One Hundred Knights

A overwhelming majority of the conversations between King Lear and Goneril and Regan are about his King Lear's one hundred knights. While King Lear is desperate to keep his knights, Goneril is determined to get rid of them.  My question is, in this time, either the Elizabethan era or when King Lear was actually alive, how many knights did a retired king really need? Who really has the rational opinion in this argument? King Lear might be crazy, and is also determined to hold tight to any power he might have left, thus his opinion might not be the rational one.  But Goneril also has exterior motives, she wants to decrease his father's power as much as possible herself.  For some reason, when I read King Lear, I wanted to defend his right to his one hundred knights. But looking at it further, it seems that there is no rational behind except for pure ignorance and stubborness.  He no longer had any land to protect, he didn't even have his own home to house them in. His complete commitment to keeping his knights shows the lack of thought he put into his decision to divide his land and give it away.  It never even occurred that he was not only losing his land, but also losing control over his subjects. This argument not only reflects King Lear's rashness in deciding to divide his land but it was also the tool in which he discovered that he no longer held any power.  

Comments

[Andrew D.]

I don't think that Lear's insistence on keeping his knights necessarily shows that he didn't think about his decision to give away his land. He could have thought the decision over very carefully but with his world view so slanted, he didn't ever understand the implications of his actions. I don't think he was "brash," I just think that Lear would never see (no matter how long he thought about it) the loss of his own power as a consequence of giving away his land.

[Sarafina A.]

I agree that King Lear must be somewhat motivated to keep his knights so that he can hold onto power. It was definitely time for him to hand over the power of the kingdom, but it is a drastic life change. However, I am glad that he is insisting to keep them because without them he would be even more vulnerable to Regan and Goneril. Regan tells Lear that he doesn't need his knights because her servants will be able to tend to him, which seems like a exaggeration.

[dan r]

The fact that Lear has been a king for so long I feel is getting to him. He still feels like he has a lot of power and in a way refuses to retire with less knights because less knights mean less power and less power means that Lears time is coming. It is almost like a midlife crisis. Lear wants to have more knights mainly due to the fact that if he's seen with many knights then people would still be able to see that he has power. Goneril is quick to get rid of many knights because she wants to get rid of her fathers power as soon as possible so that she can be the rightful owner.