The Human Condition In King Lear

King Lear presents the complexities of the human condition through a context far removed from our contemporary society: the Elizabethan age. History has taught us that this was an era steeped in superstition; a society driven by a strict hierarchy of class, race and gender. However, despite our modern tendency to be gripped by cynicism and pessimism, our society today is markedly different - and better - than the Elizabethan age in which King Lear is set. Yet the themes of King Lear, in seemingly perpetual defiance, continue to transcend the boundaries of time. This is a testament, not only to the writing and characters of Shakespeare, but to the human condition itself: despite centuries of war and famine, successes and failures, development …show more content…
In no stage of her life was a woman afforded the same freedom of opportunity a man was entitled to - a woman’s destiny was directly tied to that of the men in her life. Women were forbidden to perform on stage, with young boys playing the equivalent role. Religious rhetoric was the heartbeat of Elizabethan society, and it was this which dictated the position of women within it. In his book titled “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women,” leader of the Scottish Reformation, John Knox would state the purpose of “Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man, not to rule or command him.” Women were, in Shakespearean England, second class citizens; their potential in society strictly limited at birth. This embodies the conflict women pose in King Lear, for it is a play that is driven by women in power. In providing women with power they would normally not be afforded, is Shakespeare subverting this social attitude, or is he only putting women in a position in which they can be further