Shakespeare’s Reasoning Behind Misogyny in King Lear
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Shakespeare’s Reasoning Behind Misogyny in King Lear
Women tend to be viewed as the lesser sex, as lower in comparison to their male counterpart. In movies, magazines, social media, and in parts of society such as business and politics, women as a sex can be portrayed as weak, fragile, emotional, and sometimes incapable of certain tasks defined as a mans job. Afterall, what is a princess without her prince? In William Shakespeare’s King Lear the women of the play are depicted as evil and cruel, receiving the blame for all that goes wrong. God forbid anything be a mans fault. However, Shakespeare does not give women this negative connotation simply to reinforce the stereotype. No, instead he uses it as a tool to enhance his writing. For instance, King Lear’s banishment of daughter Cordelia strengthens the plot by making their reuniting much more emotional, and the king’s hatred towards women only furthers his character development. Moreover, the negative image placed on women in the play enhances the themes of irony and appearance versus reality. Overall, Shakespeare’s negative and undermining views of women presented in King Lear are not made for the sake of demining women as a sex, but to strengthen and enhance his writing.
King Lear does not begin the play disliking women, in fact, during the first scene of the play he is speaking with his daughters about dividing his land between them. However, this royal present comes at a price, and King Lear asks that each daughter profess their love to him in hopes of getting the biggest share. After hearing his first two daughters speak, Lear replies; “ – Now, our joy, / Although our last and least; to whose young love / The vines of France and milk of Burgundy / Strive to be interested” (1.1.84-86). The king reveals that his youngest daughter Cordelia is his favourite, calling her his joy and bragging about her two potential suitors. Knowing this, it is heartbreaking when he banishes her, however it is even more emotional when they are reunited. Later in the play, when the king is finally returned to his daughter’s side, the scene is filled with endless emotions as he pleads for her forgiveness and admits to his mistakes. “Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray weep not. / 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” (4.7.71-74). This crucial scene is only so impactful because of Lear’s original despise of women. To put it in the words of Claudette Hoover of the Queen’s University English department; “King Lear’s relinquishing misogyny is a necessary prelude to reunion with the exiled Cordelia.” (Hoover) The change in heart of a main character, from despised to overjoyed, assists in deepening the plot and enhancing Shakespeare’s writing overall.
Not only does King Lear’s feelings toward women develop plot, it also gives depth to his character. Lear, just like Shakespeare with his writing, has an underlying reason for his hatred of women. After he gives up his land, King Lear also unknowingly gives up his power, and it is the later realization of this that causes his first upset with his two daughters. “ ‘My lady’s father’? My lord’s knave, your whoreson dog! / You slave, you cur!” (1.4.69-70). Lear becomes frustrated and lashes out at his daughter’s servant Oswald but it is not simply because he has ignored him upon his daughter’s request. No, this outburst is due to the fact that he is no longer recognized as “king” but instead by “the father of the lady of the house”. This anger towards his daughter and servant reveals Lear’s underlying desire for power, and helps to develop his character. Throughout the play Lear continues to demonstrate his dislike of women, and Claudette Hoover argues that it is Lear’s losses that cause him to act in such a way. “Lear identifies his manhood with the role as king and father, that having lost those roles, he projects his sexual confusion and anger onto women” (Hoover). Lear’s general dislike of women is not due to the fact that he sees them as less than man, instead it is because he has lost what he believes makes him a man, giving Lear’s character more depth and emotion. Eventually it is his misdirected hatred for the female sex that drives him into madness, as we see when he imitates a trial with stools for daughters. “Arraign her first. ‘Tis Goneril. I hear take my oath before this honourable assembly, she kicked the poor king her father” (3.6.47-49). All-embracing, King Lear’s projected anger towards women develops his character in a way that enhances Shakespeare’s writing and the play as a whole.
Not only does king Lear posses a negative view