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Ludovica Ballou

Professor Blackwell

English 3020

1 December 2022

King Lear Politics During the Elizabethan Era

William Shakespeare, a playwright during the Elizabethan Era, is famous for writing

comedies, histories and tragedies. His writings which contained historical evidence became

entertainment for the public. During the Renaissance era, Shakespeare wrote King Lear, which

outlines the structure of societal classes and tells of the inner workings of how a monarchy ruled

his state and family. However, King Lear contains elements which critique Greenblatt’s concept

“self fashioning.” Greenblatt defines self-fashioning as describe the process of constructing one’s

identity and public persona according to a set of socially acceptable standards, and the conscious

effort to strive to imitate a praised model in society. (Literary Theory and Criticism source)

Specifically, characters such as King Lear in King Lear represent how political agreements that

were present during the Elizabethan era.

In Shakespeare’s King Lear, one primary example of self-fashioning, is the transfer of

power from the older generation to the younger generation. However, the way King Lear

characterizes this idea shows the next person to obtain power is not always based on logics or

traditional monarch rules and regulations. For instance, King Lear who is ready to abdicate his

thrown decides which daughter(s) and their husband(s) will inherit the throne based on their

verbal affirmations, confessing their love for him. “Cornwall and Albany, With my two

daughters’ dowers… I do invest you jointly with my power… Only we shall retain The namem

and all th’ addition to a king.” (Shakespeare 8) Essentially, King Lear is asking for a verbal
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bribe. This is not the conventional way a monarch would relinquish power. Traditionally power

would be transferred to only the eldest child. Yet this is still an example of self-fashioning

because a new monarch would eventually have to step in and rule the system. In this scenario,

King Lear divides his power amongst both of his eldest daughters because he favors them

equally, yet a historical account of why joint power is relevant is as follows. “When James II fled

the country in 1688, Parliament held that he had 'abdicated the government' and that the throne

was vacant. The throne was then offered, not to James's young son, but to his daughter Mary and

her husband William of Orange, as joint rulers.” (UK Succession source) Shakespeare

incorporating which person rules and how the next person obtains power was a critical issue

during this era. This example is also similar in stating that joint power, existed and was exercised

well after the death of Shakespeare during the Glorious Revolution era. Similar to how power is

a motif found in King Lear, marriage is also one and can be assessed in terms of self-fashioning.

Shakespeare’s account of marriage in King Lear can be evaluated in terms of self-

fashioning because he shows that marriage customs is based on the time a person gets married

and how marriage should advance political alliance. For instance, when his youngest daughter

Cordelia refuses to submit to him, confessing his love for him, he rejects her and dismisses her in

exile. “From whom we do exist and cease to be, Here I disclaim all my parental care,

Propinquity, and property of blood, And as a stranger to my heart and me.”(Shakespeare 7)

Therefore, his eagerness to marry his youngest daughter is heightened by his anger. However,

King Lear still follows protocols of wedding his daughter, yet the way he goes about it differs

from traditional method. During this period, marriage was based solely on a family advancing

economically and politically. Therefore, marrying for love was not relevant as it did not

contribute to the cultural thought during this era. “The primary purpose of marriage, especially
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among the upper class, was to transfer property and forge alliances between extended family

networks, or kin groups. A marriage might provide a way of combining adjacent estates or of

concluding a peace treaty.” (Newberry source) This is prevalent in King Lear, as Cordelia’s

courtship includes two different suitors from different countries. However, King Lear retracts

Cordelia’s dowry, which is a primary part of the marriage exchange. By doing so, he jeopardizes

his chances of Cordelia being married at all.

The dowry in King Lear projects self-fashioning as it was a custom which represented the

social status of a member in society but it was also used to convince the suitor why he should

accept the proposal as, he will receive a monetary exchange for marrying a woman. “The dowry

was an Elizabethan Wedding custom which benefited the husband. A dowry was an amount of

money, goods, and property that the bride would bring to the marriage. It was also referred to as

her marriage portion. The law gave a husband full rights over his wife. She effectively became

his property.” (Shakespeare info source) However, by King Lear retracting Cordelia’s dowry he

shows that in some circumstances it is not included in the proposal arrangements because as a

monarch he has the final say. Initially, both suitors the King of Burgundy and King of France are

expecting a dowry, if they are selected to marry Cordelia. Instead they are told they will receive

nothing in exchange for her hand in marriage King Lear states the following When she was dear

to us, we did hold her so; But now her price is fallen… If aught within that little seeming

substance, Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced And nothing more.” ( Shakespeare 11) With

no dowry Cordelia is left with nothing to signify her social status or her family’s nobility.

Therefore, this loss of a dowry completely changes the perspective of one suitor, King

Burgundy. He no longer wants to marry Cordelia since that aspect of him not being rewarded is

nonexistent. He tells King Lear “pardon me, royal sir; Election makes not up on such
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conditions.” (Shakespeare 11) King Lear shows that as King, he decides who will reign and how

much power hey will be given and whether a dowry will be bestowed upon a suitor.

King Lear is a play that discusses self-fashioning through the lens of political traditions

and marriage ideals of the Elizabethan era. “Shakespeare tackles the issue of patriarchal

monarchy, where the king is figured as head of both his own family and of the state, a staple of

Jacobean understandings of the relationship between monarch and country that saw in it an

analogy to the relationship between a patriarch and his household.” (Columbia source) King

Lear is a representation of how monarchs used their power in regard to who will be the next ruler

and how marriage practices and doweries can cause an interference in a proposal if one is not

included. While Self fashioning examples are not limited to marriage or

these are the examples prevalent in King Lear showing that monarchs make decisions based on

their best interest.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, W. and Orgel, S. (1999) King lear: A conflated text. New York, NY: Penguin
Books. 

Mambrol, N. (2016) The concept of self-fashioning by Stephen Greenblatt, Literary Theory and

Criticism. Available at: https://literariness.org/2016/10/18/the-concept-of-self-fashioning-by-
stephen-greenblatt/ (Accessed: November 23, 2022). 

Emma.Goodey (2022) Succession, The Royal Family. Available at:

https://www.royal.uk/succession (Accessed: November 23, 2022).

Elizabethan Wedding Customs (2018) Elizabethan wedding customs. Available at:

https://m.william-shakespeare.info/elizabethan-wedding-customs.htm (Accessed: November 23,
2022).

Phillips, H.L.with S. (2012) Marriage and family in Shakespeare's England, Digital Collections
for the Classroom. Available at: https://dcc.newberry.org/?p=14411 (Accessed: November 23,
2022).