delia are taken prisoner by Albany's army. We see the full effect of Lear's transformation in his joy at his reunion with his daughter, uncaring of his status as a prisoner: "He that parts us shall bring a brand from heaven, And fire us hence like foxes. Wipe thine eyes; The good years shall devour them, flesh and fell, Ere they shall make us weep. We'll see 'em starved first." Act V, scene iii lines 22-25 This new carefree Lear is certainly a far cry from the arrogant king we saw at the beginning of the play. His joy at reconciliation with his daughter outweighs any other concerns he might have. Shakespeare has transformed Lear in the reader's eyes from a hateful old king into almost a grandfatherly, loving figure. It is not necessarily a transformation from evil into good; rather it is a transformation from blindness into sight. In King Lear, we have seen that Shakespeare has carefully crafted the characters and clearly defined their human natures as being good or evil. There is no doubting the absolute goodness that Cordelia maintains throughout the play, and the sheer evil that Edmund displays until his plans are in ruins. In Lear we see a flawed figure who by misfortune and loss finally comes to revelation and personal transformation. In that sense, these characters are perfect tragic figures, perhaps not necessarily realistic but powerful and moving nonetheless. ...
