Machiavellian Philosophy in King Lear

Machiavelli’s ideas influence some of Shakespeare’s characters in the play, King Lear. To use the critic A. P. Rossiter’s phrase, Shakespeare’s plays are about, “the survival of the slickest.” The characters in King Lear that reflect the Machiavellian philosophy are the two sisters, Goneril and Regan, and the son of Gloucester, Edmund. Machiavelli’s had a very cold appraisal of government and power. He asserted that the achievement of political power …

…more than four hundred times on the Elizabethan stage, and the figure inspired Shakespeare’s greatest villains. Machiavelli’s ideas influence almost every ruler Shakespeare created. Goneril was one of the characters that show how Machiavellian philosophy was evident in King Lear. Goneril is the most vicious sister. It is she who suggests gouging out Gloucester’s eyes and she who plots her husband’s death so that she may fulfill her lust for Edmund.