Macbeth And King Lear Research Paper

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

This can also be referred to as a de facto disempowerment of a de jure king. De facto means, in reality, where de jure means, by law (Dictionary Reference). In Macbeth this anarchical plot is evident within the first few pages of the play with the witches announcing, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter… Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” (1.3.48-65). The witches also show a reversal in hierarchy with men being over women, since women are seen to have little strength and reasoning thought, but also show the supernatural sense of Macbeth as a whole. The play then goes on to reveal that Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, have thought of this before the witches proclaim such events. Lady Macbeth gets news from their servant that King Duncan will be coming to their home, and sends the servant off, afterword stating, “The raven himself of hoarse/ That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan/ Under my battlements/ Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty” (1.4.37-41). Macbeth comes home and tells Lady Macbeth that King Duncan will accompany them, and Lady Macbeth responds, “And when goes hence?” (1.5.56). Lady Macbeth seems to have a hidden agenda when asking Macbeth this, hinting that she already

The reversal of nobles over the king is rather part of a confusing subplot than the main plot and its hierarchical turnaround. The main plot has to do with the reversal of the patriarchal hierarchy, in which King Lear plans not only to divide his kingdom into three, but to also give each new divided kingdom to his three daughters rather than their husbands. This plan is breaking the patriarchal and household hierarchies by not only having daughters over fathers, but also having daughters over husbands. This is evident within the first few paragraphs of the play. King Lear enters, and almost immediately expresses this reversal of roles: “Give me the map there. Know that we have divided/ In three our kingdom; and ‘tis our fast intent/ To shake all cares and business from our age/ Conferring them on younger strengths, while we/ Unburthened crawl toward death” (1.1.36-39). King Lear goes even further to have emotion rule over reason in having his daughters receive more land for the more they proclaim their love for their king and