King Lear

Tillyard and the Elizabethan World Picture

In his influential book, The Elizabethan World Picture (first published in 1943), E.M.W. Tillyard details the way in which Elizabethans viewed their world order. One of the key beliefs in this world picture is what Tillyard calls The Chain of Being, much of which worked its way into the literature of the time, including Shakespeare's plays. Familiarity with the chain of being can do much to enhance our reading of Shakespeare's plays.

The order of things
The chain of being is a complicated and somewhat fluid concept. Put simply, Tillyard's explanation is that everything on earth and in the universe is linked in a particular order - everything has its place. The most heavenly beings are placed at the top of the chain, seated at the foot of God. The basest creatures are at the bottom, furthest away from God. The best way of envisioning this is probably to think of a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder are one-celled micro-organisms. Above them are plants, then, in ascending order:

Animals/plants/metals/liquids

man

the elements

stars and fortune

angels and ether

However, just as there was a class system within Elizabethan England with Queen Elizabeth at the top of the chain and the poorest working person at the bottom, within each sub-class in the chain of being there is an hierarchy as well. For instance:

gold, silver, and diamonds are the highest-rated metals and jewels

a rose is the most precious flower

the eagle is the noblest of birds

the lion is the king of beasts.

This ranking of objects and animals is something society continues to this day:

the precious metals are used in jewelry and traded on commodities markets and diamond rings are given as tokens of love

long-stemmed red roses are signs of undying affection

the eagle and the lion are still considered kings in their class.

The human section of the chain was likewise divided into a chain with monarchs, leaders, heads of state at the top and the dispossessed at the bottom - extremes illustrated in King Lear when Lear, still 'every inch a king' [4.6.107] meets 'Poor Tom' on the heath.

Before dividing his kingdom, Lear, at the top of his particular chain, had absolute power. This enabled him to do the unthinkable, i.e. give up his kingdom and 'retire'-a notion which, to an Elizabethan audience, would have been earth-shattering. It is only in relatively recent times that allegiance to one's ruler has been widely questioned and republican views considered acceptable. In 1936, King Edward VIII, who was also head of the Church of England, had to abdicate when he chose to marry a commoner, the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. And it was only in 1946 that the Emperor of Japan renounced his divine status. Until 1945, emperors of Japan, direct descendants of the sun god, were considered not human, but divine.

The Links
Tillyard breaks down the chain of being into five 'links', or broad categories:

Angels and ether
Angels and the ether were the closest things to God in the chain of being. Lear as monarch is closely related to the angels and Lear's knowledge of his rightful place in the chain-his primacy over his kingdom-can be seen at many points during the play. For example, in this extract from Lear's speech when he banishes Kent:

LEAR
To come betwixt our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
[1.1.170-171]

Even in the midst of his madness, Lear knows his place: [1.1.170-171]

LEAR
Ay, every inch a king.
When I do stare see how the subject quakes.
[4.4.107-108]

It is his displacement in the chain that leads to Lear's tragedy. He did the unthinkable (as an Elizabethan audience would see it) by abdicating his divine right to rule, an act which resulted in chaos throughout the chain.

The stars and fortune

EDMUND
This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune - often the surfeits of our own behaviour - we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting-on.
[I.ii.118-126]

Tillyard states that the Elizabethans believed it was the stars that were responsible for the fluctuations in fortune that happened to human beings. The phrase "lucky star" can probably be traced back at least as far as Elizabethan times. People continue to "thank [their] lucky stars" today. Edmund here is rejecting the premise that anything that goes wrong in life is the fault of the stars, the moon, or the sun. According to Edmund, fortune-either good or ill-is not controlled by anything in the heavens, but that we ourselves are responsible for our actions. In this Edmund is propounding very modern views. In the world of King Lear, however, Edmund is discrediting the world order and helping to tip the chain of being into chaos. Thus Edmund, after initial success, succumbs to fortune and the world order is restored at the end of the play:

EDGAR
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us:
The dark and vicious place where thee he got
Cost him his eyes.

