King Lear

            In some ways, the ideas of free will laid out in King Lear are similar ideas laid out in East of Eden. Like East of Eden most of the hindrances of free will come from family disputes. Also, like East of Eden a lot of the limits to free will come from parental favoritism. In East of Eden the parental favoritism comes from Cyrus’s preference of Adam over Charles, and then Aaron over Cal. In King Lear, the favoritism is between King Lear and his daughters Goneril, Reagan and Cordelia. King Lear seem to favor his youngest daughter Cordelia over the older two sisters. This favoritism causes the other two sisters to grow bitter over time. Their bitterness and jealously over their sister and kingdom is arguably the reason for their actions against their family and the kingdom. It was their childhood, and how they were raised that caused them to act against their kingdom. This an argument against free will. Unlike the other two sisters, Cordelia wasn’t subjected to the same negligent parenting and unlike her sisters she chose to live a life that was based on kindness. The way that their father treated them ultimately decided how the sisters chose to live their life.

            But like East of Eden parental favoritism isn’t the only thing that has the capacity to limit the free will of a person. Like East of Eden mental health is another thing that can limit the capacity of choice a person can have to make their own choices. Cathy of East of Eden, was limited by her psychopathy and King Lear is limited to and infliction similar to Alzheimer’s. Reflecting the state of his kingdom, Lear slowly loses his mind as it falls into chaos. He says senseless things and holds pseudo-trials for an invisible defendant. In this state, he has no capacity to make any choices in regards to his own well-being. Throughout most this story King Lear is at the mercy of the decisions made by his adviser Kent. Although Kent is a just and loyal servant and his choices are made on the benefit of the King, Lear has no say in where they go while fleeing from his daughters. His mental health ultimately takes away any capacity that he has to make any choices.

East of Eden

            East of Eden is the perfect book to use to analyze my question. One of the largest themes throughout the novel is how much our parent’s impact us, especially when it comes to parental favoritism. Mirroring the story of Cain and Able, Cyrus favored his son Adam over his other son Charles. This sent Charles down a dark path, desperate for his love and consumed by envy Charles beats his brother to the edge of death with a baseball bat. Throughout his life Charles was unable to overcome the influence that Cyrus had on him. His insecurities always had more of an influence over him than his morality had over himself. Another thing that can limit the capacity of free will is mental illness. The perfect example for this is Cathy. Born with psychopathy Cathy does not have sense of morality. In fact, she has a point of view of the world that is like the witches of Macbeth “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”. She views the world with an almost animalistic perspective, giving her little to no choice in her actions. Most of the choices she made were based on either self-preservation or a desire to escape. Because of her disability her choices were not her own.