King Lear Research Paper

The use of social status' and roles and the difference between them in King Lear are endless. William Shakespeare's play, King Lear, provides an understanding on everything from illegitimate children, mental illness, the poor and the wealthy. The play seems to test and analyze some sixteenth century social structures but offers some profound solutions. It also takes a really hard look at England's social troubles but ultimately ends up supporting the existing conditions. Shakespeare's “social paradox" is described as the way we productively criticize and challenge the claim that social hierarchies are naturally harsh, while at the same time, increases and aid these very perceptions continuously. Although Shakespeare envisions a world where characters overturn the usual code and regulations of society, he also discusses the fundamentals of these laws for the prosperity of a strong social body. The social status of the characters dominates their every day life and even meddle with their world of sensibility, whether in higher or in lower class. By seeing how three different characters display Shakespeare's "social paradox", a reader today can comprehend the twist that Shakespeare offered his Elizabethan audience more thoroughly.

Shakespeare frquently says, he's "a bastard." He's one of the first characters we meet. His father Gloucester shamelessly goes out of way to let us know that Edmund was born out of wedlock. Introducing his son Edmund to a friend, Gloucster states, "Yes, I’ve been responsible for his upbringing. I’ve had to acknowledge that he’s my son so many times that now I can do it without embarrassment" (9-10).
"Though this knave came something saucily into the