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King Lear: context - Coggle Diagram
King Lear: context
Divine right of kings
The axioms of English constitutionalism had never so much as presented themselves to the mind of the Scottish king,
the king aired his theory of Divine Right and pronounced that they had no rights at all except by the king's grace
so long as compromises were possible between the will of the king and the will of the parliament a violent collision might be deferred.
the normal expenditure of the Crown largely exceeded, the normal revenue
Parliament were appointed and might be removed at the will of the Crown so their decisions would be biased in favour of the Crown
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for many years James made shift to carry on the government without additional supplies from parliament
the Houses were only once summoned, to meet in what was called the "Addled Parliament," because it was dissolved again without accomplishing anything whatever.
Astrology
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Edmund's diatribe against astrology has more to do with fate vs free will than the true effectiveness of the astrological pattern
Inaccurate knowledge of astrology eg. cannot be born under Ursa Major like he says as its not a zodiacal constellation
rebellion against norm of believing in astrology as well as his wrong information makes him seem uncultured and disliked by a Jacobean audience
shakespeare knew astrology well and used it to make audience either comfortable or uncomfortable with this characters
The Great Chain of being
Kings were only answerable to God (the divine right of kings) which explains Lear's outrage at being disobeyed and his arrogance
Cordelia believes in great chain of being as she wants to remain in her place and respects it shown in the first scene
your place was the place God had ordained for you so you should not disturb it like Edmund does even though he is a bastard as well as Goneril and Regan
Lear shown as breaking the great chain of being because of abdication before his dealt just so it is divided as he wants and he goes against primogeniture as he favours Cordelia wanting her to have a more opulent third
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