King Lear

Throughout Shakespeare's King Lear, there is a sense of renewal, or as L.C. Knights puts it, "affirmation in spite of everything," in the play. These affirmative actions are vividly seen throughout the play that is highly infused with evil, immorality and perverted values. These glimpses of hope seem to provide the reader with an underlying notion of human goodness that remains present, throughout the lurking presence of immorality and a lack of values. However, …

…glimpses were short lived, and may have been merely illusions and mock revelations. They offer no true affirmation on the status of society. This dismay is emphasized with the fact that the kingdom is given to Edgar and Kent; dividing the kingdom is how all of the trouble began to start with. Thus there is no new order and no clear direction for society, at the end of what proves to be a devastating tragedy.