Context (OCR A-Level English Literature): Revision Notes
Context
Understanding the historical context of King Lear is essential for fully grasping the themes and messages Shakespeare weaves into the play. Written during the Jacobean period, the play reflects the political, social, and religious anxieties of early 17th-century England whilst drawing on ancient legends and literary traditions.
Studying the historical context enriches our understanding of Shakespeare's artistic choices and reveals why certain themes would have resonated powerfully with his original audience. The play's concerns about power, succession, and social order weren't abstract philosophical concepts—they were urgent contemporary anxieties.
Jacobean England
King Lear was written during the early reign of King James I (1603-1625), a period that shared many concerns with the preceding Elizabethan era. The political and social landscape of this time deeply influenced the play's themes.
Divine right of kings
In Jacobean England, the concept of the divine right of kings was fundamental to political thinking. This doctrine stated that monarchs received their authority directly from God, making any challenge to royal power equivalent to challenging God's will.
Lear's decision to abdicate his throne and divide his kingdom would have shocked contemporary audiences. They would have viewed this as deeply unnatural, a dangerous disruption of the divinely ordained order. By voluntarily giving up power, Lear commits an act that goes against the fundamental principles of monarchy.
The implications of this belief system were profound—it meant that the monarch's authority was absolute and sacred, not subject to human challenge or redistribution.
Succession anxiety
The question of royal succession was a source of significant national concern during this period. King James I had inherited the English throne after Queen Elizabeth I died without direct heirs, ending decades of uncertainty about who would rule after her death.
King Lear directly addresses the dangers of political division and unclear succession. When Lear divides his kingdom between his daughters rather than maintaining a unified monarchy, the resulting political chaos and civil war would have resonated powerfully with audiences who had lived through the succession crisis. The play explores what happens when the rules of inheritance and power transfer break down.
The succession crisis before James I's accession had been a period of genuine national anxiety. England had narrowly avoided civil war over the question of who would succeed Elizabeth. Shakespeare's audience would have recognized these dangers immediately in Lear's actions.
The source material
Shakespeare drew inspiration from various historical texts and earlier plays, adapting them to create his tragic masterpiece.
The legend of Leir
The basic plot of King Lear originates from an ancient British legend about Leir of Britain, a semi-mythical king. This story was recorded in texts such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain).
In earlier versions of this tale, the story has a happy ending. Leir is restored to power by his faithful daughter, and order is re-established. However, Shakespeare made a crucial change. He transformed this optimistic narrative into a tragedy, removing any possibility of redemption or reconciliation. This darker vision makes the play far more disturbing and philosophically complex.
The playwright's adaptations
Shakespeare also borrowed elements from an earlier play called King Leir (1605). However, he made significant alterations that deepened the tragic impact:
- He intensified the tragic elements throughout the play
- He introduced the subplot involving Gloucester and his sons, which mirrors and amplifies Lear's own suffering
- He added structural complexity by interweaving multiple plot lines
These changes reflect the influence of Senecan tragedy, a classical dramatic form characterised by themes of suffering, fate, and the inescapable consequences of human error. This tradition emphasized how human flaws lead inevitably to disaster.
Political commentary and power dynamics
King Lear serves as a powerful commentary on the political tensions of Shakespeare's time, particularly concerning monarchy, power, and governance.
Abdication and political chaos
Lear's choice to abdicate and divide his kingdom would have been seen as a criticism of rulers who abandon their responsibilities. Elizabethan and Jacobean audiences firmly believed in the necessity of strong, centralised monarchy. They saw the monarch as the keystone holding society together.
By splitting his power between his daughters, Lear disrupts what was viewed as the natural order. The resulting political chaos and civil war demonstrate the catastrophic consequences of weak or divided leadership. This would have reflected broader concerns about political stability in Jacobean England, especially after the long but eventually uncertain reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
The play suggests that monarchs have a duty to maintain their power for the good of the realm, not to distribute it based on personal whims or affection. This reflects a fundamental political principle of the era: the monarch exists to serve the state, not themselves.
Social hierarchy
The rigid social hierarchy of Jacobean society forms a crucial backdrop to King Lear. Society was organized in strict layers, with the king at the top, followed by nobles, gentry, and common people below. This hierarchy was seen as part of the natural order established by God.
The breakdown of this social order in the play is portrayed as catastrophic. Goneril and Regan's rebellion against their father, and Edmund's betrayal of his legitimate brother Edgar, represent direct threats to established authority. These challenges to the social hierarchy would have been viewed with alarm by Shakespeare's audience, reflecting contemporary fears of social upheaval and chaos.
The play demonstrates what happens when people step outside their proper social roles and challenge legitimate authority. This wasn't just a dramatic device—it reflected genuine anxieties about maintaining social stability in a hierarchical society.
Gender roles and family structures
The themes of family loyalty and betrayal in King Lear reflect the patriarchal structure of early modern England and anxieties about women's roles.
Patriarchal society
Lear's dual position as king and father represents the ultimate patriarchal authority in Jacobean society. The family structure mirrored political structure, with the father figure exercising absolute authority over his household, just as the king ruled over his kingdom.
