“To be or not to be, --that is the question:--Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortuneOr to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them?"
Although this quote is from Hamlet I was drawn to it while reading King Lear.
In the play King Lear, when Cordelia cannot express her love for her father in a way that he desires to hear it…she is not only cut out of the will, she is completely disowned. I can’t help but wonder here, if she was not thinking…whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them? Okay well at least that is how I have often felt when faced with whether or not to speak up about family issues…which by the way, can carry with them a similar end.
Honest, courageous, family-less, misunderstood Cordelia, her life would have been so much easier if she would have just kept her mouth shut…or more truthfully filled it with placating untruths.
Shakespeare may have written most of his plays about kingdoms and leadership and love but under scoring all was some child/parent/sister/mother/brother/father working out the tension between to be or not to be honest with your family members.
And if Shakespeare couldn’t figure it out, genius that he was, I am not sure I am ever going to get it right. I do know Cordelia ends up proving her love to be true even if it was not understood from the beginning. This then becomes my hope, that I will not be cast too far away from the kingdom so that if/when seen my actions may be understood, even when my words are not.
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