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Views Even Further This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 65—7819 ELTON, William, 1921- KING LEAR AND THE GODS: SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY AND RENAISSANCE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1957 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Copyright "by William Elton KING LEAR AND THE GODSs SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY AND RENAISSANCE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT . DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By TOLLIAM ELTON, B. A., M. A* The Ohio State University 1957 Approved by: Adviser Department of English TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE PROBLEM ......... 1 II. DEUS ABSCONDITUS: CHANGING RENAISSANCE CONCEPTS OF PROVIDENCE ............................................ 17 III. KING LEAR: MAIN ATTITUDES TOWARDS PROVIDENCE .............. 117 IV. KING LEAR: FURTHER EVIDENCES OF PROVIDENTIAL TENDENCIES. 217 V. CONCLUSION ....................................... 266 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................... 27U CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM I Although most recent interpretations of Shakespeare’s King Lear have tended, in various ways, to identify it as a "Christian" play, the aim of this study is not to determine whether it contains Christian references. Rather, it is mainly to examine the validity of the cur­ rently widespread belief that Lear is an optimistically Christian drama, in which (1) the protagonist, among other characters, is, con­ sequent to his sufferings, ’•regenerated," "redeemed," or "saved," often by analogy with the morality play tradition, or with Dante’s Purgatorio through which he is assumed to have passed on the way to his Paradiso, and (2) corresponding to the meaningful suffering of the protagonist, there is, in addition, an intrinsic teleology suggested by the play, a cosmically derived plan, which somehow gives providential signifi­ cance to the events of the tragedy« Concerning the first point, instances are numerous, ranging from 0. J. Campbell's morality-play interpretation, "The Salvation of 1 2 Lear," to R. W. Chambers' attempt to improve on Bradley's "Redemption 3 of Lear": "If there were no more . than a tale of redemption 10. J. Campbell, "The Salvation of Lear," ELH, XV (191*8), 93- 109; cf. Enid Welsford, The Fool (London, 1935)> p. 257• 2R • W. Chambers, King Lear (Glasgow, 191*0), pp. 1*8, 1*9* 3 A. 0. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy (London, 1937), p. 283. 2 through suffering, it would be as unbearable as the Purgatorio would be without the Paradiso. But King Lear is, like the Paradiso, a vast poem on the victory of true love. Lear, consoled, ends by teaching patience to Gloucester and Cordelia." Still further, some critics envi­ sion not only Christian optimism, but Christ Himself: like G. Wilson h Knight, who sees in each tragic hero "a miniature Christ," J. Dover Wilson remarks, "It is impossible to contemplate the death of Lear with- out thinking of Calvary." According to Bickersteth, Shakespeare "was unconsciously inspired by a story taken from Christian mythology," with Cordelia in the part of Christ.^ As for Lear, there is no doubt that he has been improved, or regenerated: "The 'spire of meaning' in this play," says Lothian, "is the spiritual history or regeneration of King 7 Lear." To Danby, the important point is the learning of patience: "King Lear in fact can be regarded as a study in patience unrewarded 8 although achieved." "Lear," insists Bethell, "after being bound upon his fiery wheel in this life, attaining humility and patience . is ^G. Wilson Knight, Principles of Shakespearian Production (New York, 1936), p. 231. ^J. Dover ’Wilson, Six Tragedies of Shakespeare (London, 1929), p. U6 . 6 G. L. Bickersteth, The Golden World of King Lear, Brit. Acad. Lecture, XXXII (19U6), pp. 25^27. 7 J. M. Lothian, King Lear (Toronto, 19i|9), Po 27. g John Danby, Poets on Fortune's Hill (London, 1932), containing essay reprinted from "King Lear and Christian Patience," Cambridge Journal, I (19U7-19U8), 3 0 ^ ^ 2 0 ; see also his Shakespeare's Doctrine of Nature (London, 19h9)» 3 a fit for heaven." Aecordiug to TlUyard, Lear io ono of the tragedies in which tho hero io regenerated through his sufferings* through him, "not only tho deotruction of an established way of life# but the birth 10 of a new order" ensues* And Thaler adds, "• • . not only Loar but s i b o Cordelia and Kent and Gloucester and Edgar gain spiritual insight through tho discipline of suffering « • • tho ooul^eearohing and God* > U seeking whioh Lear proposes at the end*” "Mankind,* says 0. Wilson Knight, "ars working out a sort of purgatory • » • the good aro 18 sweetened, purified by adversity** Theodors Spenoer speaks of "• • • tho purgation of King Lear* . • » it is the discovery that « « * reality is good « * * that breaks his heart « • According to Haydn, *Lear and Olouoestor move through purgation from eelf-indulgeaoe lk to endurance and patience**^ In this "noblest spiritual utterance sines la Dlvina Coamedla,* suggests Frlpp, Lear aohisves "Lowliness, justice, tenderness,” the "pationos and happy death" whioh "Olouoestor, *S. L* Bothell, "Shakespeare*s Imagery* the Diabolic Images in Othello," Shakespeare Survey 71. 