A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE THEME OF BETRAYAL OF SHAKESPEARE’S GONERIL AND REGAN AND BROTHERS OF PROPHET YUSUF WITH REFERENCE TO THE HOLY QURAN

Abstract

Stories play a significant role in human life through expanding readers and listeners’ knowledge and enriching their information. They also help readers and listeners learn lessons especially from the real stories that they receive from reliable sources like the Holy Quran, the most reliable source ever. Knowledge seekers can obtain stories from other sources including plays, novels, poetry, and books that provide them with the required information. This article deals with two important stories, highlighting the theme of betrayal in both. The first is a real story from the Holy Quran that discloses the betrayal of the brothers of Prophet Yusuf Peace be upon Him (PBUH), and the second portrays the betrayal of Goneril and Regan in the Shakespearean fictional play King Lear. It also explores, through analyzing the characters’ behaviors, other aspects connected with betrayal especially human flaws such as envy, greed for power, deception, unreliability of claims and promises in addition to reconciliation and rewarding the good and punishing the evil. The article exhibits the disastrous results of betrayal and their influence on both individuals and societies as well.

 

Key Words: The Holy Quran, Brothers of Prophet Yusuf, Jacob, Shakespeare, King Lear, Goneril, Regan, Betrayal

 

 

Introduction 

This article tracks down betrayal and conspiracy in the stories of brothers of Prophet Yusuf (PBUH) and Goneril and Regan, the daughters of king Lear, and how the two parties acted notoriously to achieve their malicious objectives. The article scrutinizes various extracts of the two stories to explore betrayal, its motives, and its disastrous effects on human life. In Yusuf’s story envy was behind the brothers’ betrayal while greed for power and wealth was behind the betrayal in King Lear. The two parties executed their plots, but the second story ends tragically unlike the first one, Yusuf’s story and his brothers. The first story ends with repentance of brothers, asking their father and brother to pray to God to forgive them for their corrupt acts. They said: “O our father! Ask Forgiveness (from Allāh) for our sins, indeed, we have been sinners.” (The Quran 12/97).

Shakespeare also highlights the importance of loyalty and the viciousness of betrayal. Betrayal theme can be observed throughout the whole story of ‘King Lear’ since parents betray their children, children betray their parents, and the children or sisters betray each other. King Lear, the main character of the play betrays his daughter due to misconception, but at the end of the play, he asks her for forgiveness. The children betray their father because of being greedy for power and this reason is also behind the betrayal of their siblings. However, the play presents a good moral lesson that the one who betrays others must pay the price for betrayal sooner or later and, in the meantime, the loyal ones will be rewarded one day.

 

 

Comparison 

In literature, reality meets with fiction and each aspect of them provides us with multiple advantages and lessons since fiction itself may turn into reality. Fiction can be turned into reality when it is close to our lives or describes life-related issues. This article highlights real and fictional figures, but what makes the comparison sound is the accessibility of both stories. Although Shakespeare’s story is a fictional one, it can occur in our real lives and there is some similarity between the fictional story of King Lear and the real story of King Charles I who “was executed in 1649” for betrayal which is the main theme of this article. (Spencer, 2014, 46). 

In the first story of Prophet Yusuf (PBUH) and his brothers and after a great logical prelude, the events of the story start with a dream while he was a young boy before becoming a prophet. Throughout the dream, Yusuf (PBUH) saw eleven planets, the sun, and the moon prostrating to him. He told his father Prophet Yacoub, Jacob, (PBUH) about the dream. “O my father! Verily, I saw (in a dream) eleven stars and the sun and the moon - I saw them prostrating themselves to me”, (The Quran 12/4). His father advised him not to tell his brothers about the dream. Yacoub (PBUH) is sure that the dream or vision will definitely come true one day; therefore, he asks him not to tell his brothers because they would feel jealous of him, and they might start plotting against him. The story also provides a great moral lesson about the importance of loyalty and severely criticizes betrayal.

On the other hand, the story of King Lear depicts betrayal of Lear’s daughters which led to a vast destruction. It is a nice story that helps people learn new lessons about the risks of betrayal and it motivates people to avoid such a disgraceful act. While considering the two stories, readers can notice that King Lear is the one who opened the door for his greedy daughters to embark on betrayal journey through his unwise decisions. He decided to divide his kingdom according to his daughters’ claims and the sweet words that he could hear from them. Lear says, “tell me, my daughters— Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state— Which of you shall we say doth love us most, That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril, Our eldest born, speak first”- (Armstrong, 2003, 102). Prophet Yacoub (PBUH) is the opposite as he advised Yusuf (PBUH) not to disclose his dream to brothers, but at the end, the fate that Almighty Allah has already destined will be fulfilled regardless of the precaution of people. Yacoub (PBUH) was aware of the ill feelings of his sons, therefore he advised Yusuf (PBUH) not to tell his dream. King Lear could not even notice the malicious feelings that his daughters hide behind their smile and sweet words. When King Lear heard the exaggerated and sweet words of Goneril and Regan, he decided to divide the kingdom between them and deprived Cordelia from her share. Furthermore, he banished her and Kent who tried to defend her against Lear’s wrong decisions. 

