King Lear and Catholic Priests Sexual Abuse Scandal

        It has always been human nature to be dissatisfied with what one already has and to crave more. Dating back to Shakespeare’s times, greed is pervasive in King Lear’s characters, Goneril and Reagan. Nowadays, greed remains a big part of our society, in the least expected areas. In the most holy hierarchy of the Catholic Church, greed is an unspoken, prevailing notion.
       The two selfish daughters of Lear, are hungry of not only power but men also. Even after receiving a third of the Kingdom each, the two sisters continuously attempt to gain Lear’s third of the land. After successfully taking Lear’s power over the Kingdom, in the most brutal ways such as gouging his eyes, the sisters turn against each other in an attempt to possess an mischievous bastard named Edmund. Furthermore, the vile and wicked love triangle destroys the sisters’ marriage with their husbands. The sisters’ greed over land and man breaks the bond of family established through both blood and love. These relationships will never be re-established but always remain broken.
          Parallely, the Catholic priests are privileged with not only a firm connection to God, but with the power to move the hearts of hundreds of Catholics with God’s words. However, a large fraction of the Catholic priests were tempted to abuse their privilege and powers granted by God. In the past century, there have been more than 1000 known victims and 300 predator priests who were involved in the Pennsylvania Sexual Abuse Scandal only. Victims range from 18 month old toddlers to high school students going through puberty. The broken bond will never be able to cure the hearts of the victims nor re-establish the trust assumed in the environment of the Holy Church.
     Adversaries might state that greed fuels human beings to improve and therefore innovate. However, when greed takes over a large part of the heart, it forgets about gratitude and destroys bonds that will never be restored.