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

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

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