Good vs. evil divine justice in king lear

The play King Lear displays betrayal, deceit and. These 3 components are all familiar in classic Shakespearean catastrophes. King Lear features betrayal by different characters in the play. These characters devastate and, in some instances, end the lives of other characters in the play. Nevertheless, the characters that betray and trick are ultimately ruined by their lots of lies and wicked actions. With their self-devastation, a sort of magnificent justice is served. Divine justice is served when the incorrect doings of a man or female reaches them and they are dealt a penalty for their sins.

This sort of justice can not be offered by a court or social order. Just fate can deal such a hand. In King Lear magnificent justice need to be faced for the betrayals one male has actually played. The guy is Edmund. Edmund is the invalid son of the Earl of Gloucester and his betrayal runs deep in the play. Magnificent justice is served when Edmund is killed by his half sibling Edgar in this classic great vs.

wicked battle. Divine justice is an outcome of people doing things in conflict with the natural order of deep space.

When an offense occurs, a divine power must fix up the evil or abnormal act. In King Lear, Edmund breaks natural law and he is confronted with. Edmund is the invalid child of the Earl of Gloucester and sibling to Edgar. Unlike Edmund, Edgar is the genuine kid of Gloucester and Edmund s him for it. The motive for the wicked acts Edmund commits is due to the fact that of his for Edgar and his greed for power. Edmund’s very first betrayal is to his bro. Edmund makes their dad believe that Edgar is plotting to kill him.

Edmund thinks this is the finest method to get rid of Edgar. Readers in the time of Shakespeare believed greatly in good and wicked and the idea of divine Justice. The people believed that if one were to go versus nature or, the natural order, it created an imbalance then justice needed to be paid by a magnificent power. Edmund thinks that the stars and the moon, which represent the greater power has absolutely nothing to do with what occurs here in the world. Edmund shows his hatred of the gods and individuals who believe in them when he states.

“ This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behavior, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and erers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on:” ( Act. 1 Scene 2. Line 113 – 121) This Quote tells us that Edmund is a cynic and even an atheist.

He admits that he is a villain and he is not scared of a higher power. Because of the time period in which King Lear was written, and the ideas of fate and divine powers, it would be likely that a reader of that time would recognize Edmund as a real evil person and that the evil he commits will be punished by the divine. It seems that Edmund is doomed from the very beginning because his violations of natural order by plotting to kill his brother and by his contempt for the gods. Edmund continues to plot against his brother and Edgar runs away and becomes a Poor Tom, which is an insane beggar.

Edmund’s second violation of natural order, which will result in punishment, is the betrayal of his father. The betrayal of Glouchester, his father, begins with a note from the French that tells of the invasion of England. Edmund tells the Duke of Cornwall about the letter and the Duke pulls out the eyes of Glouchester because he is a so-called traitor. These two acts of evil result in divine justice. In the play divine justice is seen in the battle between Edgar and Edmund. A classic good vs. evil fight will give Edmund his divine justice. Edmund is confronted by the brother he betrayed and is killed.

However, before he is killed Edmund says something to Edgar that tells us that he realizes his fate and that his wrong actions have come back to face him when he says ” Thou has spoken right. ‘ Tis true. The wheel is come full circle. I am here. “(Act. 5, Scene 3, Line 199-200). The “ wheel” Edmund refers to is the wheel of fortune. All his betrayals have come full circle and it is now time to be judged. As Edmund dies the reader sees divine justice being served. Although Edmund was slain by the brother he betrayed and, not by a bolt of lightning from above, we still see divine justice being served.

Divine justice does not come in a single act; it comes in the course of fate or destiny. It is perfect how the good son kills the evil son and England is saved. The perception is that had Edmund won, England would have fallen into chaos and, when Edgar won, it was like a new England was formed out of the chaos of the unnatural evil Edmund had created. Divine justice is so important Lear and all stories because it ensures the triumph of good over evil. The battle is long and always a struggle, but thanks.