Much to the same effect, the Earl of Gloucester blames nature for things that go wrong early on in the play, and refuses to see things for what they truly are. This leads him to disown his true, loving son and ends up causing his downfall as his illegitimate son takes everything from him. Gloucester eventually realizes the mistake in what he has done, with just enough time left to salvage his relationship with his loving son before he dies. His tragic flaw, much like Lear, is excessive pride, or “hubris”. This is shown when he believes his son, Edgar is trying to kill him. If he knew much about Edgar, he would know that Edgar would not ever do such a thing, but he chooses to believe his other son, Edmund . Instead of questioning his role in He knows that “the bond (is) cracked ‘twixt/son and father”, however he believes that it is his bond with Edgar, as opposed to Edmund. He has given Edmund reason to hate him through his continued shunning of him. He has not given Edgar reason to hate him, but his excessive pride stops him from questioning that, and he simply accepts what Edmund is saying and blames “these late eclipses”. His outlawing of his loving son and his reliance on his bastard son, ends up leading to his downfall. Once Edmund has the favor of the Duke of Cornwall, he betrays his father to him, and, since his father has, without question, placed all his faith onto him, he does not see it They each have an excess of pride which proves to be their fatal flaw. They each end up abandoning the one child that truly loved the all along. They each follow Aristotle’s tragic hero archetype with very little difference. Their stories, however, are not entirely the same. To understand the difference between these two characters, one must first consider the question of the meaning of tragedy . Aristotle defined tragedy as, “a self-contained action of a certain grandeur in scope written in a language that is more elevated more concentrated than colloquial speech. Its plot will involve dramatic reversals” (Defining Tragedy). Both characters make independent terrible actions which end up causing complications for them later on. Both characters go from having a large amount of power to having none at all. Their pride leads them to believe everything that their children say, because they could not possibly fathom that one of their children, who have to love them so much, would lie to them. In believing these lies they turn on their loving children who stay truthful: Lear turns on Cordelia for honestly telling him the degree to which she loves him, which is not extravagant, only like a daughter should love her father. Meanwhile, Gloucester turns on Edgar because he never had a chance to defend himself against Edmund’s accusations. Lear’s mistake is caused entirely by pride, or wanting to be flattered, but
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