The word justice as we know it was first coined in 15th Century France as the “quality of being fair and just.” This word has come to equate to righteousness and equity– in other words, getting what one deserves. As much as it is expected that good things should happen to good people and bad things in turn, should happen to bad people, justice does not always play itself out that way. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, it becomes apparent that many of the characters receive punishments that are not at the level of the crimes they committed. Shakespeare portrays whoever it is that serves justice in this play in almost this cruel and menacing way–unforgiving and unfavorable toward humans. As Lear slowly slips into insanity, we see him cry out to the heavens asking why this is even happening to him. As readers, we see how the play steadily unfolds into the tragedy that Shakespeare had meant it to be.
It’s true–justice in the play is cruel and menacing, and in many cases, the ways in which justice is served to those who are “good” and those who are “bad” are indistinguishable. Although most of the characters in the play essentially end up dead, Lear and Gloucester end up being the only ones who die better people as a result of their anguish because they were the only ones who had no choice but to come into terms with their actions. While Cornwall, Goneril, Reagan, and Edmund were consistently reinforced that they were right in their actions, Lear and Gloucester were practically abandoned by those who were closest and meant the most to them, essentially forcing them to come into terms with their wrongdoings.
Both Lear and Gloucester do not realize where they went wrong until they are confronted with retribution. In the case of Lear, it is not until he is stripped of everything and anything that eventually allowed him to come to terms with who really cared for him from the beginning. When he is confessing his mistake to Cordelia, he states, “If you have poison for me, I will drink it. / I know you do not love me, for your sisters / Have, as I do remember, done me wrong. / You have some cause; they do not” (4.7, 82-85). This quote is significant in that it illustrates just how far Lear has come from being this arrogant King who required praise and material objects to make him feel whole, to this father who is throwing his ego aside to confess his mistake to his daughter. However, it is important to explore just what caused Lear to get to his realization.
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Earlier in the play, when Lear was denied being able to have his 100 knights from both Goneril and Regan, it marked a shift in the power that Lear thought he had into the hands of Goneril and Regan. The knights symbolized his power and made him feel as though he still had something even though he was not King anymore. However, Goneril and Regan’s failure to oblige with Lear’s request illustrates that they are not on his side–and as we soon realize, they never were. He realizes his loss of authority which is what leads him to seek shelter in the storm and eventually slip into insanity. And through this period of insanity, Lear becomes a more compassionate and empathetic person, which is what leads him to eventually address his mistakes with Cordelia.
In the case of Gloucester, he would have never been able to realize his “mistakes” had he not become blind. It is unclear as to why Shakespeare believed that Gloucester deserved punishment–whether it is because he trusted Edmund blindly or because he fathered an illegitimate son. Nonetheless, it is when he is blinded that he comes to realize that Edmund was the one that told Cornwall that he was helping Lear escape to Dover. When he cries out for Edmund, Regan states, “Thou call’st on him that hates thee. It was he / That made the overture of thy treasons to us / Who is too good to pity thee” (3.7, 108-110). This deceit from Edmund represented the deterioration of a support system that Gloucester thought he had.
All along, he believed that Edmund was looking out for him and was trying to protect him. When he finds out that this could not have been further from the truth, he is forced to come face to face with his mistakes. He states, “O my follies! Then Edgar was abused. / King Gods, forgive me that, and prosper him” (3.7, 111-112). Gloucester is punished and ultimately dies a better and more insightful person–he realizes where he went wrong in trusting Edmund and that Edgar was innocent all along. However, it is because of the lack of support from Edmund and the lack of empathy from everyone else, that forces him to realize his mistakes.
Yet through it all, some characters–namely Cornwall, Goneril, Reagan, and Edmund–learn nothing from their mistakes and it seems death is punishment enough for their actions.
References
- Justice – Cornell Law School
- Distributive Justice – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Justice and Mental Health – National Center for Biotechnology Information
- United States Department of Justice
- Migrant Rights and Justice – Human Rights Action Center
- Journal of Consumer Research – Special Issue: Food Justice
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights – United Nations
