Macbeth and King Lear: Two Birds of A Feather Both Macbeth and King Lear have significant portrayals of rebelling from the hierarchy in the Renaissance. The hierarchy, or Elizabethan World View, is based off of the Summa Theologica, in which Saint Thomas Aquinas believes that certain lines or levels of holiness by God divided the world. This hierarchy is then applied to religious, political and patriarchal systems. These hierarchies are somewhat followed during the Elizabethan era of the Renaissance, despite having a queen/woman in power over a king/man. Once England transitions into the Jacobean era of the Renaissance, however, nobles want their rewards for supporting the king and women want more influence in the public sphere. The audience …show more content…
(1.7.13-28). …show more content…
Before Macbeth goes through with killing King Duncan, he once again considers his options fearfully; “Is this a dagger which I see before me/ The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee/ I have thee not, and yet I see thee still… I go, and it is done. The bell invites me” (2.1.33-62). Macbeth then kills King Duncan, but is so shaken that he forgets to leave the dagger with the chamberlains, so Lady Macbeth does it herself. This is the pivotal moment where most of the audience agrees that Macbeth has officially gone mad after killing King Duncan. After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become King and Queen after Duncan’s son flees in fear of his life, they both further descend into madness: with Macbeth killing MacDuff’s wife and children showing him becoming completely mad, to Lady Macbeth killing herself. Both husband and wife see visions and hallucinations throughout their demise. MacDuff beheading Macbeth shows that order can be restored in society, no matter the