In our scientifically and mechanically advanced world we are further away from the basic foundation of life, nature, than Jacobean audiences. We do, however, all eventually return to nature when we die, and automatically loose all the materialistic objects and clutter we had collected. Shakespeare is touching on an issue ahead of his time, the question of how important cultured luxuries are to us in our vastly materialistic wor

ld. Humans build on their natural foundation, adding luxuries but also unseen laws such as hierarchy and society morals. Shakespeare also appears to criticise hierarchy, as Lear says, “Through tattered clothes great vices do appear; Robes and furred gowns hide all”; if people are high status, does this automatically mean they are naturally good people and appropriate for the position, or has false language just granted them their title (as in Goneril and Regan’s case)?

One could say that his ‘human nature’ does not allow him to become completely accepted into nature. This is another definition of the word which a Jacobean audience would have been familiar with. Edmund’s view of both human and biological nature is that it can be manipulated; that free will can overcome all, that with enough determination and cunning an individual can write their own fate. This is proved false in his final scene, where he confesses his loss of the fight. G. Wilson Knight’s proposes an interesting theory, that Edmund, Lear and Cordelia correspond to the three periods of man’s evolution – the primitive, the civilized and the ideal, and this reinforces the importance of nature as it suggest the play is symbolic of possibly the most natural of transitions.

‘Good’ in the play is often associated with nature (for example, Cordelia's speeches burst is ‘nature’ imagery - “Unpublished virtues of the earth” “burdocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers�

Some topics in this essay:
Wilson Knight, Lear Jacobean, Macbeth Hamlet, Lear Cordelia, Regan Edmund, Goneril Regan, King Lear, Lear Edger, Edger Lear, , king lear, return nature, wilson knight, human nature, goneril regan, goneril regan edmund, ‘nature’ imagery, throughout play, lear materialistic, regan edmund, shakespeare touching issue, shakespeare touching,