If you used the word fag in Shakespeare's time; you wouldn't be called homophobic, you'd just be referring to a pack of sticks. If you considered women less capable than men; we wouldn't call you a misogynist, you would be a Jacobean realist. If you believed that the head of the nation was God's rightfully appointed hand on earth; you wouldn't be considered crazy or even unusual. When it comes to understanding; context is everything, and King Lear is undoubtedly a timeless reflection of the Jacobean era for which it was composed. By employing dramatic techniques to combine notions of justice, identity, and destiny with contextual elements specific to his time and audience, Shakespeare reflects the true nature of the Jacobean world that he and his audience lived and breathed. Through this interconnection of the broader human experience with period-dependent contextual notions, Shakespeare not only engages the audience through highly contrasting periods, but also allows us to understand the context that shaped King Lear and, ultimately challenges modern audiences to consider the true scale of the phenomenon. to which their understanding not only of the text, but also of the world, is colored by their own contextual lens. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay In King Lear, Shakespeare questions whether “the heavens” aim to bring justice to humanity or simply “like foolish boys…kill us” for their sport.” This fundamental question of the true nature of justice is explored from the moment the tragic plot of the play is foreshadowed in the revelation of Lear's "darker design" to "crawl unburdened to death." This expression of pride, which ironically alludes to the "future conflicts" to come to trust Goneril and his sister "of the same metal", means little to today's audiences, but to Shakespeare's audiences , it was a grave offense against the heavens and a careless mockery of the divine right of kings. In the God-fearing spirit of the Jacobean spectator, Lear sealed his tragic fate just a few lines into the play by throwing the world out of order, further accentuated by the pathetic error of the storm. Shakespeare, however, does not limit his exploration to divine justice alone. Using conflict as a means of highlighting comparative views of justice, Shakespeare employs characters such as "rightful Edgar" and "bastard Edmund" as symbolic lenses for contrasting perspectives and ideologies. Edmund's decision to acquire "lands by the spirit" represents a blatant rejection of the dominant Jacobean belief system and his disillusionment with the notion of natural justice. Edmund can therefore be seen as a personification of Renaissance thought, seeking to understand and control the natural world without concern for the supernatural. On the other hand, the audience is introduced to Edmund's brother, Edgar, who openly believes that "the gods are just", even in the wake of overwhelming tragedy and the horrific mutilation of his father. In his unwavering conviction, Edgar symbolizes the vision of justice most widespread among the Jacobean public. In a sense, divine justice is served when most of the characters metaphorically “tast the cup of what they deserve.” However, this is marred by ambiguity when Cordelia, always honest and forgiving, dies, leaving the audience to ask the rhetorical question "why should a dog, a horse, a rat, you have life, andyou have no more breath? Through these contradictory and juxtaposed events, Shakespeare emphasizes that the true nature of justice is little more than a perspective and, in fact, argues against the notion of absolute divine justice. Instead of symbolizing that "the wheel has come full circle" when almost all the characters are destroyed by their actions against each other and can no longer "blame the sun for [their] disasters", effectively reflecting the superstitious context while subtly attacking through Edmund's words. This essentially presents justice in King Lear as a perpetual struggle between poetic, divine, and human justice, and through these contradictory modes of justice, Shakespeare reflects the ongoing clash of ideologies that were taking place in the real world at the time of composition. . This conflict ultimately highlights the fundamental point made in King Lear, read from a modern perspective, that true justice is little more than a reflection of the context by which it is measured. The importance of identity in determining a person's destiny was unprecedented in the feudal era and superstitious Jacobean context. To have a certain "star in the firmament which shone on [those] who bastardized themselves" meant to be made "rough and lustful" for life, and to "have lands by the spirit", "not by birth" was to express a serious form of pride. , a direct moral attack on God, of equal gravity in Jacobean eyes as Lear's early retirement plan. Shakespeare reflects this contextual understanding of the connection between identity and destiny through the juxtaposition of the overconfident Edgar and his cunning brother Edmund, engaged in a constant struggle between faith in the divine and worldly ambition. The audience is made to both love and hate Edmund through his contradictory characterization. Shakespeare uses Edmund's soliloquies to provide insight into the prejudice he endures due to his identity as a bastard and encourages them to sympathize with his plight. However, this feeling is quickly reversed. as the plot develops and his deceitful plan is revealed. Shakespeare further uses bitter irony to demonstrate the power of identity over one's destiny through characters like Albany's servant, Kent, and the Fool. Each of them offers wise, thoughtful advice to their masters, but is severely punished by people or conspiracy, emphasizing the dominant truth of their context, which Edmund only learns through Edgar's stroke of the blade: the great chain of being must not be broken. . Unlike modern viewers, who like to see the underdog win; Shakespeare's audiences would splatter the walls of the Globe Theater with rotten fruit if a character managed to overcome his caste, and this is clearly seen in the unfortunate fates reserved for those who dare to overstep their roles. Interestingly, along with asserting the importance of identity, Shakespeare uses deceptive and deceptive characters to criticize the superficiality of the Jacobean view of identity. In this, Shakespeare reflects Edmund's philosophy, while portraying it as mistaken in context. He first alludes to it with Lear's willingness to accept Regan and Goneril's blatantly hyperbolic declarations of love and attempt to force Cordelia to "repair [her] speech" before banishing her for refusing to "put his heart in his mouth. This contrasted with Shakespeare's typical contextual lens and challenged his audiences to question whether their superstitions were truly supernatural in nature, or little more than self-fulfilling prophecies. Lear's apparent willful blindness could further be seen as a double entender, making..