Shakespeare had to think about it even though he isalready anguished about it, and he would not give away his ideal to surrender to the realsociety. He explored the contradictions between ideal and reality and tried hard to find outthe way of coping with the crisis. New spirit of was instilled to confirm his confidence inhumanism.Philosophy is the chief concern of Laozi with its core of Dao. Dao De Jing, writtenbased on his rich life experiences. He lived in an era of troubled times when poor people weresuffering from the toughness. He put up the philosophy to find out a way for the poor to getout of hardship, free from materialism and be independent on a spiritual level. From this angle,Dao De Jing is a book for people or in other words for human beings, which has the similarpurpose to explore the humanity as Shakespeare did in western culture nearly2000years later.According to Laozi, there are various laws underlying all things of all universesincluding Heaven, Earth, and Man. Dao takes what is natural as its model(chapter25). Dao isalso spiritual, more precisely it is the unity of materialism and spirituality. From this angle,humanity as a trend of thought could be categorized into the concept of Dao. Nature is alsoone of the indispensable factors in King Lear; from western perspective nature can beinterpreted as the law. The laws should be followed regardless of the king, the minister, thepeople, the father, or the son. Birth, death, illness and old age are involved in the law and sodo the good and the evil. The consensus of the Nature and Humanity is the fundamental forexploration of two factors.Vivid and thoughtful characteristics are considered to be one of the prominences in KingLear, more importantly their humanities are the essential part of the whole play. Shakespearedemonstrated different humanities by describing their behaviors, relationships and internalmonologues. The transformation of Lear from fatuousness to rational madness, saintlikeperformance of Edgar, waterlike goodness of Cordelia and overwhelmingly twisted behaviorsof Edmund are all genuine portrayals of their humanities. Different humanities in Dao DeJing are also interpreted thoroughly. Figures in King Lear could be traced in Dao De Jing butto a higher philosophical level.The two works do not just dwell on the analysis of Nature and humanity; the ultimatesocial ideal is the purpose of Laozi and Shakespeare. They lived in turbulent society whichoffered blend of pursuit of ideal society. Good governance is interpreted in both works inwhich striking contrasts between inaction from Laozi and factitiousness of Lear worthpondering; inaction from Laozi and Edgar’s concession for advance brought out the best ineach other. Laozi proposed morality and peculiarity in the issue of good governance, which isalso embodied in the feature of Edmund. Different ages, different culture, the pursuit of idealsociety treaded different path that leads to the same destination.