American Research Journal of English and Literature

While Shakespeare’s King Lear is known for abdication in English literature, the Bodhisattva King Makhadeva is known for the same in the Canonical Buddhist literature. In terms of abdication, Lear gives up his responsibilities as King of Britain, while the Bodhisattva King Makhadeva renounces not only his responsibilities but also his throne and kingdom as a whole. Out of senile insouciance, Lear looks forward to an elegant retirement, never short of the royal regale he has been used to, while Makhadeva, still a man of physical vigour who has just seen the very first grey hair on his head, warned by the forebodings of senile decay, takes heed to achieve spiritual advancement before death. After abdication Lear proves the most unfortunate and pathetic tragic hero in all of Shakespeare’s plays while Makhadeva remains a role model for the Buddhists all over the world to follow in the face of old age. Thus, as much as the prospects they hold in the event of abdication, do contrast the returns they experience. Focused on the post-abdication escapades of the two kings, this paper attempts to make a comparison of their characters in light of the moral, social, and didactic implications of their decisions in the context of the values and ethics they are both exposed to in their respective cultures that influence their response to the vicissitudes of life.