The Tragedy of Good Friday: Sacrificial Violence in King Lear
In this article I claim that the presentation of sacrificial or persecutory violence in William Shakespeare's King Lear is heavily influenced by ambivalence in Reformation England towards acts of religious violence. I begin by arguing that the crowds attending the execution of martyrs manifeste...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2011
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| In: |
ELH
Year: 2011, Volume: 78, Issue: 2, Pages: 259-286 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Violence
B Girard, René 1923-2015 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this article I claim that the presentation of sacrificial or persecutory violence in William Shakespeare's King Lear is heavily influenced by ambivalence in Reformation England towards acts of religious violence. I begin by arguing that the crowds attending the execution of martyrs manifested what can be understood as a Girardian sacrificial crisis, where the unifying force of the deaths was undercut by an ethical dilemma over the justice of physical coercion, and contend that the Acts and Monuments of John Foxe exemplified this dilemma and contributed to it. I then examine passages from the Acts and Monuments alongside the blinding of Gloucester and the death of Cordelia arguing that, like Foxe, Shakespeare demystifies sacrificial violence, exposing it as something ugly, unjust, and alienating. |
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| ISSN: | 1080-6547 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: ELH
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/elh.2011.0018 |
