A key motivation for the horrific violence and Machiavellian betrayal present in King Lear is intergenerational rivalry. In modern England the older generation held power and authority over the younger ones, but in Shakespeare's Jacobean tragedy the younger generation can be seen, led by Goneril, Regan and Edmund in their attempts to seize power and overturn the natural order. Conversely, far less subversive depictions of the younger generation can also be seen, with even some characters from the younger generation characterized by their attempt to preserve the natural order and prevent further destruction of the status quo. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Goneril and Regan, two members of the younger generation, can be read as highly subversive characters characterized by their menacing autocratic personalities. This is something introduced in the very first scene of the play with the sisters deceiving Lear with "casual, oily art" in the highly public ceremony before confirming to "beat together" in a private duologue, a sign of the wickedness that will characterize them. until their deaths in Scene V. A key example of the ruthless behavior used by the sisters to destroy the status quo is in Act 4 with Goneril finding out that her husband Albany is reluctant to fight Lear and Cordelia. Goneril later notes to Edmund that he must "change weapons at home, and give the distaff / Into my husband's hands." Here Goneril simultaneously rejects the status quo role of the obedient wife and inverts it. This gender role reversal occurs through the suggestion of giving Albany “rock,” a reference to the stick commonly used to spin wool, thus aligning Albany, her husband, with the domestic role in the relationship. Furthermore, this point is emphasized to a greater extent in the Folio publication of the work where Goneril's dialogue reads 'change names' rather than 'arms', suggesting that the roles in the marriage are so reversed that she should in fact be called the husband, and he the wife. One might consider Goneril's lines here as an attack on the patriarchal nature of English society at the time, a world in which men typically held power over women, something represented in the first act of the play through Cordelia's offering of of Lear to France and Burgundy, with Lear even stating that "his price is gone down." Another example of the sisters presented as ruthless, selfish, and bent on subverting the status quo is their involvement in what many consider the most horrific scene in the play, the blinding of Gloucester. In Act 3, it is Regan who first suggests a method of punishing Gloucester for his treachery, urging that they "hang him this instant!", but the brutality is further reinforced by her sister disgustingly demanding that "he put out his eyes! " ', a typical medieval punishment for rape, perhaps because sight was a key sense in provoking men to lust. Further emphasis on the sisters' Machiavellian individualism is achieved through the harsh sounds of the verb "seize" which mirror that of the brutal action. This is also achieved in Shakespeare's manipulation of blank verse, with the sister's lines coming together to form a line of complete iambic pentameter that reveals their brutal synchronicity. This vindictive assertiveness of the sisters would have been shocking to a Jacobean audience with Renaissance models of femininity that required women to be passive and submissive, a theory overturned by the violence and aggression of the sisters in their destruction ofstatus quo. note the ferocious tyranny of Goneril and Regan, to say that the entire younger generation is presented as ruthlessly selfish in their goal of overturning the natural order would be to overlook the role that Cordelia and Edgar play in the production. While Cordelia's appearances in the opera are rare, appearing only at the beginning and end of the opera. It is characterized by its holiness. Lear, for example, in Act 5 describes his voice as "always soft/gentle and low - an excellent thing", this phrase is something it is difficult to imagine Lear using in relation to his other "dog-hearted" daughters. , with adjectives providing relief in a work full of hatred and aggression. Furthermore, during Cordelia's reappearance in the play in Scene VII of Act IV, Shakespeare aligns her character with the sound of the music, with Lear urging her to come closer where "the music is loudest there". This association of the character with music signals the sense of harmony and naturalness. oder returned to Lear through Cordelia, further contrasting the "[storm]" sounds of Act 3 sounds used by Shakespeare to mirror the chaos and confusion brought to the kingdom by Goneril and Regan. This interpretation is exaggerated in the quarto version of the play with Kent and a gentleman who emphasizes Cordelia's feminine beauty and modestly accompanies the pain she feels when she hears of Lear's suffering. It is therefore commonplace for critics to describe her as the play's truest character, with John Cunningham pointing out that she carries out her "natural duty to protect and protect Lear", an act which would certainly present her in a positive light in the face of public. of the time with his acts of obedience to his elders perhaps curing the anxieties of the Jacobean age where social and religious change was prevalent with the medieval world and traditional assumptions under close scrutiny. Edgar, too, is a character whom critics such as Rebecca Warren have deemed "an agent of justice" who, through his father Gloucester's protection and rise to royalty at the play's conclusion, rises above his father's malevolent actions. brother and of Goneril and Regan, restore order to the Kingdom. Some deemed Edgar's actions so audacious in his attempt to preserve the old order that Valentine Cunningham labeled him "Cordelia's male double". In Act IV, scene VI Edgar defends his father Gloucester, from the ferocious new order presented to her by Oswald asking him to let the "poor volk" pass. In his defense, however, Shakespeare presents Edgar's remorse, something absent in his brother and sisters. This remorse is shown through the line “I'm only sorry / Had no other death man.” This is crucial to understanding Edgar as a righteous character, with avengers in Jacobean dramas such as Vindex in "The Avenger's Tragedy" having sinister motivations, but Edgar is presented as a benevolent figure seeking justice not for personal gain but for a matter of justice. sense of justice. Edgar's accession to kingship in the final scene must be deemed appropriate, especially by the Jacobean audiences of the time for whom the king was not simply a king, but a ruler on God's behalf. It is therefore appropriate that Edgar is one of the few characters in the play to have committed no crime against his family or the state, to never question the authority of his elders, and to take action when necessary. Edmund, in contrast, is certainly an example of the younger The malevolent side of the generation, parallel to many villains of Jacobean drama, is furious at the "plague of manners" concerning his illegitimacy which keeps him on the fringes of society. Throughout the work he is uncompromising,.