Thursday, October 23, 2014

Mental vs Physical

I think the connection between Lear and Frankl's writing is greater than the connection with the stranger. Lear clearly displays how he is affected by the emotional and mental distress of losing his daughters and realizing he was a fool. He is not so much worried about the fact that he is on the verge of death and due to his physical state and age he no longer has a kingdom. Frankl's writing goes hand in hand with the mental struggle and pain Lear goes through. He describes the beatings he witnessed, the beatings he got, and the treatment he got while working. In these descriptions he evokes a repulsive image of pure brutality that should not happen to anyone. When he says that the stones he got thrown at him we was not too badly physically hurt, but extremely mentally hurt. The disrespect he feels and lack of acknowledgement of being a human he receives outweighs the physical damage of the camps. Both Lear and him value their mental state more than their physical state. I think this brings up a good point in our society today. We tend to put an emphasis on physical or material things. What we wear, how we look, what people see happen to us, is weighted heavily by society while the mental effects of situations are often overseen. Like we discussed in the Stranger, just because someone appears to be one way on the outside by no means lets us know what is going on within themselves. Lear's distress at the end of the play directly relates to Frankl's writing.

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