Studying T heme - Justice


Similarly, when Albany hears that Cornwall has been murdered by a servant, he believes it to be proof of divine justice: ‘This shows you are above, / You justicers’.


Albany regards the deaths of Goneril and Regan as further evidence of the stern but righteous gods punishing evildoers: ‘This judgement of the heavens, that makes us tremble, / Touches us not with pity.’


There is no easy answer as to whether or not the play is arguing for the existence of divine justice. It is ultimately up to each audience member or reader to judge for themselves. Those who believe that the gods are indifferent to man’s suffering point to the fact that whenever characters hope for divine justice and believe it is about to appear, their hopes are dashed. Time and time again Lear calls on the gods to help him, but they never do. In Act 2 Scene 4, when the old king sees Goneril and Regan for what they really are, he asks the gods to come to his aid:


If you do love old men, if your sweet sway Allow obedience, if yourselves are old, Make it your cause! Send down and take my part!


Lear’s prayer goes unanswered and Goneril and Regan continue to humiliate their father, stripping him of his knights and his dignity. Lear begs heaven to help him once more, but the only answer from above is the outbreak of a violent storm.


Although Edgar continues to believe in divine justice, he is equally poorly served by the gods on several occasions. In Act 4, Edgar believes he has hit rock bottom and that things can only improve: ‘The lamentable change is from the best: / The worst returns to laughter.’ Just as Lear’s prayer was met, not with divine assistance but with a worsening of circumstances, so the only response to Edgar’s optimistic belief that there is justice in the world is the entrance of his blinded father, led by a peasant. Still, Edgar lives in hope and urges Gloucester not to lose faith and to resist suicide, as the gods alone can determine when a man should die. In Act 5, as the battle is about to begin, Edgar tells Gloucester to ‘Pray that the right may thrive’. Moments later, however, he returns with the dreadful news that Cordelia’s army has been defeated and she and Lear taken prisoner.


At the end of the play, many evil characters who deserved punishment have died or been killed. Cornwall, Edmund, Goneril, Regan and Oswald’s deaths may be seen as evidence of divine justice – the punishment of evildoers – but Cordelia’s death is far more problematic. She is the epitome of purity and goodness and the imagery associated with her at the end of the play portrays her as saint-like, yet she is brutally murdered. Albany’s prayer as he sends a man to save Cordelia, ‘The gods defend her’, immediately precedes the entrance of Lear, carrying his daughter’s dead body. Once again, entreaties to divine justice go unanswered.


Cordelia’s death breaks Lear’s heart and he dies in an agony of grief. It seems too much that the old king should have to suffer so grievously when he has already recognised his failings, repented and been forgiven by Cordelia. His final torment would seem to prove that the gods are non-existent or indifferent to men’s plight, and it gives weight to his earlier claim that he is a man ‘More sinned against than sinning’.


Some readers and critics argue that the end of the play does provide evidence that the gods are just, albeit harshly so. All of the evil characters suffer and die for their sins. Lear and Gloucester, even though their suffering may seem out of proportion for the wrongs they have done, can be seen as deserving of their great punishment. After all, their actions were instrumental in unleashing evil on the kingdom in the first place.


Leaving Certificate English Excellence in Texts


301


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