Daughters, especially unmarried ones like Cordelia at the play's opening, were expected to be dutiful, obedient, and submissive. Cordelia's refusal to engage in the love test, though honest, would have been seen as a failure to fulfil her daughterly duty.
The failure of Goneril and Regan to adhere to these expectations by betraying their father reflects contemporary anxieties about female ambition and power. Women who sought or exercised power independently were viewed with deep suspicion. The play portrays these daughters as monstrous, suggesting what happens when women transgress their expected roles.
Inheritance and property
Lear's division of his kingdom echoes contemporary concerns about inheritance, particularly primogeniture—the system whereby the eldest son inherited all of a family's land and wealth. This system was designed to keep estates intact and maintain social stability.
The fact that Lear divides his kingdom between daughters (rather than having a son to inherit) already marks a departure from normal practice. Additionally, Gloucester's deception by his illegitimate son Edmund reflects anxieties about the breakdown of traditional family and inheritance structures.
The question of who should inherit power and property was pressing during this period. Queen Elizabeth I's uncertain succession had demonstrated how dangerous inheritance disputes could become. The play explores the chaos that results when proper inheritance procedures are disrupted.
Religion and morality
Religion played a central role in the worldview of Shakespeare's contemporaries, and its influence permeates King Lear in complex ways.
Christian and pagan elements
King Lear is set in pre-Christian Britain, a pagan world. Yet the play contains numerous references to Christian ideas, particularly concepts of suffering, justice, and redemption. This creates an interesting tension in the play's moral universe.
The absence of clear divine justice would have challenged audience expectations of moral resolution. Cordelia's death and Lear's tragic end offer no sense of divine justice or reward for virtue. Instead, the play seems to suggest a pagan worldview where the gods are either indifferent to human suffering or actively malevolent.
This darker vision is captured in Gloucester's famous line:
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.
This suggests a universe without moral order, where suffering is random and meaningless. Such a vision would have been deeply disturbing to a Christian audience accustomed to plays that affirmed divine justice and moral order.
Suffering and redemption
Despite the play's bleakness, themes of redemption through suffering are present, particularly in Lear's journey. His madness strips away his pride and pretensions, leading him toward self-awareness and humility. His eventual reconciliation with Cordelia could be seen as reflecting the Christian idea of spiritual rebirth through suffering.
However, this potential redemption is brutally cut short. The play ultimately denies the comfort of Christian redemption, ending instead in tragedy. This makes King Lear one of Shakespeare's darkest and most philosophically challenging works.
The tension between pagan setting and Christian themes creates a unique moral landscape in the play. Shakespeare uses the pagan world as a space to explore disturbing questions about justice and meaning that might have been too provocative in an explicitly Christian setting.
Theatrical and literary context
Shakespeare wrote King Lear during a period of remarkable literary and theatrical innovation in England.
Theatre of the time
Shakespeare created King Lear for performance at the Globe Theatre, where it would have been presented to a socially diverse audience ranging from groundlings (standing in the pit) to wealthy patrons in galleries.
The play's structure reflects Jacobean theatrical conventions:
- Tragic intensity and dramatic high points
- Moments of comic relief, particularly through the Fool's witty observations
- Multiple plot lines unfolding simultaneously
- Spectacular visual moments (the storm scenes, Lear's madness)
These elements were designed to engage and entertain audiences from all social classes, whilst also exploring profound philosophical questions.
The Globe's open-air design and diverse audience influenced Shakespeare's writing. He had to create drama that could hold the attention of educated nobles and illiterate groundlings alike, leading to his characteristic blend of poetry, spectacle, and philosophical depth.
Tragedy
King Lear is firmly rooted in the tradition of classical tragedy. Shakespeare was influenced by the models of Seneca (Roman tragedian) and Aristotle's theories about tragedy. According to Aristotle, tragedy should depict the fall of a great person caused by a tragic flaw (hamartia).
In Lear's case, his tragic flaw is hubris—excessive pride and self-confidence. His arrogant demand for public declarations of love and his furious rejection of Cordelia demonstrate this fatal pride. His suffering stems directly from this character flaw.
However, Shakespeare expands beyond classical models by:
- Interweaving multiple tragic plot lines (Lear and Gloucester's stories)
- Creating characters of great psychological complexity and depth
- Exploring profound philosophical and existential questions about justice, suffering, and meaning
The play reflects the influence of revenge tragedies popular during the period, but transcends these conventions to examine deeper questions about human nature and the universe's moral structure. Shakespeare uses the tragic form not just to entertain, but to probe fundamental questions about existence, justice, and human value.
Key Points to Remember:
- King Lear was written during the Jacobean period (1603-1625) and reflects anxieties about monarchy, succession, and social order
- The concept of divine right made Lear's abdication seem unnatural and dangerous to contemporary audiences
- Shakespeare transformed an ancient legend with a happy ending into a dark tragedy without redemption
- The play explores the catastrophic consequences of disrupting social hierarchy and proper inheritance
- The mixing of Christian and pagan elements creates moral ambiguity—the play offers no clear divine justice
- Gender roles and patriarchal authority are central themes, with ambitious women portrayed as threats to natural order
- Understanding the historical context helps explain the play's themes of power, loyalty, suffering, and justice