Maternal Consent In King Lear

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Getting into further detail of how cultural/societal views influenced the production of the play, a theory/critique states, “Although the bride and groom will exchange their vows, the lack of paternal consent renders the separation incomplete and the daughter’s future blighted. Cordelia must, therefore, return to be reunited with her father so that she can progress” (Kakkonen and Galić 28). Through this we see an explanation not noticeable at first; during that time period, a daughter must get consent to marry, but since Cordelia never got it, it would foreshadow to the reader that she has to reunite with her father for a resolution. It is hard to see the connection between the challenging the gender norms, and paternal consent, but to make …show more content…

How this critique supports the idea of challenging gender norms and having a resolution that is male-dominated is that it argues that women and men can’t deviate out of customary tradition. In another critique, it is stated that masculine women can feminize men, and that results in the depletion of personal power and social authority, which challenges the gender norms presented in that time period (Ryan 1073). Tragic events occur from people who “step out of their place,” and that’s why we get the play as we know it; King Lear dies because he stepped out of customary roles and gave land to women, and also Cordelia who held power and went against her fathers desires, but she ultimately dies for trying to be her own person. I would argue that the deviation of social structure (challenging gender norms) results in negative consequences (such as death) because male dominance always has to come out on top because women in power would have a massive effect on the social structure for that time

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