5, ed. A* Kicoll (Cambridge, 1958), p. 7fij see also hie Shakespeare anti "the Popular Dramatic Tradition (London, l?kk), pp. 52-61, et^paasln. M* W# Tlllyard, 8 hakeapeare»s Last Plays (London, 1938)* p . 1*6* "" U Alwin Thaler, "The Gods and Cod in King Lear," Renaissance Papers (Univ. of South Carolina and Duke, 19555, P* 371# ~“TI ' ' "M ^ Q . Wilson Knight, The Wheel of Fire (How lewk, 1957), P« 195* Theodors spenoer, Shakespeare and tho Nature of Man (New fork, 191*9), p p . 152-153. ----- ----------------- ------ ^Hlraa Haydn, The Counter-Renaissance (N«w fork, 1950), p* 665* u too, attains." Adrien Bonjour finds Lear "redeemed*" Brents Stirling apparently considers it a fact too obvious for discussion that 17 Lear ends in Christian reconciliation. ' It is not, deduces Ribner, IS "a tragedy of damnation, but rather of salvation." Symptomatic of tho etat present in Lear studies, Siegel's recent book carries such views even further: • • • Lear's final conviction that Cordelia is alive might be regarded as the mysterious insight believed to be granted a man on the point of death * • • ^Ln his reconciliation with Cordelia/ it was as if from purgatory he had heard the celestial music and seen the angelic radiance that he was at last about to attain, a vision of what he would experience after death* • • • This miracle is the redemption of Lear for heaven, a redemption analogous to the redemp­ tion of mankind, for which the Son of God had come down to earth* The analogy between Cordelia and Christ, who redeemed human nature from the curse brought on it by Adam and Eve, is made unmistakable, although not crudely explicit. • • • Cordelia's ignominious death completes the analogy between her and Christ * * * the "brand of heaven" * * * in releasing {pordelia's and Lear's/ • • • souls from the prison of their bodies, enabled them to become reunited in eternal bliss *^9 ■While microcosmic suffering is, therefore, meaningful, and in 15 E. I* Fripp, Shakespeare: Man and Artist (Oxford, 1938), II, 657-659. l6Snglish Studies, XXXV (1951*), 251*. 17 'Brents Stirling, Unity of Shakespearian Tragedy (Columbia Univ. Press, 1956), p. 72 n* "1 ft "Othello and the Pattern of Shakespearean Tragedy," Tulane Studies in English, V (1955), 80. 19 Paul Siegel, Shakespearean Tragedy and the Elizabethan Compromise (N* Y* U* Press, 1957), pp* 185-186;see also his "Adversity and the Miracle of Love in King Lear," Shakespeare Quarterly, VI (1955), 325-336, and "The Damnation of Othello," BOA, IXVIII (1953J, 2.068- 1078. 5 the Dantean sense, ultimately "comic," the macrocosm, too, has a corol­ lary orderliness# As a chapter of Heilman*s book puts it, "The Gods 20 are Just'*} Divine Justice rules the earth# "In the play itself," affirms M# D. H# Parker, "there is nothing -wanton# There is justice, 21 mercy, sacrifice, and redemption#" "The Christian view prevails on 22 King Lear," agrees Myrick, "though the characters are pagans" } and Kirschbaum pronounces, "That it is laid in pre-Christian times need not at all mean that it is not Christian in content#"^ Indeed, agrees Heilman, in this play "pervaded by Christian influences • • • there is 2h a realm of eternal lav and justice • • •" Natural lav, in the tradi­ tional sense, presides over the tragedy# "Shakespeare," Hardin Craig asserts, "held very firmly to this belief in the ultimate punishment of the uicked, in other words, in eternal justice# He exemplifies it in all of his tragedies, and uas certainly neither sceptical nor bewildered# • • • King Lear is based on the doctrine of eternal law • • • Lear's faith in a divine providence, at least while he has hie reason, 25 is complete#" King Lear presents the "moral world as inexorably just 20 R. B# Heilman, This Great Stage (Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1938). ------------- 2\ . D. H. Parker, The Slave of Life (London, 1955), P# 13U# 2 2 k.o. Myrick, "The Theme of Damnation in Shakespeare," SP, XXXVIII (19kl), 2h3 n. 23 Leo Kirschbaum, "Banquo and Edgart Character or Function?" Essays in Criticism, VII (1957), 13# ^Heilman, 0£. cit#, pp# 277-278# ^Hardin Craig, "The Ethics of King Lear," FQ, IV (1925), 97- 109; cf# his "Shackling of Accidents," B|7^£lk (l9l|0X, 1-19. • • • tb« play depiota an open -way toward moral restoration and seems to promise redemption to all who will forsake evil*" oonoludea A* W* Crawford* who finds the play In "perfect accord with the thelstio view 26 of Christianity** Hudson agrees that such views are beyond dispute! •Heed it be said that ouch ideas of human eharaoter could grow only idiera the light of Christianity shines? The Poet's conceptions of virtue and goodness* as worked out In this dr ana are thoroughly of the Christian type*«— st**p*d* indeed* in the efflcaoy of the Christian 27 Ideal** a declaration whioh may have caused the Nov Variorum editor to interpolate* "I cannot refrain from here recording my thorough admire* lion • « *"*® fh* most recent fully annotated text* that of Muir* con­ curs! "jr.
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