Criticism In King Lear

The Early modern period is the time between the late 16th century and the early 18th century, coinciding with the end of the Elizabethan era, considered the 'golden age ' of England, and the beginning of the Jacobean era. During the reign of the Tudor dynasty, England was characterized by the expansion of poetry, literature and new social construction by virtue of literary works of William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and, few decades later, poets like George Herbert and John Milton. In their era, the English Rennasaince, was present neoplatonic idea called the Great Chain of Being. This conception of the universe states that the universe has the highest amount of different species, those species and forms share at

Shakespeare wrote one of his most famous tragedies, King Lear, between 1603 and 1607. In the center of the play is king Lear and his relationships with his three daughters; Cordelia, Regan and Goneril. He asks them to describe how much they love him so he could decide how to divide his kingdom between them. The first mention of nothingness is introduced by Cordelia after she answers 'Nothing, my lord. ' With her repetition of nothingness, Shakespeare introduces one of the authors of the Chain of Being, Aristotle, who stated that 'nothing comes out of nothing '. The play actually follows the fall of the king Lear, who becomes 'nothing ' during the play by losing his kingdom, by betrayal of his daughters and by reduction of his knights to none. This Aristotle 's claim is opposite to God, who created everything out of nothing. Therefore, by means of repeating the motif of nothingness through the play, Shakespeare shakes the Chain of Being, at the top of which is God himself. Eventually, after losing his kingship, Lear falls into some kind of the identity crisis. So impoverished, Lear goes one step down in the Chain, becoming equal to all other humans, as seen in

(2.4.26).

About 60 years after King Lear, John Milton published an epic poem Paradise Lost. It is about a Satan 's temptation of the first people on Earth, Adam and Eve. Milton respects the same order of the Chain of Being and that order is shaken almost throughout the whole poem, but it remains unchanged at the end. He imagines the universe as some kind of a chain, Heaven and Hell are on the opposite sides with Chaos between them and our planet with all its parts including stars and the moon is connected to Heaven with a chain. Satan is initially described as a fallen angel, the one who betrayed God and now is sentenced to eternity in hell. He tried to rebel against God, but unsuccessfully, which proved the strength of the Chain. After realizing that God cannot be overpowered, Satan decided to try to turn all good in evil, so he climbed his way into the Eden over the walls while taking care that the guardian angels do not notice him and, consequently, turned himself into snake. Meanwhile, in Eden, Eve decided that it is better do work separated from Adam in order to get more work done. She even made comment that it would be shameful if Satan tried to attack a woman, considering that she is not as strong as Adam, confirming that she is aware of evil and its presence. But, after all, she falls under the temptation and later convinces Adam into doing the same. If she had not done that, it would be possible to say that in some metaphorical way the Chain of Being had been