The Christian will find no comfort in William Shakespeare's King Lear. Imbued with the ideals of divine justice and good prevailing over evil, the Christian will be shocked as he delves into the tragedy to find pure-hearted gentlemen reduced to rags and feigned madness and deceptive characters who easily outwit power without consequences. This is the godless universe that Shakespeare creates, setting his characters' plots in a world devoid of the heavenly checks and balances that reward moral people and punish evildoers. A sort of bleak chaos ensues, in which wrongs are ultimately not righted and the random results of these characters' actions tend towards calamity. Since the few just characters in the play suffer immensely, ending up in total disgrace, and the protagonist dies, after having repented of his mistakes, with an anguish that has never been redeemed, it is clear that Shakespeare's tragedy takes place in a universe where justice divine reigned. no jurisdiction. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Of the few honest characters in King Lear, virtually none of them are rewarded for their pure hearts. In reality, just the opposite happens as the honorable are struck by bad luck and are completely mistreated by those they come into contact with. The character Edgar is a good example of this phenomenon in opera. When Edgar, the loving and loyal son of the moderately powerful and respected Lord Gloucester, is framed by his illegitimate brother, Edgar must flee for his life. Because he falsely believes that Edgar was plotting to kill him, Gloucester orders Edgar to be executed if he is found, forcing the unfortunate Edgar to take on the guise of a mad beggar to survive and protect his identity. The reader has his first contact with Edgar in his new character when Lear meets Edgar in a hovel pretending to be poor Tom, a man in rags who is convinced that the Devil is encouraging him to commit suicide. Once alone, Edgar contemplates the terrible state he will have to endure to survive: though I may escape, I will preserve myself, and I am meant to take the basest and poorest form that all misery, in contempt of man, brought near the beast . I will dirty my face with dirt, I will cover my loins… (II.iii.5-10) Edgar must now live as one of the most hated and despicable members of society to escape persecution for something he did not do. Although he has always been faithful to his father, Edgar is now reduced to living in rags, caked in dirt and exposed to the elements. An innocent man is forced to live like a beast while his evil brother reaps the fruits of his dastardly plan, a situation that divine justice, if any, would not allow. At the end of the play, Edgar returns as a gentleman and assumes the position of King of England. This, unfortunately, is a sad consolation prize for the hardships he endured and the desperation he witnessed. For Edgar, becoming king cannot undo Gloucester's death, make up for his brother's betrayal, or redeem the horrors committed against Lear and Cordelier. Edgar, one of the play's few truly good characters, becomes a broken man after witnessing and tolerating the pain that permeates his world. One of the other few totally pure characters in King Lear receives a similarly sad fate, only his is probably worse. Cordelia is King Lear's youngest and favorite daughter. When the king decides to divide his lands among his three daughters, Cordelia receives nothing and is disinherited by her father because she will not contaminate the true love thatshe feels for the man by flattering him in a grandiose way. This act of authenticity, which stands in contrast to the false and pompous flattery of her treacherous older sisters, brings about Cordelia's misfortune. The woman is repudiated by Lear and goes to live with her new husband, the king of France. When Cordelia hears about her sisters' mistreatment of their father and Lear's terrible state, Cordelia intervenes to try to save her beloved father. After being so offended by that man, Cordelia says this of Lear: Oh, dear father, it is your business that I go about... No inordinate ambition spurs our arms, but love, dear love, and the our old father will be right. Soon may I hear and see it. (IV.iv.26-32) Although the man has unjustly disowned her, Cordelia has the honor of intervening and risking her life to address the wrongs against her father and try to restore the man's power. No bitterness is detected in this markedly pure character's speech regarding his father. Cordelia expresses her resilient love for Lear and the work she does in his name. Ultimately, death is the price Cordelia pays for her loyalty and when the French army fails to defeat the English, Cordelia and her father are taken prisoner by Edmund. Although it wouldn't be a tragedy without this component, the fact that Cordelia dies is the hardest blow of the play. The most innocent character in the play, the one who returns to the father who mistreated her to save him from the other two dishonest daughters, dies by hanging before the conclusion of this madness. Cordelia's unfailing righteousness is not rewarded by this chaotic universe. Rather, her good heart is punished for acting with love and honor and the woman is killed needlessly. Making his death seem even more messy, meaningless and tragic is the fact that a guard was on his way to stay his execution. Cordelia is a kind-hearted character who falls victim to the godless universe she resides in, where the gods are indifferent to both righteousness and betrayal. Although the play is full of good men who end up in misfortune and bad ones who prosper, there is no better proof. being given birth due to lack of divine justice in this world compared to the protagonist of the tragedy. From the first scene of the play, King Lear does things that put him at odds with the reader. His disinheriting the pure Cordelia and banishing her righteous advisor Kent are inappropriate actions that paint Lear as a brash and unloving ruler and father. Through the intense anguish he experiences throughout the show, the audience begins to sympathize with the man who teeters on the edge of madness due to the pain. As he is betrayed by his two eldest daughters, exposed to the harsh elements, and ends up ranting in hallucinations mourning his lost kingship, Lear regains the audience's pity. From Act IV, scene vii, it is clear that Lear is sorry for his actions and the wrongs he has committed against Cordelia. Lear atones for his mistakes, recognizes his mistakes and asks his youngest daughter for forgiveness: “Pray now, forget and forgive. I am old and foolish” (98-99). In a vaguely Christian sense, Lear repents of his sins and is forgiven for the wrongs he has committed. If King Lear were a Christian play, in which the Heavens recognized a changed man and rewarded him, Lear's fortunes would have improved and his life would have ended happily at the end of the play. Here exactly the opposite happens as this tragedy ends, like almost all, with emotionally painful deaths. Once Lear repents, the deepest blow the man could imagine is dealt with the death of his beloved daughter Cordelia, leaving him virtually destroyed mentally and emotionally. With the body.