Amongst the lessons that the two stories provide from the beginning is the unreliability of claims and promises. The characters of the two stories claimed to be honest despite their wicked intentions and plots. They pretended honesty just to empower themselves to carry out their plots. In the first story, Prophet Yacoub approved to send Yusuf with his brothers after they claimed that they want him to enjoy a good time outdoors with them. In the other story, Lear admired the lovely and sweet words of Goneril and Regan. He could not even notice the contradiction in Goneril’s speech when she says: “speech unable”, as she utters these words in the middle of her speech where she said may words before these two words and many words after, (Mowat and Werstine, 2015, 11). This makes this statement meaningless because she says that amid a bit long speech. In the first story, the brothers claimed to protect their brother, but they threw him in the deep well when he went out with them. The daughters proved that all their claims and love to their father were false as they let him down until he dies at the end of the story. 

In the first story, Yusuf (PBUH) did not relate the dream to his brothers, and the brothers got jealous of Yusuf (PBUH) due to their father’s love to him, not because of the dream itself. They say, “Truly, Yūsuf (Joseph) and his brother (Benjamin) are dearer to our father than we, while we are a strong group. Really, our father is in a plain error”, (The Quran 12/8). They believe that their father must love them more than Yusuf (PBUH) because they are many brothers unlike Yusuf and his younger brother, who are only two. Hence, brothers started scheming and conspiring against Yusuf (PBUH), attempting to get rid of him. They say, “Kill Yūsuf (Joseph) or cast him out to some (other) land, so that the favour of your father may be given to you alone, and after that you will be a righteous folk (by intending repentance before committing the sin”, (The Quran 12/9). They thought when they do that, they will get the complete love and attention of their father. 

The two stories also depict negative social qualities and behaviors of people, showing that these bad qualities can be part of people, but people must contain all negative behaviors through exerting all possible efforts to rectify behaviors and make them socially acceptable. This also indicates that social reform is possible, but sometimes it gets very difficult especially with the increase of the number of flawed or corrupt persons. Prophet Yacoub (PBUH) doubted his sons, but his advices, and recommendations to his sons did not stop them from executing their inhumane plot because they are flawed with jealousy and hatred to Prophet Yusuf (PBUH). King Lear couldn’t notice innocence in the words and eyes of his innocent daughter Cordelia because he is flawed with appearances as he just wanted to appear as a very respected king. 

The two plays provide another moral lesson about deception, its consequences and how it undermines family and social unity. The characters of the stories employed deception to secure personal interests and objectives and they manipulated truth just to fulfil their inner cruel desires without thinking about the results of deception. Yusuf’s brothers didn’t think about their father and what may happen to him after executing their plot that aimed to kill him. Goneril and Regan, on the other hand, didn’t care to their father, on the contrary, they attempted to end his life. Deception in the two stories, led to critical results and people always may face similar results when they prioritize personal interests to the public ones.

The theme of deception shows that the good can’t defeat the evil when the good people are weak and when the corrupt people outnumber the good ones. When having this, then it will undermine the social and national unity. In the first story, Prophet Yusuf (PBUH) could not face his brothers and save himself because the brothers were a group, and he was one. When the evil got stronger than the good the plot progressed toward execution, and they were about to kill him. This provides us with another moral lesson to confront the evil from the very beginning before it gets stronger because the losses will be bigger. In the second story, the corrupt Goneril and Regan were surrounded by too many corrupt people, therefore they could proceed with executing their plot and the expelled their father, the king, who started wandering in the storm as a homeless man. 

As the events of the play unfold, more details about the real identities of Goneril and Regan are disclosed. These details prove clearly that they did not love their father as they claimed, and they were hiding behind masks just to withdraw authority and wealth from their father in order to proceed with their conspiracy to expel him or even kill him. Goneril says, “The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then must we look to receive from his age not alone the imperfection of long-engrafted condition, but therewithal unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them”, (Armstrong, 2003, 115). This reveals the conspiracy of Goneril and Regan against their father and how they planned to usurp power and wealth. However, their betrayal paves the way for other betrayals to emerge in the play and then betrayals go beyond what Goneril and Regan had expected.