EDUMND
Th'hast spoken right. 'Tis true. The wheel is come full circle; I am here.
[V.iii.168-172]

LEAR
Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, called you children.
[III.ii.14-17]

The elements that Lear refers to in this passage are fire and water. There are four elements in total, earth and air are the other two. In fact, fire and water are two opposite elements which both repel and attract each other. The elements, in man, were thought to be mixed into a proper balance and if the balance was disturbed, it was that which caused mental or physical abnormalities. The way the Elizabethans thought of the elements can probably best be illustrated in Antony's eulogy of Brutus from Julius Caesar:

ANTONY
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a man!'
[Julius Caesar V.v.73-75]

Antony is saying that, because the elements were mixed in Brutus to perfection, that Brutus was indeed a man to be admired by all. Lear, by contrast, is saying that his children are unnatural, because they are not made up of elements - "Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters".

Man
All paths in the chain of being lead to man. He was the nodal point or, as Tillyard puts it, a kind of Clapham Junction (Britain's busiest railway station) with tracks from every direction converging in him. Another way to describe this concept is to picture the spokes on a bicycle, with man at the centre where all the points converge and with the spokes representing, for instance, the various items in the chain of being I've already mentioned: roses, diamonds, lions, eagles, micro-organisms. Tillyard shows that man is the ultimate being because man possesses the divine ability to reason (speech and cognitive thought which separates man from the animals), and because of this, man is able to bridge the gap between matter, or the physical world. and spirit, or the soul.

LEAR
How now? What art thou?

KENT
A man, sir.
[I.iv.9-10]

Kent's answer frequently gets a laugh from the audience, probably because we hear a flippant answer coming from Kent because we can all see he is a man. To the Elizabethans, however, his answer has a different connotation. Man is the noblest creation of all God's creations and Kent is asserting the fact that not only is he a person, he is the key element. In King Lear, while most other characters are subverting the natural order of the chain of being, Kent continually tries to uphold it, most notably when he is admonishing Lear for disinheriting Cordelia and when he stands up to Lear's daughters, actions which lead to first his banishment and, later, a spell in the stocks.

Animals, plants, metals
LEAR
Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favoured
When others are more wicked.
[II.iv.251-252]

LEAR
And thou all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o'the world,
Crack Nature's moulds, all germen spill at once
That makes ingrateful man!
[III.ii.6-10]

CORDELIA
Alack, 'tis he! Why, he was met even now
As mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud,
Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds,
With hardokes, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining corn.
[IV.v.1-6]

For in the universe there are gods, the four elements, the dumb beasts, and the plants. Of all these man possesses the faculties: for he possesses the godlike faculty of reason, and the nature of the elements, which consists in nourishment growth and reproduction.
Photius, Life of Pythagoras.

Tillyard explains that this lowest echelon of the chain of being existed because it was a mirror to Man. Man's function was unique in that it bound together all creation and linked matter with spirit. All things existed because of Man and in animals, plants, and metals are perceived to be human characteristics. When the natural order of the chain of being is upset, those human upsets also occurred in the lowest chain. The passages above illustrate this, as do many other lines within the play. In II.iv, Lear dehumanises his daughters by calling them 'creatures' and inferring that the real creatures in the world look appealing when put next to his daughters. In Act 3 scene 2, the storm is a manifestation of the chaos that Lear has created by overturning the natural chain of being-this fifth rung on the chain of being is mirroring the chaos in the kingdom created by Lear's abdication. In Act 4 scene 5, Cordelia equates a 'vexed sea' and his crown of plants with Lear's madness, relating the natural world to Lear's humanity.

