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Theme Of Justice In King Lear

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Justice is expected to exist and be visibly felt and practiced, but does it always work the way it is just for everyone? King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1605 and justice plays one of the most important roles in it. But is there even any trace of justice to be found in this piece of literary work? More importantly, perhaps we should seek the answer to the following question: is there any justice in the world? This is a high status matter, which requires a profound and multi-dimensional analysis of what the famous writer Shakespeare wanted to present in one of his best and most valued works. First of all, in order to start analysis of the problem of justice in King Lear, we need to take a closer look on the main plot. King Lear has three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. He wants to divide between them parts of his kingdom and he foolishly decides to use his daughters love as a measure which of them deserves the bigger part of his properties. The two older daughters make beautiful and flattering speeches describing their love for the father, while Cordelia refuses to take part in the test saying that her love can’t be measured and she’s not able to express her feelings with words. Lear took it very wrong, being misleaded by beautiful words, he divided the kingdom among his older daughters and exiled Cordelia from her homeland. Later he found out that Goneril’s and Regan’s words were empty and in fact they had no love for him. They only cared

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