Through tracing betrayal in the two stories, it can be noticed that the characters used different cunning techniques to achieve their plots successfully including shedding false tears and showing falsified feelings. Brothers of Yusuf (PBUH) shed false tears, attempting to deceive their father and persuade him that they are telling the truth. They also stained his shirt with blood to provide their father with clear evidence about the death of Yusuf (PBUH) and that the wolf has devoured him during the journey. They used their tears falsely to deceive their father, attempting to change reality. Despite all their tears, the father was doubtful and could not believe the story that they fabricated. “And they came to their father, in the early part of the night, weeping. They said: “O our father! We went racing with one another, and left Yūsuf (Joseph) by our belongings and a wolf devoured him; but you will never believe us even when we speak the truth”, (The Quran 12/16-17). Meanwhile, Yacoub (PBUH) puts all his trust and belief in Almighty Allah in addition to embarking on a great journey of patience and hope that Almighty Allah will guide him to meet Yusuf (PBUH) one day. Prophet Yacoub (PBUH) and all believers are sure that Almighty Allah will help them overcome ordeals. Therefore, the wicked plot of the brothers has turned into a great bliss for Yusuf and Yacoub (PBUH) as well as brothers when Yusuf holds a prominent political position in Egypt at the end of the story.

In a similar scene, Goneril and Regan falsify their feelings and do their best to deceive their father through persuading him that they really love him. They claim love to their father since their falsified feelings are the best way for executing their greedy objectives that will end with ascending power and wealth. Goneril says, “Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare …”, (Armstrong, 2003, 102). Regan says, “…. and find I am alone felicitate In your dear Highness’ love-” (Armstrong, 2003, 103). The elder daughters exaggerate their love through telling their father that their love and affection for him exceeds all expectations, playing a cunning role to please their father and make him believe them. 

The youngest daughter, Cordelia, expresses her love to her father but her real love could not draw his attention as much as the falsified feelings and the exaggerated love did. She loves him as a father and her love comes from this sense, the sense of fatherhood and daughterhood. This idea did not please the King who gets disappointed by the true, real, and sincere love due to misinterpretation of love. He interprets her words as lack of devotion and love that she must show to her father. However, Lear’s misinterpretation marks the beginning of the fall of the King himself and the kingdom as well. 

These two scenes include further messages that urge people firstly to put their trust in Allah, be strong and do their best to assess all issues reasonably in addition to helping other people in order to lead a peaceful life, since evil acts can affect all including those who execute them. The other message is that when people behave like Prophet Yacoub, they will be safe and if they behave like King Lear, they will face disastrous consequences. The evil characters of the two stories planned well and set concise plans to achieve their targets. Therefore, they could fulfil their wicked schemes and conspiracies. 

The stories include more moral lessons like rewarding the good and punishing the evil. Prophet Yusuf (PBUH) was awarded after his suffering, and he held a very prominent political position while his brothers were punished morally and psychologically when they recognized Yusuf (PBUH) in Egypt. They got very sorry and acknowledged their sins. They also asked their father to pray to Allah to forgive them. After telling the brothers about his identity, he also asked them to go back to Palestine and bring their father and the other family members. Meanwhile, the brothers admitted that Almighty Allah preferred Yusuf (PBUH) to them and they also admitted their mistake before Yusuf (PBUH) and their father. They said: “By Allāh! Indeed Allāh has preferred you to us, and we certainly have been sinners”, (The Quran 12/91). The story ends with impressive scenes with the brothers begging Yusuf (PBUH) and their father to pray for Allah (SWT) to forgive them. The brothers said “O our father! Ask Forgiveness (from Allāh) for our sins, indeed, we have been sinners.” The Quran 12/97.  Then Yacoub (PBUH) said: “I will ask my Lord for forgiveness for you, verily, He! Only He is the Oft‑Forgiving, the Most Merciful”, (The Quran 12/98).

In the second story and as part of rewarding the good, the King of France proposes to Cordelia and marries her. “Rescued by the forces of Cordelia, now Queen of France, Lear is restored at once to sanity and to the love of the daughter whom he had banished-” (Armstrong, 2003,47). Although Cordelia dies at the end of the story, but she dies after reconciliation with her father unlike her sisters who undergo great psychological suffering before their death. However, the first story ends with full reconciliation and all characters forgive each other including the brothers and the father. The second story ends tragically with death of the main characters and reconciliation between only Cordelia and Lear. What made the end different was the wisdom of Prophet Yacoub (PBUH) and seeking for assistance from Almighty Allah which is the best psychological support during crises. 

