The story of King Lear is a perfect example of how a man was changed mentally by the people in his life. The play is full of relationships that go array and deaths occur because of it. In the beginning, Lear is a normal king who decides to divide his kingdom into three parts, one for each of his daughters. This would be acceptable, if all of his daughters proclaimed their love for Lear, but one did not. Cordelia decides not to "heave her heart into her mouth" and say something that is not true. For this she is not given a piece of King Lear's kingdom and instead she is basically sent away to live with her new found husband in France. From that point on, being that Cordelia was his favorite daughter, King Lear continues to go into a crazed depression. On his first visit to his daughter, Goneril, he feels unwelcomed and Goneril views her father as outstepping his boundaries. The way Goneril and King Lear fight only adds to King Lear's madness, making him paranoid. He thinks he will then be welcomed nicely at his second daughter's home, but he finds it is even worse there. In a fit of insanity Lear leaves his daugher's house to go run outside in a storm. He cannot believe his daughter's are betraying him so and it sparks him to sink into a deep madness. The relationship between Lear and his daughters proves that if you entrust everything in the people you love it may lead to your demise. This relationship was so extremely hurtful to Lear that it caused his downfall as a normal person.
While all this is happening, another relationship, that of Edmund and Edgar is evolving. Edgar trusts Edmund being it that they are brothers, (even though Edmund is illegitimate), and does not think Edmund would ever do him harm. But it turns out that Edmund is selfish and wants to take over the kingdom so he plans an evil plot to get rid of Edgar. This relationship turns sour without Edgar even knowing it. With Edmund sending Edgar away for his "own good" he got his brother out of the picture and even convinced their father, Gloucester, that Edgar had done him wrong. Edgar cannot stand up for himself because he is gone and so Gloucester has no one else to believe. When Gloucester is seen trying to help King Lear Goneril and Cornwall cut his eyes out, making him blind. At this point King Lear has gone completely mad.
At the end of the novel almost each of these characters have died except for Albany, Edgar, and Kent. It shows that because of all the betrayal and secrecies that lied between these people, the characters could not survive. Each person's actions affected another's and it ended up as a spiral of depression and suicide. It was almost a domino affect, as each character died, that character's passing affected another character in that they committed suicide or were killed. The story of King Lear proves that if you are surrounded by sour relationships that are harmful and unheatlthy then you will not be able to tolerate it for long.
