Theological Consequences In Ki
ng Lear
Shakespeare's King Lear is not primarily a theological text. It contains no direct references to Christ, and its characters are not overtly religious, except perhaps in a strictly pagan sense. King Lear is, however, a play that seeks out the "meaning" of life, a play that attempts to come to terms with life's pain; or, rather, plummets the reader into such a storm of chaos and meaninglessness that any preconceived meaningful assumptions must necessarily be challenged. At the time in which Shakespeare wrote, amidst the recent activity of the Reformation, the assumptions the general public took into a theater were varied, but, more often than not, within some context of Christian ...
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has gone to this extreme, but has instead challenged Christian interpretation as a whole. As we shall see, the distinction between Christianity and Christian interpretation is crucial.
For my premise that Shakespeare and his audience were in some way effected by the Christian thought of the day, I am indebted to Stephen Lynch, who has researched the evidence for this position in a chapter from his Shakespearean Intertextualities entitled "English Reformations in King Leir and King Lear." Within the chapter, Lynch explores possibilities in theological interpretations of the play in light of its predecessor King Leir. It is Lynch's contention that Shakespeare's Lear is reactionary to certain Calvinistic implications communicated in Leir. Shakespeare's negation of Leir's theological values are not, however, a necessary affirmation of a different theological stance. It might be the foundation of a new theological view, or it could be an utter negation from which, to quote the King ...
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more effective that he does not. The point that Calderwood does make has immediate implications upon theology. Also, an excess of discussion would belabor the point he makes, for, in a sense, an excess of discussion is what he is rallying against. The pain and suffering of the play, Calderwood argues, is caused by a confusion in the convention of language. This confusion lies in the difference between "what is" and "what is said." The difference between the two is perhaps best exemplified in Edgar's saying, "Who is't can say 'I am at the worst'? / I am worse than e'er I was. / And worse I may be yet. The worst is not / So long as we can say 'This is the worst'"(4.1, 25-28). Language, ...
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"Theological Consequences In Ki." Essayworld.com. October 7, 2005. Accessed April 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Theological-Consequences-In-Ki/34452.
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