Through experience and suffering, one strengthens one's grip on reality. In William Shakespeare's King Lear, the characters' impressions of their society change as their status changes. Lear and Gloucester's vision of their once perfect society is forever tainted when they see the corruption and deceit occurring around them. King Lear becomes a victim of corruption when all his power and status are slowly taken away from him by his two eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan. Gloucester also witnesses the deception of his world when his bastard son, Edmund, betrays him and robs him of his possessions. It is only after the fall that they discover how corrupt and deceptive the social structure is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Lear realizes that he is flawed by corrupt society. He replies, "Let me dry it first; it smells of mortality" (IV.vi.132) when Gloucester asks to kiss his hand and show him respect. Lear recognizes that his hand smells and cleans it. The fact that he "dries it out" shows that the smell is a bad thing and not something he is proud to have. The “smell” could be a scary smell that he acquired on the outside, or it could be something intrinsic; Lear is rotting from the inside because he is emotionally distressed by the lack of respect shown to him by Goneril and Regan. The "smell" is a physical indication of his spiritual corruption, caused by deception. Lear is ashamed of his "mortality" because it shows his weakness. "[M]ortality" may mean that Lear is no longer a powerful king and has been reduced to the level of another human being. He, as a mortal, is subject to death like everyone else; death as a betrayal of the body is similar to Goneril and Regan's betrayal of Lear. The fact that his own daughters turn against him demonstrates the corruption in society. Lear gets rid of the smell of mortality because he realizes it and is ashamed of it. Love is also a part of deception in Lear's world. Lear, in his madness, tells Gloucester "No, do your worst, blind Cupid whom I will not love" (IV.vi.136). From Lear's madness comes reason: in this sentence, Lear thinks that love is "blind" because his love for his daughters has prevented him from seeing their true intentions. He is also so flattered by Goneril and Regan's false love that he fails to see how true and dear Cordelia is. When Lear says that he "will not love", he is implying that he has learned from his mistake and will not be fooled so easily again. Madness thus increases his awareness of the truth. Love is perceived as a pure and genuine thing, but Lear discovers how deceptive it is in his world. Gloucester notes how Lear is devastated by corrupt society. He calls Lear a "ruined piece of nature" (IV.vi.133). According to the note, "piece" can mean both a "fragment" and a "masterpiece." Lear was a masterpiece when he was a powerful and respected king, but now he is ruined by his blindness to his daughters' deception. Now that he has become a victim of corruption, he is only a fragment of what he was. Lear is "ruined" when he loses Cordelia, his status, his kingdom, and everything that was once his. He is broken both physically and emotionally by the injustice inflicted upon him by his own flesh and blood. Here “nature” can refer to his society or the natural world. He was once the ruler of his kingdom, but now he is only a part of it and is subject to others such as Goneril and Regan, who are taller than him. If it is part of the natural world, it is vulnerable to the chaos that can result from the absence of normative laws or lack of authority. In any case, Lear lives in a world.