Gaining Wisdom Through Suffering Essay

Wisdom is a difficult thing to define and understand. It’s easily recognized when people have experienced it. Wisdom is a tricky thing to obtain. Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. King Lear was foolish in the beginning of the play, but in the end he gained wisdom from his mistakes. Morrie from Tuesdays with Morrie was wise in the beginning of the book and became wiser in the end. Through suffering King Lear and Morrie obtained wisdom. ?At the beginning of the play, Lear was a selfish man. Power was very important to him. Suffering turned Lear from a selfish man wanted to be treated as a king without having the responsibilities that come with running a kingdom, to a man that comes to realize his morals and values. Lear gave away his kingdom to Gonerial and Regan but still wanted the same status and power of king. Lear gained wisdom through his mistakes of banishing his youngest daughter, Cordelia. Lear comes to the realization of his foolishness in act three. For instance, â€Å"Let thunder rumble! Let lightning spit fire! The rain, the wind, the thunder and lightning are not my daughters. Nature, I don’t accuse your weather of unkindness. I never gave a kingdom or raised you as my child, and you don’t owe me any obedience. † Here King Lear is coming to terms of his mistake of giving away his kingdom to the wrong people. He then goes on â€Å"So go ahead and have your terrifying fun. Here I am, your slave a poor, sick, weak, hated, old man. But I can still accuse you of kowtowing, taking my daughter’s side, against me, ancient as I am. Oh, it’s foul! In this scene Lear is in the storm with Kent and the fool. In this act the king is turning from an arrogant man to a noble man. It takes king Lear a complete breakdown to realize his mistake. ?Next, Lear gained wisdom through insanity and the cruelness of his to eldest daughters. For example, his eldest daughter Gonerial humiliates his loyal messenger Kent. Lear is telling kent his own flesh and blood would never commit such an act. â€Å"They durst not do’t. They could not, would not do’t. ‘Tis worse than murder to do upon respect such violent outrage. Resolve me with all modest haste which way thou mightst deserve or they impose this usage, coming from us. † (II iv 16-20). In this scene Kent was telling the king how his own daughter betrayed him. Lear is astonished that they would want to humiliate him and is realizing he is losing his status as king. ?Morrie also gains wisdom through suffering. In addition, Morrie was wise from the start but through his sickness he gained more wisdom. Morrie says to Mitch, â€Å"Truth is Mitch, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. (Albom 82). Morrie learned to accept his sickness and that he is going to die. Once he learned to accept it he was able to live. He lives his life to the fullest he realized little things that you should be taking advantage of. Morrie used aphorisms to say how he lived his life. One of the aphorisms he told Mitch was, â€Å"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. † (Albom 18). You forget about everything that doesn’t matter and you just learn how to live life. His illness helped him to gain wisdom and to live life the fullest. ? Lastly, Morrie embraces his life. In order to gain wisdom one must experience suffering. Morries suffering from ALS caused him to grow weaker physically; however, it made him a stronger person mentally and emotionally. Furthermore, Morrie says, â€Å"Don’t assume it’s too late to get involved. † (Albom 18). This quote shows us that even though Morrie had a sickness taking his life away, he still made a difference for other people. He didn’t lie around pitying himself. Morrie embraced his life rather than fearing life. By way of example, Morries tells Mitch, â€Å"Mitch, I embrace aging† (Albom 118). This means he isn’t afraid of growing old, he embraces the years of life he has left. In conclusion, despite being very different in both characters and beliefs, both King Lear and Morrie acquire wisdom through suffering. Wisdom is comes when someone experiences it. Wisdom is the quality of having good judgement, knowledge, and having experienced hardships. Wisdom is hard to understand.