context

absurdist movement

• camus argues that humans are inherently driven to find meaning and order in the world, yet the universe remains silent/ indifferent

• reflected in Lear’s belief in divinely ordained social order, which is ultimately shattered by end of play

parable of the prodigal son

• story of mercy + grace between father + his son

• lear is inverted son + prodigal figure to Cordelia’s forgiving character (cordelia even has lear in her name phonetically)

• travels around the kingdoms before finally returning to Cordelia, pleading for her forgiveness

machiavelli

• idea that there is no place for morality in a political world

  • primary concern is securing and maintaining power (even if immoral)

  • rulers willing to deceive/ manipulate others to achieve their goals as long as serves interests of the state

  • should be feared rather than loved

• Edmund, Goneril and regan are all machiavellian characters, holding characteristics of ‘virtu’ (pride, bravery, skill + forcefulness)

• Shakespeare critiques the corrupting influence of power and the dangers of unchecked ambition

• world of king lear is a machiavellian fantasy where God provides no guidance (e.g. storm- not divine justice but violent force of nature)

catharsis

Aristotle said catharsis is the purging of pity and fear in an audience

it is a relief for the audience when a character takes responsibility

harmartia

• fatal flaw of a hero leading to downfall

• edmund → illegitimacy and bitterness

• goneril → greed for power

• regan → reliance on others/ greed

• cordelia → loyalty to father/ too truthful and moral for fractured world

• lear → vanity and pride

anagnorisis

• moment of critical discovery/ realisation

• presented as a process in KL → Lear has personal + political anagnorisis

• realises nature is separate to monarchy, the unjust nature of poverty and power, and his failure of his role of head of state + redemption with cordelia as a personal anagnorisis

• the process begins when he strips himself of the royal robes (storm scene, scene 3)

lances fournies

• squads of knights that accompanied kings/ noblemen in medieval england

• were considered ‘maintenance’ to feudal king

• for protection and simple companionship

anachronistic christianity

• there is an anachronistic tension between the christian moral language, ethics, and imagery in the pre-christian britain of KL

• KL filled with druids, gods like apollo and jupiter, and pagan cosmology

• KL drawn from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britannie, which was written centuries before christianity arrived in 597 AD

• Lear’s transformation from proud monarch to humbled figure mirrors christian pattern of fall, suffering and spiritual awakening. concern for poor echoes JC’s calls in sermon on mount to care for poor carries a quasi-christian ethic of compassion

• dramatises the disenchanted world of post-reformation england, where old religious symbols persist but their efficacy is uncertain

• explores limits of christian morality in amoral, violent world and whether they have any power against political brutality + cosmic indifferences

senecan pessimism

• emphasises view of world as cruel, unjust and meaningless

• family bonds are perverted, nature turns against humanity and suffering escalates beyond reason

• play’s central acts- children betraying parents + storm scene- echo seneca’s love of shocking extremes and humans as toys of malignant forces

• cosmic indifference channels seneca’s stoic fatalism → gods are not saviours but sadistic/ indifferent spectators

• gloucester resigns to fate in act 5 scene 2 to echo the stoic acceptance of death + futility of resisting fortune

• senecan tragedy has fascination with psychological disintegration

noblesse oblige

tudor society had an expectation to care for the poor (who were overwhelming majority in england)

body natural vs body politic

• The monarch possesses a Body Natural — a physical, mortal body subject to age, illness, and death.

• Simultaneously, the monarch embodies a Body Politic — an immortal, perfect abstraction that represents the state and its enduring authority.

• shakespeare stages collapse of both, creating tragedy abt familial breakdown + political and cosmic disorder

• lear’s divison of kingdom + abdication is profound violation of doctrine

• splits his double identity (as father and king), shattering unity of both his self + state

union of england and wales

• King James attempted to unionise england and scotland in 1603

• formalised this union in 1606 and was met with resistance from english parliament, which feared erosion of english identity and legal autonomy

• political background gives added weight to KL’s focus on division, disunity + consequences of a fragmented realm

proponent of divine right of kings

• monarch appointed by God and answers only to divine authority, not the will of people/ parliament

• lear’s abdication + division viewed as act of profound sacrilege

  • seen as an unnatural severing of the god ordained unity of state leading to chaos + suffering

  • jacobean political theory held that the kingdom must remain whole to function properly

anxieties regarding succession

• After the long and stable reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), who left no direct heir, England had faced an intense period of uncertainty, culminating in the relatively smooth transition to James.

• peace was fragile, and fears of civil strife remained potent in the Jacobean imagination, particularly with events like the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a Catholic conspiracy to blow up Parliament and assassinate the king.

• The treachery and familial betrayals in King Lear echo these tensions, dramatizing the fragility of political and social order.

• turmoil between henry viii and his children echoed through G,R,C and E?

great chain of being

• dominant cosmology drawn from ptolemaic astronomy, boethius and thomas aquinas

• all entities in creation ranked in a strict, god ordained hierarchy

• disruptions to this chain (such as king abdicating his authority) were believed to cause natural and social chaos

• this chaos is vividly dramatised in KL, storms rage, social roles disintegrate + language fractures

King James’ sycophantic court

• James I’s court was infamous for its culture of favouritism and flattery

• favourites such as robert carr and george villiers → rapid rise to power seen as a result of personal charm + political manipulation, rather than merit

• KL’s love test + character of oswald

• Shakespeare’s warning that a monarch who encourages flattery and punishes honesty destabilizes both the personal and political order

importance of loyalty

• loyalty seen as political necessity and theological duty

• in James I’s treatise ‘basilikon doron’, he emphasised that the king was ‘god’s lieutenant’ on earth + subjects owed him absolute obedience as part of cosmic heirarchy

• disloyalty against king = treason against god

• family loyalty cornerstone of jacobean society ( w/ commandment honour thy father and mother in decalogue)