Connection: King Lear and Kite Runner

The play, King Lear and the novel, Kite Runner share many things in common. One important theme throughout both works is jealousy. In King Lear, Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, is envious of his step-brother Edgar. Even though Gloucester appears to love both of his sons equally, Edmund is fully convinced that he will always love his legitimate son more. Jealousy consumes Edmund and he eventually frames Edgar in an attempt to plot against Gloucester. Edmund only set up Edgar so he could have his share of the inheritance. He wants to feel equally important to Gloucester. Edmund's lie about framing Edgar eventually gets out and Gloucester is furious. Their father-son relationship is permanently damaged and will never be the same.

Similarly, in Kite Runner, Amir is often envious of Hassan. Amir's father shows more fatherly affection to Hassan than to his own son. Amir grows jealous of Hassan for feeling more loved than him, although by rank, Hassan is only their servant. Eventually when Hassan is raped, Amir does nothing about it and keeps it a secret. When asked about what happened, Amir denies the entire event. Amir continues to keep his secret in the dark for the next twenty five years. His relationship with Hassan was destroyed because of his denial.

In a way, both Edmund and Amir felt that they were not important enough their fathers. Both were taken over by jealousy and told lies to seem innocent. In the end, the only thing that came out of their scheming and lies was a broken relationship with the people they loved most. I can also relate both of these stories to my own life. I have a younger sister, so I know what it's like to feel jealous. Often times, I think my parents favor my sister over me. It makes me feel angry, and sometimes, I will do things to get my sister into trouble. But as we grow older, we both realize that revenge doesn't get you anything except for more consequences. In King Lear and Kite Runner, I think that Edmund and Amir, respectively, finally realize that revenge and secrets don't make your life any easier. In fact, in many cases it only creates more problems.