In this essay, Delany utilizes Dialectical Materialism to explore King Lear in an effort to gain “a general assessment of Shakespeare’s political outlook,” as it relates to the decline of Feudalism (429).

Delany begins by stating “Shakespeare lived at a time when an uncertain balance had been struck in the transition from the feudal-aristocratic society of medieval England to the emergent bourgeois state” (429). The aristocracy and bourgeoisie had differing views on what constituted human nature. Delany argues that these rival metaphysical concepts are pitted against each other in King Lear.

Thus, the conflict in the story truly begins with differing understandings of the word “bond” between the two parties in the play. Gloucester and Lear seeing a bond as defined by the relationship between family members: the world runs on the bonds between family or aristocracy. Edmund, Goneril, and Regan, however, see a bond as something that binds them, restricting their freedoms; they view success in the world as defined by their own actions, requiring freedom of movement up the social ladder through their own successes and triumphs. The aristocratic party fails to understand this difference in metaphysical world view, resulting in the usurpation of the aristocratic world (or party) by the laissez-faire world (or party).

With this dichotomy of world views in mind then, Delany concludes that Shakespeare was expressing a degree of trepidation in the movement of his world towards a bourgeois state. This is evident in the tragic nature of the play, suggesting that Shakespeare believed Edmund’s metaphysical views represented a “triumph of crime” (433).

Delany also discusses the role money or thrift plays in the text as well as historical materialism in relationship to class conflict.

/// BREAK ///

I intend on writing more in-depth reviews of essays I read for discussion here as I have above, including citations and in the future, my own commentary.

If you’d like to read these essays for yourself, JSTOR allows anyone to create a free account that gives them access to 100 articles every month. All of the essays I post will be pulled from JSTOR to ensure everyone has access to them–primarily from the PMLA journal.