King Lear; The Gods & Cosmic Justice Flashcards
(8 cards)
Describe Lear’s Faith and appeals to Heaven
King Lear is littered with appeals to heaven. Time and time again numbers times characters call upon the gods to help them in their strife. When Lear realises his daughters are about to betray him, he repeatedly calls up on the gods for help: “O heavens… send down and take your part!”.
In his hour of need, he abases himself before the heavens claiming to be a helpless old man: “You see me here, you gods, a poor old man, / As full of grief as age, wretched in both!”.
Lear’s faith in the gods is also apparent in his deluded belief that he and Cordelia will share a blissful future in prison. He tells her that they will be “god’s spies” and that “the gods themselves throw incense”, this shows his unwavering faith in the gods and that they will protect them even in this grim situation.
Describe other characters (not lear’s) appeals to heaven.
Kent, Gloucester & Cordelia also seem to share Lear’s belief that the gods can act on their behalves.
As Gloucester is blinded; he calls upon the gods for help: “Give me some help! O cruel, O you gods!”. He then declares his hope that “winged vengeance” will strike Goneril and Regan. He then asks the gods to forgive him for his treatment of Edgar and to protect him: “Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!”.
When Cordelia is diswoned, Kent calls on the gods to protect her: “The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid!”. When places in the stocks, he takes comfort that “heaven’s benediction” will keep him safe. Then Later in the storm when Gloucester offers him shelter, Kent hopes the gods will repay him: “The gods reward your kindness”.
Cordelia too appeals to the gods, asking them to cure her demented father of his madness and mental torture: “O you kind gods, / Cure this great breach in his abused nature!”.
Interestingly enough the evil characters don’t really make much mention of the gods. Edmund instead believes in people ability to mold their own destiny and thereby believes in nature instead.
Discuss the Loss of Faith in King Lear.
One by one, the various characters’ faith in the gods is tested or shatterd.
Once he is blinded and cast away, Gloucester’s faith in divine benevolence begins to fade. He comes to believe the gods torture men for their own amusement: As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; / They kill us for their sport!
Lear’s faith in the gods’ goodness being to crumble upon Cordelia’s death. He enters howling talking about how he wishes to break into heaven: “Had I your tongues and eyes, I’d use them so / That heaven’s vaults should crack”.
Kent’s belief in the kindness of the god’s is also shaken at the plays climax. The sight of his master carrying Cordelia’s body makes him wonder if this is the end of the world: “Is this the promis’d end”?
Discuss Edgar’s faith in the gods
Edgar’s faith is tested heavily throughout “King Lear”. Having been falsely accussed and hounded into exile, he feels that things can’t get much worse: “The lowest and most dejected thing of fortune, / Stands still in esperence, lives not in fear”. However straight after this, he sees his blinded father: “O gods! Who is’t can say, I am at the worse? / I am worse than e’er I was”.
Yet Edgar’s attitude to misforunte was one of stoical acceptance. Despite his sufferings he retains his faith in divine justice. His determination to take whatever the world throws at him is summed up by his words of encouragement to his father when he wishes to die after he learns of the French defeat: “Men must endure… Ripeness is all”. He will not succumb to the temptation to curse heaven or blame the gods for his suffering. This demonstrates a great wisdom and a strong will
Discuss Belief in Divine Justice throughout King lear.
Throughout the play, several characters declare a belief in divine justice, a belief that the gods will reward the good and punish the wicked. Edgar for instance, seems to suggest that Edmund will lose their duel because he was “False to thy gods. He also declares that Gloucester deserved his terrible fate because he has a bastard child: “The gods are just… Cost him his eyes”.
Like Edgar, Albany also posesses faith in divine justice. He finds his faith in heavnely justice affirmed when he learns that Cornwall was slain: “This shows you are above… So Speedily can venge!”. Like Edgar, his belief is clinical. At the end of the Play when he orders Goneril and Regans’ bodies to be brought out, he solemnly declares that they got what they deserved: “This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble, / Touches us not with pity”.
As he lies dying, Edmund too seems to declare his faith in divine justice, claiming he got what he deserved: “Thou hast spken right, ‘tis true;/ The wheel has come full circle; I am here”. However whether he believes this or is just trying to take advantage of the limelight is uncertain.
Discuss Angels and Devils in King lear.
Cordelia is the character most strongly associed with heaven in the play. In act 4, her servent descirbes her as an angelic-like figure: “There she shook / The holy water from her heavenly eyes”. When Lear wakes to find her standing over him, he thinks she is a “soul in bliss”, a soul thas has ascended into heaven.
Goneil on the other hand, is so malicious that even her own husband describes her as a devil: “See thyself, devil!”. She is also numerously compared to a serpent, much like the snake in Adam and Eve.
Discuss Nature in King Lear.
Nature is sometimes presented in the play as a kind of goddess, a powerful force that guides people. Lear himself is seen as a nature worshipper. He calls upon nature to endorce his banishment of Cordelia; “For, by the sacred radiance of the sun… Here I disclaim all paternal care”. He later calls upon nature to make Goneril barren after she has insulted him: “Here, Nature hear! Dead goddess hear!… Into her womb convery sterlility!”.
Edmund is the most conspicuous nature worshipper in the play. He posesses a sinister view of nature, regarding it as an untaimed force with no regard to human morals. During his firts soliloquey, he makes it clear that he is a servent of nature and bound by its laws: “Thou, Nature art the goddess; To thy law / My services are bound”.
Astrology also plays a part in the play. Gloucester believes that the troubles of them kingdom on “these late eclipses in the sun and moon”. Kent also seems so thare some Gloucester’s belief in astrology. When he learns Cordelia’s compassionate reaction to the news of her father’s trials, he declares that “It is the stars, / The stars above us, govern our condition”.
Discuss whether or not there is Divine Justice in King lear.
Many readers have suggested “King Lear” takes place in a world where the gods do not exist, or are untroubled by mankind’s suffering. The play has a tragic ending, and is littered with incidents of brutal and gratuitous violence. As we have seen, again and again, characters place their faith in gods only to be met with tradegy and catastrophe.
Other readers favour the view that the gods do govern they play’s universe, there are several pieces of evidence that support this view. Firstly, Edmund, Cornwall, Goneril & Regan all died as punishments for their crimes. It’s also fair to argue that Lear and Gloucesters suffering was in part deserved for their sins committed. Furthermore at the end of the play, only the most righteous, openly religious characters survived.
However considering this viewpoint, it is difficult to understand what Cordelia is being punished for as she behaves in an exemplary fashion throughout the play, showing nothing but loyalty and compassion for those around her. Then Lear and Gloucesters punishments seem out of proportion for their misdeeds. As Lear himself puts it, he’s “a man/ More sinn’d against that sinning”.
