Theological Consequences in King Lear

A detailed Summary of Theological Consequences in King Lear

Theological Consequences in King 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 thought. As Shakespeare was undoubtedly aware, interpretation of the play would necessarily be set in Christian context. (Even anti-Christian interpretation would be considered to be a Christian context in that it is reactionary.) The question arises as to whether or not Shakespeare, intentionally or not, has emphasized one strain of Christian thought while denouncing another? Or, in this play without any obvious redemption, has Shakespeare denounced Christianity altogether? I do not think he has gone to thi

It has been traditionally recounted, however, that mystical experiences generally have some sort of inherent, redemptive value. They classically result in periods of profound understanding, feelings of oneness, and peace of mind for the mystic. As to whether Lear receives any redemption of this sort, is addressed directly by Lynch and indirectly by Calderwood. The question is answered for Lynch by whether or not Lear is smiling on his deathbed and if such a smile would be in earnest or in madness. Lynch's final idea of redemption, though, is not of the "immediate, uninterpreted experience" from which Calderwood has led me to suggest mysticism, but of a more traditional heaven, "a paradise that is not an earthly prison" (57). On the other hand, Calderwood's worldview is Hobbesian. He does not recognize any sort of mystical redemption that I have alluded to. Lear, for him, confronts the harsh truth of the world directly but it is altogether grim. For him, it is a world whose "late eclipses of the sun and moon portend no good to us" and whose "wheels of fire will not be metaphors" (19).

Towards the end of his essay, Calderwood goes on to admit, "Despite the intensity of his concern for immediacy in King Lear, his play remains unavoidably a saying - not the agonizing 'it is' itself but a mediated representation of the worst"(18). With this in mind, one theological implication may follow from Calderwood's interpretation. Lear may be viewed as a sort of mystic text. Like any other mystical text, the value in Lear lies not in the words themselves, but the experience to which the words are pointing. Of course, such a mystical experience, as Lear may have had, would not necessarily be distinctly Christian. Part of what makes a mystical experience mystical, after all, is the transgression beyond the delineations of the conventional world, religious delineations, and the various dogmas of Christianity included. In any case, as both Lynch and Calderwood seem to lead us, if Shakespeare is making an appeal to a new brand of Christianity, it is a living, breathing, experiential brand of Christianity.

s extreme, but has instead challenged Christian interpretation as a whole. As we shall see, the distinction between Christianity and Christian interpretation is crucial.

I agree with Calderwood's sense of the truth in King Lear being found in immediate, uninterpreted experience, but contend that the outcome of seeing such truth might not be ultimately bleak. It is quite possible that Lear never reaches such a point of understanding, and that this lack of understanding is in fact his tragedy. Calderwood suggests that his tragedy is not in his lack of understanding but in the fact that he understands too much, making his tragedy more the tragedy of all humankind. But, there seems evidence, to me, that Lear is still not at the point of seeing "what is" immediately. He, for instance, kills the guard who has hanged Cordelia in an act of revenge and later brags about it to her corpse. This suggests that he is still in the glaze of at least a false conventional sense of revenge, in which one killing justifies another. Also, he i

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2129
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English