In King Lear both Kent and Edgar disguise themselves as people they are not. Kent pretends to be a peasant so that he can continue to serve Lear, while Edgar disguises himself as a mad beggar in order to avoid his father’s men. In the same way that these characters cleverly disguise themselves, people in real life do the same.
Take for example students in a typical high school. It seems there are always those students that pretend to be something they’re not. Although this is often more figurative than literal, these students disguise themselves in a similar way as the characters in King Lear. Some students have strong ambitions to be “popular,” changing the way they appear to others to fit this mold. This is not always a successful strategy. One cannot put on a costume and become “popular” as Kent can change his appearance to appear as a beggar in one of Shakespeare’s plays.
People can, however, change their personalities or interactions with people to fit the persona they wish to embody. Kent and Edgar must change their personalities in the same way in order to be believable as new people. If the characters in King Lear have reasons for their disguises, this must mean that people in real life wear disguises for a purpose too, right? Although this reason may not always be well thought out or good-natured, I believe there’s always a rationale. When someone essentially changes who they are, there is most often a reason behind it. These reasons are clear in the case of characters like Kent and Edgar, while the motives of the disguised creatures around us are much more complex.
But, who really knows who is wearing a disguise? Perhaps we all are, in our own unique ways. Maybe none of us are entirely able and willing to show everyone who we truly are. It’s possible we’re all so comfortable in our masks that we don’t even realize we are wearing them.
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