As suggested earlier, Shakespeare relies upon parallels of character and situation to enhance both his characterization and plot. The use of such parallels in literature is referred to as dialogics. The meaning or sense of one scene carries across and develops that of a second scene. The second scene, in turn, contributes to the meaning and depth of the first scene. Audiences will easily see most of these parallels, but often the comparisons and contrast operate on a subconscious level. The audience may not at first perceive the similarity, but the comparison registers on their minds as the story unfolds.
The charts below diagram some of the dialogic relationships. The first chart compares Edmund and Goneril. Goneril (as well as Regan), though legitimate, shares the evil of the bastard Edmund. (Shakespeare did not subscribe to popular notion that one is evil simply because one is a bastard.) The quick cutting of parallel scenes also affects the audience’s understanding and evaluation of the characters.
Note that points 8 and 9 below also reveal the intertwining of the main plot (Lear & daughters) and the subplot (Gloucester & sons). In addition, there is also an intertwining of characterization.
EDMUND |
GONERIL (and REGAN) |
1. Gloucester will provide for him |
1. Lear will provide 1/3 of kingdom to her |
2. greedy for inheritance – plans to cheat Edgar |
2. greedy for inheritance – lies to her father about her love for him |
3. no love for his father |
3. no love for her father |
4. lies to his father |
4. lies to her father |
5. betrays his father |
5. betrays her father |
6. use of letters: (a) phony letter supposedly by Edgar, (b) letter regarding French wars |
6. use of letters: (a) letter to Regan,
(b) letter to Edmund
|
7. letter used to hurt father |
7. letter used to hurt father |
8. plots to kill Lear |
8. wants to torture Gloucester (via Regan) |
9. “attraction” to Goneril & Regan |
9. attraction to Edmund |
10. fights against brother |
10. fights against sister |
11. killed by brother |
11. kills sister, then herself |
EDGAR |
CORDELIA |
1. “foolish honesty” |
1. honesty to Lear |
2. new role as Mad Tom |
2. new role as Queen of France |
3. helps his father when Gloucester is blind |
3. helps her father when Lear is mad |
4. prevents his father’s suicide |
4. helps her father recover from madness |
Some of Shakespeare’s ideas and concepts in the play are …
kingship/leadership madness anger blindness father-child relationships bastards |
destiny/fate loyalty to parents loyalty to king virtue deception justice evil/wickedness |
Poetic Justice, or the lack of it, may also be a key theme in the play. There is poetic justice with the deaths of Cornwall, Regan, Goneril, and Edmund. However, the play certainly includes more acts of injustice than justice, notably (1) the blinding of Gloucester; (2) the madness of Lear; (3) the banishments of Lear, Cordelia, and Kent; and (4) the deaths of Cordelia, Gloucester, Lear, and the First Servant. Perversions of Justice are emphasized in two scenes: (1) the mad courtroom scene (Act III, iv), and (2) the interrogation and torture scene (Act III, vii). The lack of justice or perversion of justice theme is also connected to the theme regarding fate and to apocalyptic chaos (as suggested in Gloucester’s dialogue regarding recent eclipses in Act I, Scene 2, lines 96-108).
As noted earlier, Shakespeare also relies upon a notion that derives from early English Legal Theory. According to this theory, the King is different from other men. He has two bodies: Human and Divine (“anointed flesh” vs. “poor, bare, fork’d animal”). Lear is in confusion regarding his dual nature, and he tries to separate his human body from his divine body when he relinquishes his position as king. Lear is unaware of his own unique identity. Although Christians would adapt this theory and apply it to all mankind (suggested by the terms of body and soul), the idea regarding the unique nature of kings goes back to ancient times. The ancient Greeks also viewed their kings as being superior beings, and many of these ancient kings would trace back their genealogical roots to Zeus or one of the other powerful Olympian gods.
Some critics view the play as having Biblical symbolism. King Lear has been posited as a Job figure, and another reading posits the entire play as a symbolic rendering of the Apocalypse (also suggested by Gloucester lines in Act I, Scene 2). Such views, though, are not necessarily shared by all critics.