Authority In King Lear

King Lear tells the tale of an aging king who decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. However, he first puts them through a test to declare how much they love him. Goneril and Regan flatter the King with their words of devotion. However, Cordelia cannot put her love into words and as a result; Lear immediately banishes her for her ‘betrayal’ against him. The opening scene contains several features of plot, theme, character and language that then later produce the tragic consequences.

At the beginning of the play, King Lear appears to be a strong and wise monarch and has a lot of authority. However, like most Shakespeare tragedies, he has several fatal flaws. One of these is that he values appearances

above reality. He clearly enjoys being treated as a king and having the title but doesn’t seem to want to fulfil his obligations as a king, such as governing for the good of his kingdom. Additionally, his daughters’ test of love shows that he values public displays of love over authentic love. Cordelia is already established as his favourite daughter at the beginning of the play and therefore he would already know she loved him the most. Despite this, Lear values Goneril and Regan’s artificial declarations of love over Cordelia’s sincere reply. His willingness to believe his older daughters’ empty flattery leads to several deaths further on the in the play. By replying on the test of his daughters’ love, he demonstrates to the audience that he lacks common sense and the ability to detect Goneril and Regan’s falseness to him. He is unable to recognise Cordelia’s honesty amongst the flattery that he craves. Furthermore, Lear appears to be irascible and hot tempered. This ultimately causes him to make mistakes that will then cause tragedy, such as his dismissal of Cordelia. Another of Shakespeare’s typical features in tragedies is the fall of the nobleman which is also true in King Lear.

Lear was once a powerful king with a lot of authority but over the course of the play has been reduced to misery as a result of his own mistakes.

He is the anointed king and at the time would be considered God’s representative on Earth. He therefore would share the responsibility to dispense justice on Earth. However, Lear is shown to make fairly irresponsible choices and consequently creates political and social chaos. Political authority is particularly important throughout the play as well as family dynamics. Lear is a father and also a king and when he gives his authority away to deceitful and dishonest Goneril and Regan, he essentially throws the entire country into chaos as well as himself and his family and therefore he has effectively destroyed all authority. Moreover, at the time the play was written England had survived several years of civil war and division such as the War of the Roses. As a result, the Elizabethan audience would have been shocked at Lear’s decision to divide the kingdom between his daughters which increases the threat of civil war if the sisters were to fall out of favour with each other. As well as this, Shakespeare’s decision to have a foreign suitor for Cordelia would have garnered some criticism from the audience at the time because Lear’s intention was for Cordelia and her future husband to oversee the choice centre section of the kingdom. This would therefore weaken England due to having a foreign king and make Lear’s actions seem all the more

irresponsible.

The concept of divine justice is also important in the play and especially during the Elizabethan era as religion was very significant in everyday life.

There was the idea that good would always triumph over evil however in King Lear; good does not triumph without several honourable characters suffering as a

consequence.

Another central theme in the play shown in the opening scene is the conflict between man’s law and nature’s law. Natural law refers to moral authority and divine justice and the characters that adhere to natural law are the characters that act for the common good, for example, Cordelia. The counterpart to natural law is man’s law which refers to focusing on the individual and not for the good of the community. Goneril and Regan can be used as an example of those who adhere to man’s law and they act without conscience and don’t recognise higher moral authority since they don’t consider divine justice when they act. There are several times during the play where there is abandonment of natural law, such as the betrayal of parent and child. Due to Lear’s evident favouritism over Cordelia, Goneril and Regan abandon the family’s natural order and are quick to take over the kingdom and seem to want revenge. Lear fails to see the strength and justice in natural law and disinherits Cordelia. This therefore sets in motion the subsequent disasters that follow.