The Falling action of King Lear- 2/06/12

               In a typical play format there is the introduction/background section, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the ending. In King Lear we have read all the way up to Act IV in class. We have seen how it all began, Lear's disowning of Cordelia, his daughters' betrayal, and the climax where Lear realizes that having a lot and having beautiful things does not necessarily mean you have everything. Tom's raw humanity made Lear see that it truly is better to be yourself fighting against the constrains of society than to be unnatural. Now in the falling action, I am starting to wonder if it is really a "falling." With Cornwall dead, Regan is single and wants Edmund. With Albany and Goneril in an unhappy marriage, Goneril wants Edmund. Sisters fighting in this time can draw blood. In my opinion there is no way this is a falling action, it seems to be more action than what was preceding it. Tragedies, both Shakespearean and not, end with death and sometimes there are multiple deaths. A death is not a falling action. Sisters fighting to death is not a falling action. And having multiple realizations , as done by Lear, is not a falling action. Do tragedies truly have a falling action until the deaths are all finished? Or are the tragedies simply cliffhanger stories that leave you wondering what it is going to happen now? What will happen to the people that are left behind and what could have been done to change the outcome? There is not a falling action to this tragedy. There is simply an end.