Amid the gloomy atmosphere of ‘King Lear’ a glimpse of hope and reconciliation was glittering through the devoted love of Cordelia to her father who was behind her downfall. The play ends tragically and it features one of the most tragic endings in Literature, but the relation between Lear and Cordelia demonstrates self-sacrificing and great real father-daughter love. Lear who behaved cruelly with his daughter obtains her forgiving love after Lear’s recognition of the great troubles that he caused to his daughter, and he gets sure that she was the only one between his daughters to love him sincerely. This glimpse of hope and love indicates that love can flourish amid darkness and horror that prevailed throughout the play. This represents the change in Lear’s attitude and trust as he got sure that Cordelia did not betray him, on the contrary, he betrayed her because he could not believe her true and sincere feelings. In this impressive scene, Lear collapses and dies.

After casting Yusuf (PBUH) in the well, some travelers pass by the well while they were travelling to Egypt, and they were in need of water. They headed to the well and threw their bucket in it. When they lifted the bucket Yusuf (PBUH) got out of the well holding the bucket. The travelers took Yusuf from Palestine to Egypt and sold him as a slave and there he started a new story of success. After long years, the brothers go to Egypt and meet Yusuf (PBUH) there, wherein he could identify them, but the brothers could not remember him at first. 

On the other hand, Goneril and Regan continue plotting against their father to get rid of him since he became as a heavy burden for them. They cannot stand this burden anymore and they need to liberate themselves from it. After the two elder daughters expressed their fake love to Lear and ascended power, they even hated the idea of having Lear with them. Hence the daughters embark on their betrayal journey which includes murder attempts. They also decided that if Lear bothers them, they will take a disciplinary action against him. After that, Regan who looks less harsh than Goneril joins forces with Goneril to crush their father.

In King Lear, betrayal lasts till the last moment of Goneril and Regan’s lives and it reveals further hidden emotions through the lust of Goneril and Regan for Edmund. Following a series of betrayals, Goneril and Regan achieve their goals of gaining power and admire the rise of Edmund’s power. This act of betrayal pushes the sisters to turn against each other and launch a new war for gaining Edmund’s heart. Goneril says, “I had rather lose the battle than that sister loosen him and me”, (Armstrong, 2003, 252). When she discovers that her sister Regan is trying to gain Edmund’s love, she emphasizes that she will not allow her to achieve this objective. The two sisters do not realize that they don’t really love Edmund and they are just lusting for him due to common features between the sisters and Edmund especially betrayal and the vicious ways of gaining power. At the end of the play, all the main characters die tragically following a series of betrayals. Betrayals also continue from the beginning of the play till the end unlike the other story of Yusuf’s brothers since betrayal is limited to the acts of the brothers against Yusuf (PBUH). Consequently, the end of King Lear is much more tragic when compared to the other story that ends positively.

 

Conclusion

The two stories provide significant lessons through disclosing the disastrous consequences of betrayal on both individuals and societies. They also indicate that people should be wise and cautious enough not to empower the evil persons to proceed with their wicked acts and plots. In the first play, Prophet Yacoub (PBUH) dealt wisely with the betrayal of his sons therefore the consequences were positive at the end of the story. He sought for assistance of Almighty Allah to help him overcome his ordeal. He also underwent a great journey of patience and hope for meeting his son in the future. The second story reveals how betrayers foreshadow their downfall in addition to causing destruction and fall to themselves and the people around them. Therefore, people should maintain human values such as loyalty, honesty, and they should help and advise each other to avoid all notorious acts in order to lead a peaceful and happy life.

 

 

 

References 

[1] Armstrong, Alan (2003). "Unfamiliar Shakespeare". In Wells, Stanley; Orlin, Lena Cowen (eds.). Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[2] Foakes, R. A. (1997). King Lear. The Arden Shakespeare, third series. Bloomsbury Publishing. 

[3] Hadfield, Andrew, (2007). King Lear. The Barnes & Noble Shakespeare. New York: Barnes & Noble. 

[4] King Lear by William Shakespeare, Folger Shakespeare Library, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. 

[5] Mowat B. and Werstine P. (2015). Folger Shakespeare Library, online copy. Page:11. 

[6] Neu J (2006). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge University Press.

[7] Quran, The. (1983). Trans. by: Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ul Din al-Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan for the Islamic University in Madina, Saudi Arabia. King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur'an.  https://qurancomplex.gov.sa/kfgqpc-quran-translate-english/

[8] Spencer, Charles (2014). Killers of the king. Publisher A&C Black. 

[9] William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Atlanta: Atlantic Publishers, 2007.