Divine Justice In “King Lear” Essay

force Lear inspires m either philosophical questions chief among them is the existence of divine evaluator. This concept was in particular important during the Elizabethan era, because religion played such a important role in e veryday life. Religious leaders directed peck to expect that they would have to answer to a higher authority, expressing some apprehend that good would triumph and be rewarded over evil. nevertheless throughout fairy Lear, good does not triumph without honorable characters suffering terrible loss. In fact, at the plays conclusion, many of the good characters lie drained on the putLear, Gloucester, and Cordelia. In addition, the earreach hears that Kent will soon die, and the view has antecedent disappeared, presumably to die. Of course, the evil characters are also dead, besides their punishment is to be expected according to the laws of divine justice. yet how then does the auditory modality account for the punishment and, finally, the death o f the good characters in King Lear?Lear makes some(prenominal) poor choices, most importantly in misjudging the sincerity of his daughters words but when he flees out into the open heath during a storm, his madness seems a painful and excessive punishment to witness. Parallel to Lears punishment is that which Gloucester suffers. The plucking of Gloucesters eyeball can be perceived as an otherwise good example in which divine justice is lacking. Gloucester has made several errors in judgment, as has Lear but the brutal nature of Gloucesters blindingthe plucking out of his eyes and the crushing of them under Cornwalls bootsis surely in excess of any errors he might have made. two Lear and Gloucester endure terrible tangible and mental suffering as punishment for their misjudgment, but before dying, both(prenominal) men are reunited with the child each earlier rejected. This resolution of the child-parent strife, which earlier tore apart both families, may be seen as an ingredie nt of divine justice, although it offers little gratification for the listening.Throughout King Lear, the audience has witnessed Edmunds growing success as a reward for his evil machinations. But when Edgar and Edmund meet in Act V, the duel between these two brothers is very different from the traditional match for sport. Christian tradition recalls several scriptural battles between good and evil, as divine justice is an important parcel of trial by combat. The duel between Edgar and Edmund is really a conflict that replays this ongoing battle between good and evil, with Edgars defeat of Edmund evidently signaling the triumph of righteousness over corruption. Edgars victory, as hygienic as his succession of Lear, as king of Britain, points to an intervention of divine justice.And yet, when Lear enters with Cordelias body, any immediate ideas about divine justice vanish. The deaths of Cornwall, Edmund, Regan, and Goneril have lulled the audience into a belief that the gods would restore order to this chaotic world. But Cordelias death creates new questions about the role of divine justice a just god could not account for the death of this faithful and lovely daughter.In spite of the seemingly senseless death of this young woman, Shakespeare never intended for his audience to escape the painful questions that Cordelias death creates. Instead, the audience is expected to struggle with the question of why such tragedies occur. The deaths of Gloucester and Lear are acceptable. Both have made serious errors in judgment, and although both came to recognize their complicity in the destruction that they caused, the natural resolution of this change was an acceptance of their future, whatever it held. But Cordelia is young and blameless. She is completely good and pure.At the plays conclusion, the stage is littered with bodies, some deserving of death and some the innocent victims of evil. Cornwall has been destruct by his own honest servant Edmund is killed by the brother he sought to usurp both Goneril and Regan are dead, one murdered and the other a suicide the obedient steward, Oswald, is dead, a victim of his own indispensableness to obey. In the end, no easy answer surfaces to the question of divine justice, turf out that perhaps man must live as if divine justice exists, even if its only a product of rich and thirsty(predicate) imaginations.