Power In Stephen Frears Film, The Queen And Shakespeares...

â€Å"Power is the ability to manipulate and control whatever one desires, to do what one pleases to do, without answering to authority.† Political authority and power play an extensive role in both Stephen Frears Film, The Queen and Shakespeare’s play, King Lear. Frears explores the theme of power through, Queen Elizabeth II, a hardline traditionalist who is blinded by old world protocols and traditions all but failing to see the transfer in balance of power. Similarly, Shakespeare explores the theme through the protagonist Lear, a king fascinated with grand showings of his sovereignty by staging and arranging situations that praise his ego. The very nature of power is in fact hazardous and has the ability to devour those who wield it,†¦show more content†¦The emotive grandstanding language illustrates the dynamic prominence of exercising power imprudently and in haste. However, in contrast to The Queen, Lear’s transference of political authority to h is daughters is on the prerequisite of flattery with an over exaggerated speech which must appeal and appease his ego: â€Å"Which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend.† (Act 1.1.45-50) Lear’s actions have afforded his daughters the opportunity to take advantage of him. This strengthens Shakespeare’s theme of power, that authority is nothing more than a show and a display of status through language and verbal praise. In addition, Frears demonstrates the fragility of power and where leadership is vehement when Princess Diana is killed. The Queen loses some informal authority torn between old world protocols and customs, remarking that, â€Å"This isn’t a matter of state, it’s a private matter.† The Queen does not want to join the public in mourning, she wants to keep it separate. Her cold aloof persona displays a woman trapped between two eras and as such fails to see what is happening around her. She is naà ¯ve and out of touch,