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Author:
Marguerite A. Tassi
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5941-3721
Marguerite A. Tassi
Professor, University of Nebraska at Kearney, USA tassim@unk.edu
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Abstract
What can Buddhism offer contemporary religious understandings of King Lear? Shakespeare's great wisdom play has been viewed, more often than not, as pessimistic, even nihilistic, in its tragic rendering of the human condition. A Buddhist perspective challenges the premises of such a bleak reading by offering profound insight into how suffering gives rise to compassion, empathy and wisdom, rather than despair. Focusing particularly on the enigmatic spirituality and moral function of Edgar, this article illuminates his character through the revered teachings of a classic Indian text of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Shāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva. Edgar appears in the heroic light of a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who seeks to alleviate the suffering of others. His journey exemplifies the human potential for moral transformation, selflessness and universal love in his responsiveness to the suffering of others who wander in a saṃsāric world of ignorance, attachment and aversion.
Contributor Notes
Marguerite A. Tassi is a Professor of English Renaissance Literature at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Her teaching and scholarship focus on Shakespeare, Elizabethan theatrical practices, religious culture and the literature of revenge. She has published two scholarly books and numerous articles on Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In addition, she has given papers and lectures on Shakespeare, theatre, painting and early modern culture throughout the United States and Europe. Email: tassim@unk.edu; ORCID: