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King Lear In the play King Lear written by William Shakespeare a collection of images are used to express different points Shakespeare is trying to relay to his audience. One reoccurring image that kept popping up was animal images. Shakespeare displays these animal images when King Lear and many of the other characters in the play talk about Goneril and Regan. The animals that Lear and the other characters compare the two sisters to are …

…Regan. It will be noticed that most of the animals used in these comparisons are unpleasant (kite, serpent, tigers, pelicans, foxes, and even monsters). Shakespeare is showing that the sisters are sinking from the level of man, who stood between the angels and the animals, to the level of the animals. They have become like some of the most unpleasant birds and animals of prey. In their cruelty and unnaturalness they are less than human.