Both plays see the deaths of the ‘ guilty characters as an example of divine Justice, but also he punishment of innocent characters at the hand of humanity praying on itself. In ITS Pity She’s a Where there are some clear examples where Gods divine order is deserved and justified, punishing characters for their moral offences.
This is particularly true of Enabler’s character. Enable is a victim of her own fate, and her lustful attitudes condemn her to a divine punishment. Enable chooses to commit severe adultery and Incest by sleeping with her own brother, Giovanni; both fully aware this Is morally wrong.
However the two believe the can Justify their sexual allegations, by means of their self-defined marriage and their belief that it is natural.
Giovanni presents the argument of a natural bond between siblings Wise Nature first in your creation meant / To make you mine: else had been sin and foul / To share one beauty to a double soul. / Nearness In birth or blood doth but persuade / A nearer nearness in affection’. The image of a ‘ double soul’ is still found today in contemporary love stories within the idea of ‘ soul mates’, Giovanni repeats this town united hearts like hers and mine’.
However Giovanni repetition of ‘ near’ ND ‘ nearness’ puts forwards the Idea that Giovanni Is still trying to convince himself as well as Enable their consented sexual love. Giovanni ‘ aside’ words also allude to his doubt and awareness of the tension between socially acceptable incest.
Giovanni still argues for their incestuous relationship. Giovanni is undeniably Intelligent; his argument Is rational and Insistent. ‘ If hers to me, then so Is mine to her; / Since in like causes are effects alike,’ However the Friar make it clear this is besides the point and declares ‘ O ignorance in knowledge! The characters in Its Pity live that it is destiny which determines the course of their love and Giovanni declares ‘ my fate’s my god’. This Is Ironic as eventually Giovanni will face his fate and die.
It Is not until Enabler’s pregnancy Is discovered that Enable In particular wishes to repent her sins and subject herself completely to sexual regulation. Giovanni initial decision to pursue his incestuous feelings towards was a self interested defiance of external values. Giovanni was fully aware of he and Enabler’s sins however is defiant to follow his passion, some critics see his hereafter as a rebellion towards society.
Brother claims that ‘ Ford’s characters have 1 OFF the characters to commit such moral crimes and therefore their choice as to how they receive Justice, an example of this is not so clear in Enable and Giovanni justice, however this is because the other characters do not believe they deserve an alternative to divine Justice. Shakespeare gives clear examples of when God’s divine Justice is Justified and reasonable through the inhuman acts of Learns eldest two daughters, Generic and Reagan, the two sisters plot to take Learns kingdom, unfazed by the spiteful human injustice they inflict on their father.
The sisters are ruthless in their attempt to overthrow their own father, however this is not their only sin; the sisters between them, commit adultery, plot to murder their husbands, and ultimately Generic poisons her own sister. The sisters are plainly evil from the start however Justice is eventually served when both die deserved deaths. Generic and Reagan, similarly to Giovanni and Enable are selfish, only taking to benefit them. It is their greedy ambition that results in the divine Justice of their death.
The Jacobean playwrights divinely ordained moral order however is not always accurate, in Its Pity divine order can be rash and unjustified on some characters, punishing the innocent.
There is a sense of corruption within the divine or social justice of Pram is the death of Florid, Enabler’s father, whom is sympathetic towards her daughter. However is overwhelmed to the point of death by the news of her and Giovanni incest. There also is a level of pity for Enabler’s death, the deader feels compassion for Enable as she regrets her decision and asks for God’s mercy by means of sincere penance.
Enabler’s death is particularly questionable; it is hard to decide weather her death is deserved. It can also be argued that Giovanni just gives into his fate when he confesses his feelings to Enable, and it can be argued that he did not choose his desire for Enable, but it was ‘ natural’, a phrase that Giovanni uses frequently to describe their relationship. There is also a view that Giovanni partakes in God’s Justice by executing his vengeance on sexual offenders, aka Enable.
In King Lear divine order can also be rash and unjustified punishing innocent characters and sometimes not punishing the evil ones.
The innocent characters in King Lear try to appeal to the gods for help however they are rarely helped, this suggests that Shakespeare is indicating that either the gods don’t exist or if they do they are incredibly cruel, with no sympathy. This is true particularly in the iconic death of Gloucester cruel death, in which his eyes are plucked from his skull. Despite Gloucester errors of Judgment in the past, the brutal nature of his enmeshment is unnecessary, the plucking of his eyes and the crushing of them under Cornball’s boots is surely in excess of any errors he has made.
Cornelia is another character who suffers unnecessarily, Cordillera’s death is completely unjustified and existence of God. Lear too sees an unjustified punishment, an initially pompous king whoso attitudes change so significantly and he is a undeserving character of the punishment he receives.
Lear is conscientious in the latter of the play, this is culminated in the moment where Lear prays for the Fool, asking god to help – not for myself but for the ‘ poop naked wretches, wherefore’s you are, / that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm. In the end, we are left with only a terrifying uncertainty-? although the wicked die, the good die along with them, culminating in the awful image of Lear cradling Cordillera’s body in his arms. And similarly in Its Pity she’s a Where the lasting image of Giovanni holding Enabler’s heart in his hands. There is goodness in the world of the play, but there is also madness and death, and it is difficult to tell which triumphs in the end.
