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Introduction
King Lear, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, is a play that creates an alarming mental picture of different societal structures, for instance, the political, social, and familial. These reflect the other broken orders in the whole play. For example, earlier in space, King Lear breaks the order of a country having only one king by dividing the kingdom into three parts. It takes the audience to the notion that a King can make decisions that disrupt the regular orders in all dynamics. The regular familial, political, and social orders are disrupted in the play because of underlying contributions such as power, greed, and desperation to hold a certain status in the community, which leads to disorder and chaos.
The act has many familial orders broken, for instance, the order between parents and their children, servants versus their masters, the king, and the ordinary people, women versus men, and the king and nature (Greenblatt et al.,1220). The play is filled with revenge, betrayal, injustice, and deception, breaking a normal society’s social, political, and familial order. Order breaks down in King Lear when the king decides to divide his kingdom between his daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love for him.
Familial Order
The preliminary order depicted in the play is familial. There are many different structures of family in the scene, which are the basis of every other action. Many forces undermine the order, such as politics, greed for a title, and other fortunes. As the play progresses, families are broken by different factors, as others are built in various foundations and circumstances. These changes led to the emergence of disorders, as discussed below.
Parents do not try to buy their children’s love in a typical family. King Lear divided the kingdom into three parts and gave each to his daughters. It was so that he could be showered with words of affection by his daughters. Instead, he left his kingdom divided, welcoming other vulnerabilities such as attacks (Greenblatt et al.,1000). He created a permanent division that would go through every generation. He did not account for the damage he could have caused, but he was willing to take the risk to win his daughter’s affection. A parent should not put other people at risk only to fuel their ego. Better not; a parent should not make demands on their children.
Regardless of all that effort, his daughters had different reactions when he asked them to tell him how much they loved him. Goneril and Regan showered their father with false flattery of love and affection (Greenblatt et al.,1001). One may not establish whether they wanted to impress him, or it was out of fear, or they were driven by greed to get the portions of land. However, Cordelia refused to lie to her father that she loved him.
King Lear, who could not control his anger, banished and disinherited her. He gave the land intended for her to Regan and Goneril and sent her away in disgrace. When Cordelia failed to flatter his father with words of affection, she lost her inheritance and her home. It is the primary example of how a father can trust the wrong children and send away the loyal ones (Heijes, 121). Later in the play, they turn on him, and it is too late when Cordelia returns to help him fight them.
Regan, Goneril, and Coward shut Lear out in the storm in this act. The loyal Gloucester recalls how he grew uncomfortable when Lear was left in the storm by his children. Once again, it is out of the ordinary for children to leave their parents in dangerous situations. While in this scene, they collaborate with a stranger to ensure Lear does not go back to the palace (Greenblatt et al., 1259). They also refused to give Gloucester permission to go and save him, warning him never to speak about Lear or plead on his behalf. This level of cruelty is less expected from children to their parents. The familial bond and order are broken in this scene, reflecting the betrayal theme throughout the play.
Another broken familial order is between Gloucester and Edmund. After Lear is left in the storm, Gloucester feels he should take his side. He is a father of two sons, Edmund, who is illegitimate, and Edgar. Edgar is driven away by Edmund, who hates him for receiving better treatment than him. This is the basis of Edmund’s hate towards his father, and he is willing to betray him for that (Greenblatt et al., 1265).
As Gloucester plots to leave the castle and sends Edmund to distract Cornwall, Gloucester leaves him with a tip of the location of the French invasion later. Edmund takes that as an opportunity to betray his father, as he exposes his involvement in the French attack in England. He tells Cornwall about Gloucester’s plan to retrieve Lear from the storm and the letter’s location. These offenses are punishable by death. Edmund plans to take his father’s title, land, and all the other fortune when Gloucester is put to death.
It is out of the ordinary for children to plot against their fathers and wish them death to get a title. Edmund hopes to find his father together with Lear, which would confirm Cornwall’s suspicions. He was delighted because Cornwall was his ally, and he would grant him the title of Earl of Gloucester. In the typical familial set-up, children do not side with strangers out of greed for power (Heijes, 122). Nevertheless, in this scene, Edmund wishes his father dead and would do anything to prove that he is a traitor. When Gloucester is found, they oppress him, tie him up like a thief and chop his eyes off (Greenblatt et al., 1272).
One of Gloucester’s servants is caught in the crossfire as he tries to help him. When he tries to call his son, Edmund, to help him, Regan triumphantly shouts that he is the one who betrayed him. He laments that he trusted the wrong child and cast out his loyal one.
Lear and Gloucester’s example above shows the perfect idea of familial disorder. Family is the foundation of love, loyalty, faithfulness, and power (Heijes, 126). In these scenes, the family is divided, which lays a foundation of death, pain, betrayal, revenge, and greed for power. A parent should not realize that they trusted the wrong child, just as Lear and Gloucester realized too late (Greenblatt et al., 1277). A parent in a position of power should not use material wealth to get an affirmation of their children’s love, just as Lear used portions of land to get words of affection from his daughters. Family should guarantee love and support, not death and danger.
