Around the time of Shakespeare, a philosophy was born; one to define the relationship between all entities, living and non-living. Descending through the links from the Divine to Noblemen to Countrymen to inanimate objects, the Great Chain of Being winds through heaven, earth, and hell. The two pertinent factors of this philosophy are a hierarchy based on a ratio of spirit to matter, and a connection of all things through subordination. The Supreme Being in the hierarchy, God, is independent. Everything under God is dependent on him and is, in different degrees, less perfect. The lowest state on the Great Chain of Being contains the least possible amount of perfection - nothingness. As Shakespeare’s title, King Lear suggests, Lear begins his emotional journey as king. King and Queen being the third ranking assembly in the Great Chain of Being, Lear is as close to the top as he could ever become. However, because of the inevitable rotation of the wheel of fortune, King Lear descends from this nearly divine state to the lowest possible position in the Great Chain of Being.
Lear’s tumble down the Great Chain of Being begins gradually. His first action is stepping down from the throne. Lear has been brooding over the task of divid
. . .
Now, in retirement and while going through difficult times, Lear realizes these people were dependent on him and he rejected them:
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
Too little care of this! (Lr. 174) and a “most learned justicer” (Lr. Lear, by both philosophical and biological factors, does not exist. He is implying that man should be dead rather than live through this, "storm” having a double meaning. He can go no further down the Great Chain of Being and cannot, obviously, ascend to where he once was.
The penultimate step to absolute lack of perfection, the bottom of the Great Chain of Being, is shown when Lear regards Edgar, who is dressed as and is acting like a madman, as an esteemed sage.
This epiphany is a foreboding sign that Lear will fall to their level. He states that if he dwells on his insubordinate daughters, he will go mad.
Approximate Word count =
948
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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