Shakespeare's King Lear and James I

The Rise and Fall of Monarchy in the Shakespearean Tragedy

Nov 1, 2008

In King Lear, Shakespeare shows both his opposition and support of King James I and monarchy in general.

In his chapter “The True King” from the book Shakespeare, the King’s Playwright, Alvin Kernan talks about the aspects of the political situation surrounding the play King Lear during its original production. He first outlines King James Stuart’s ideas of absolutist monarchy and his various ways of legitimizing it. Kernan then shows the oppositions to James, followed by a linking of the various aspects of King James to Shakespeare’s character Lear. In doing so, Kernan argues that Shakespeare is showing the true nature of life and kingship: that kingship is not something divinely given, but rather a “heavy burden of necessity”.

Absolutism

According to Kernan, Kings such as James' “claimed to rule absolutely all parts of life by no less authority than God himself, whose earthly deputies they claimed to be”. James needed to secure his place as King and plant in the people’s mind sacredness for monarchal power. The most obvious motivation behind this would be for protection. Many rulers, including James’ mother and eventually his son, were executed. Through this implementation of divine authority, James would have felt more secure in his role.

Divine Right

There were two main sources to justify James’ divine right claim: the Bible and science. He used Paul’s claim that “Whosoever…resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God” as a way to show that a King’s power was divinely given. He also claimed that a King deserved respect and authority, even if he was a bad King, because only God can unmake Kings. He claimed that hierarchal practices in society and politics were just a reflection of the natural processes of the world. By using these two ideas as a means of supporting his claim, James displayed his fear for loss of power as well as life, while also asserting his dominance. James’ will is not just the will of a man with authority, but rather an earthly manifestation of both the will of God and the will of natural process.

Natural Government

The main idea that Kernan traces out in opposition to James is Buchanan’s ideas about a natural form of government in which “kings…need not be related, since they reigned only at the pleasure of the councils of nobles…Sovereignty…belongs to the people”. In this idea, Buchanan not only disregards James’ ideas of divine right of Kings, but also inadvertently condones regicide. This is the exact opposite of James’ view: the monarchy is an “illegal hereditary system of kingship” and it is the duty of the righteous to remove the corrupt from power.

Shakespeare's Thoughts on Monarchy

Shakespeare’s ideas about kingship, through his play King Lear, seems to land him somewhere between these two oppositions. Shakespeare’s “heath” in this play breaks down all human constructions, including Kingship. What remains are “visions of a human and natural reality always underlying the surfaces of civilized life”. Lear has lived in the tradition of the old Kings, yet the people around him are not adhering to the old system, so he is easily betrayed and taken down. His own ideas of his divine authority have blinded him to this potential in the first place.

In the end, the station of King is no longer the sacred ideas set out by people like James, nor is it completely abolished: “The kingdom disintegrates when the true king no longer rules, but it is as perdurably enduring as its king, and though rocked to its foundations, it is still shakily in place, as is the institution of kingship at the end of the play”.

Although people are wandering aimlessly through the heath, they must find some sort of foundation to depend on, whether it is based in illusion or not. The sanity of people and the propagation of society depends upon it. The remarkable thing about this play is that Shakespeare is able to balance the naturalistic view with the more humanistic view, and find a realistic balance between the two.

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The copyright of the article Shakespeare's King Lear and James I in Shakespeare Tragedies is owned by Sandra Causey. Permission to republish Shakespeare's King Lear and James I in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.