Shakespear's ‘King Lear’ is a tragic play consisting of evil and malevolence in 17th century England.

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Kieran Wood        King Lear        19/2/01        How Shakespeare Dramatises Evil

        ‘King Lear’ is a tragic play consisting of evil and malevolence in 17th century England. It symbolises what can happen in a kingdom if a bad ruler takes the throne. Shakespeare wrote the play in 1603, which was just before King James took the monarchy in 1605. The play could have been written for this reason, to warn James of the problems that can face a ruler.

Another theory of how this play came about is that Shakespeare based it on the story of Sir William Allen during his stay in London. Sir William Allen, who was a former mayor of London, had split his estate between his three daughters who had then arranging to live with them alternately. The daughters had then treated him with disrespect.

 Throughout the play Shakespeare shows an upside down Chain of Being, with less important characters receiving the main role and the new king or queen being selected by the king and not God.

        Shakespeare is an artist of words and brought about on of the biggest advances in the use of the English language. This perfection is shown in all his works and plays. Before this there were only plays on sections from the Bible, which did not inspire the people. Shakespeare changed this by making new tragic and comic stories. King Lear is a tragic play because the character Lear’s life goes from good to bad and at the end he dies. This makes him the tragic hero of the play. Shakespeare also used the words for emotions and feelings because there were no special effects in Shakespeare’s time. The stage may have only had one or two set-up per play and so the words have to show changes in situation and mood as well.

        Shakespeare language is different to other writers because he makes use of a variety of techniques such as empathy and dramatic irony to give his plays a twist and to keep an audience interested. Since King Lear is a tragic play the words have to show evil and just how bad life can get.        

        In act 3 scene7 Shakespeare dramatises evil by using extreme language for the time and not hiding anything from the audience along with more writing techniques. In brief Cornwall, Regan, and Gonerill feel that Gloucester should be punished for sending the King to Dover and the problems with France invading. Cornwall does this with torture and having Gloucester banished from his own home.

Shakespeare effect on the audience starts almost instantly in this scene with Cornwall saying “Post speedily to my Lord your husband;

                Show him this letter: the army of France is

                                    Landed. Seek out the traitor Gloucester.”

The word ‘Traitor’ puts the image in the beholders eyes that at the moment Gloucester is the more evil one. Also Shakespeare shows a relationship between the country, treachery, and Gloucester. In Shakespearean times a traitor to the country would be regarded as a very serious crime. This relates to evil because Cornwall is accusing Gloucester of a crime he did not commit, and punishing him for it. This section links in with the blindness theme woven throughout the play as Cornwall is being blinded from the truth and so has become confused.

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        Shakespeare the writes “hang him instantly,

                                         Pluck out his eyes” This is said by Regan and Gonerill about Gloucester and is a firm use of dramatic irony. The characters do not know what will happen in the future, but the audience know something bad is going to happen from the language used. ‘Instantly’, showing that Regan cannot wait for Gloucester to be punished, suggests that this is a matter of great importance. The short lengths of the lines break the rhythm of the iambic pentameter making the words different, stand out and dramatic. The word ‘pluck’ ...

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