Social Order
The social order in the play is depicted in the variations of social status and hierarchy of the characters. Even though it is the role of the king and other leaders to improve the social level of the community, the focus is placed on the main characters, Edmund, Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall (Greenblatt et al., 1288). They, as it seems, would do anything to keep their social status. However, there are other characters in the play, such as Lear, Edgar, and Gloucester, who would do anything to improve the social level of the people around them. That is the foundation of a disruptive social order. The forces undermining the social order are social status, interactions, cultural beliefs, norms, and values. The strive to be in a special social status undermines the social order in that one would do anything, regardless of the expense, to maintain it. People are ready to kill, torture, betray and break every social norm to gain a certain social status.
The desire to become great in the social class drives Edmund to betray his father. His main aim is to assume his title, fortune, land, and all his father’s fortunes after they put him to death. Goneril and Regan tell lies to their father, Lear, so that they may get the portions of land. Lear can hardly handle the betrayal in this scene, for he is not afraid to stay out in the storm. He claims that the emotional torture makes him unable to feel the storm (Greenblatt et al., 1300). These characters are driven by desperation to assume higher social status, which brings up hate, murder, torture, and betrayal.
However, some characters would do anything to strip off their social status for the good of others. Gloucester risks his title as the Earl of Gloucester and returns to the storm to retrieve Lear (Greenblatt et al., 1301). Edgar gives up his status as a person of sound mind and disguises himself as a madman to avoid his brother killing him. Lear strips his clothes in the storm after realizing that the only thing separating him from a civilian is his clothes. He feels that too much clothing cannot protect a man from the elements of nature and the gods. Lear walked in the storm, wondering about all the people lacking shelter (Greenblatt et al., 1314).
He kneeled and prayed for them. Cordelia was stripped of social status when she refused to alter false alterations on how she loved her father. She lost her inheritance and was chased away from her home. However, this portrayed her as a strong-willed woman who would stand for nothing but the truth.
The primary evidence of social disorder is how Edgar can communicate with Lear in the storm. Lear felt pity and prayed for the people without shelter in the storm. It was a form of social disorder because, as king, he failed to fulfill his duty to raise the social standards of his country’s people. The main contribution that undermines social status is elements of nature (Heijes, 125). Regardless of his social status, Lear, a former king, was in the storm, just like Edgar, the madman.
Political Order
Political order is portrayed by Kingship, power, and justice in King Lear. Politically, justice corresponds to the social and moral concept of the natural world. In the play, political order is disrupted as people get justice according to the decisions of those in power (Heijes, 125). Forces that undermine the political order include loyalty because Gloucester undermined Cornwall, who was in a position of power, to go and save Lear from the storm (Heijes, 124). The main sign of the political disorder is the divided loyalty to the people in a position of power. Gloucester was punished for being loyal to a former leader.
King Lear was a father to three daughters and the king. When Lear was King, the operations of Britain were going according to the justice system (Greenblatt et al., 1315). However, when he gave up his authority to his daughters, everything fell apart due to their appetite and greed for power. Power order is broken here because Kingship is passed to greedy and inexperienced children. Edmund started his ascension, hoping to be known among those in power. Ultimately, it is always a terrifying uncertainty as the good die, such as Gloucester, and the excellent die with them.
Cornwall was in a position of power when Edmund betrayed Gloucester. He was not allowed by the law to kill him without trial. However, he chooses to ignore the rule just because he can. He was punished for being loyal to Lear. He was cruelly tortured, and his eyes were chopped off (Greenblatt et al., 1300). Therefore, loyalty to the old king was considered treason, whose punishment was death. He could not let Gloucester face the law and get justice reasonably for his mistakes. He was driven by hate and revenge to rule upon the crime committed by Gloucester.
One person does not permanently hold power at all times. It can be passed from the person in control or grabbed by force. People are willing to do everything to grab and remain in power, regardless of the loss of other people (Heijes, 127). For instance, Lear leaves his authority to his daughters, who do unspeakable things to keep it. It takes Edmund betraying his family to gain the Earl of Gloucester title and to have Cornwall as his ally (Greenblatt et al., 1299).
Power can turn people inhuman as the struggle to get more continues. Lear starts being kind and caring when he walks in the storm and strips off his garments. By the end of scene three, Shakespeare continues to establish the humanity of Lear after he has already given up power. Lear speaks to Edgar, who disguises himself as a madman (Greenblatt et al.,1320). He realizes they are not different, for what he was saying made sense to him too. After that, they escape to France together after they have grown close. Power could make someone fail to establish meaningful interpersonal relationships and conversations with others.
Conclusion
Disruption of regular order leads to disorder and chaos in the community. The disorder leads to much destruction, such as death, torture, and suffering for the corresponding parties. King Lear demonstrates with clear evidence what happens after order in every dynamic is broken. The country fell apart when he divided it into three. The following events were caused by greed and desperation for the same power. People started to have divided loyalties. For instance, Gloucester was punished for remaining loyal to King Lear and not his daughters or Cornwall. This scene, therefore, reflects the climax of the disruption of order in society.
Work Cited
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Carol T. Christ, eds. The Norton anthology of English literature. Vol. 1. WW Norton & Company, 2012.
Heijes, Coen. “Play review: King Lear.” (2019): 123-125.
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