King Lear: social context

King Lear: social context

Social Context of King Lear

Historical Context

  • Written during the reign of James I, King Lear reflects the contemporary anxieties about the kingly power, divine right, and the fate of the kingdom after a monarch’s death.
  • During this period, conflicting ideas about Kingship were common. The divine right of kings was a prominent belief, suggesting the King was God’s representative on earth and his actions were unquestionable.
  • Yet, James I was also criticised for incompetencies, and his strained relations with Parliament led to concerns about absolutist rule. Shakespeare, subtly critiques this through Lear’s misguided decisions and eventual downfall.

The Great Chain of Being

  • The Elizabethans believed in the Great Chain of Being: a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, believed to have been decreed by God. Disrupting it, as Lear does by dividing his kingdom, was considered unnatural and chaotic.
  • Lear’s abdication disrupts the natural order and leads to chaos, further reinforcing the belief in the sanctity of monarchy and dangers of its misuse.

Patriarchal Society

  • Elizabethan society was deeply patriarchal. King Lear challenges traditional views of women through contrasting characters like Goneril and Regan, who violate their expected submissive roles, and Cordelia, who remains loyal and virtuous despite her banishment.
  • The play also explores the effects of failed patriarchal control, with Lear’s loss of authority leading to his daughters’ usurpation of power.

Perception of Madness

  • In the Elizabethan period, madness was often related to divine punishment, demonic possession, or imbalance in body humours. However, King Lear presents it as a result of personal grief and mental trauma.
  • Lear’s madness, while tragic, also makes him more perceptive and humane, thus questioning traditional views of sanity and madness.

Treatment of the Elderly

  • The play presents an unsettling picture of agedness and elder abuse, both issues being relevant in the Jacobean society where old aged people were often relegated to the fringes and treated with disrespect.
  • Through Lear and Gloucester’s suffering, Shakespeare draws attention to the societal attitudes towards the elderly and their vulnerability.

Each of these social contexts enhances the understanding of characters, themes and conflicts in the play while also offering insights into the period Shakespeare was writing in, deepening the overall appreciation of King Lear.