by Jami Rogers


			In his influential book, The Elizabethan World Picture (first published in 1943), E.M.W. Tillyard details the way in which Elizabethans viewed their world order. One of the key beliefs in this world picture is what Tillyard calls The Chain of Being, much of which worked its way into the literature of the time, including Shakespeare's plays. Familiarity with the chain of being can do much to enhance our reading of Shakespeare's plays. The chain of being is a complicated and somewhat fluid concept. Put simply, Tillyard's explanation is that everything on earth and in the universe is linked in a particular order - everything has its place. The most heavenly beings are placed at the top of the chain, seated at the foot of God. The basest creatures are at the bottom, furthest away from God. The best way of envisioning this is probably to think of a ladder. At the bottom of the ladder are one-celled micro-organisms. Above them are plants, then, in ascending order: Animals/plants/metals/liquids man the elements stars and fortune angels and ether However, just as there was a class system within Elizabethan England with Queen Elizabeth at the top of the chain and the poorest working person at the bottom, within each sub-class in the chain of being there is an hierarchy as well. For instance: gold, silver, and diamonds are the highest-rated metals and jewels a rose is the most precious flower the eagle is the noblest of birds the lion is the king of beasts. This ranking of objects and animals is something society continues to this day: the precious metals are used in jewelry and traded on commodities markets and diamond rings are given as tokens of love long-stemmed red roses are signs of undying affection the eagle and the lion are still considered kings in their class. The human section of the chain was likewise divided into a chain with monarchs, leaders, heads of state at the top and the dispossessed at the bottom - extremes illustrated in King Lear when Lear, still 'every inch a king' [4.6.107] meets 'Poor Tom' on the heath. Before dividing his kingdom, Lear, at the top of his particular chain, had absolute power. This enabled him to do the unthinkable, i.e. give up his kingdom and 'retire'-a notion which, to an Elizabethan audience, would have been earth-shattering. It is only in relatively recent times that allegiance to one's ruler has been widely questioned and republican views considered acceptable. In 1936, King Edward VIII, who was also head of the Church of England, had to abdicate when he chose to marry a commoner, the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. And it was only in 1946 that the Emperor of Japan renounced his divine status. Until 1945, emperors of Japan, direct descendants of the sun god, were considered not human, but divine. Tillyard breaks down the chain of being into five 'links', or broad categories: Angels and the ether were the closest things to God in the chain of being. Lear as monarch is closely related to the angels and Lear's knowledge of his rightful place in the chain-his primacy over his kingdom-can be seen at many points during the play. For example, in this extract from Lear's speech when he banishes Kent: LEAR To come betwixt our sentence and our power, Which nor our nature nor our place can bear, [1.1.170-171] Even in the midst of his madness, Lear knows his place: [1.1.170-171] LEAR Ay, every inch a king. When I do stare see how the subject quakes. [4.4.107-108] It is his displacement in the chain that leads to Lear's tragedy. He did the unthinkable (as an Elizabethan audience would see it) by abdicating his divine right to rule, an act which resulted in chaos throughout the chain. EDMUND This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune - often the surfeits of our own behaviour - we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in by a divine thrusting-on. [I.ii.118-126] Tillyard states that the Elizabethans believed it was the stars that were responsible for the fluctuations in fortune that happened to human beings. The phrase "lucky star" can probably be traced back at least as far as Elizabethan times. People continue to "thank [their] lucky stars" today. Edmund here is rejecting the premise that anything that goes wrong in life is the fault of the stars, the moon, or the sun. According to Edmund, fortune-either good or ill-is not controlled by anything in the heavens, but that we ourselves are responsible for our actions. In this Edmund is propounding very modern views. In the world of King Lear, however, Edmund is discrediting the world order and helping to tip the chain of being into chaos. Thus Edmund, after initial success, succumbs to fortune and the world order is restored at the end of the play: EDGAR The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices Make instruments to plague us: The dark and vicious place where thee he got Cost him his eyes. EDUMND Th'hast spoken right. 'Tis true. The wheel is come full circle; I am here. [V.iii.168-172] LEAR Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters. I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness; I never gave you kingdom, called you children. [III.ii.14-17] The elements that Lear refers to in this passage are fire and water. There are four elements in total, earth and air are the other two. In fact, fire and water are two opposite elements which both repel and attract each other. The elements, in man, were thought to be mixed into a proper balance and if the balance was disturbed, it was that which caused mental or physical abnormalities. The way the Elizabethans thought of the elements can probably best be illustrated in Antony's eulogy of Brutus from Julius Caesar: ANTONY His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, 'This was a man!' [Julius Caesar V.v.73-75] Antony is saying that, because the elements were mixed in Brutus to perfection, that Brutus was indeed a man to be admired by all. Lear, by contrast, is saying that his children are unnatural, because they are not made up of elements - "Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters". All paths in the chain of being lead to man. He was the nodal point or, as Tillyard puts it, a kind of Clapham Junction (Britain's busiest railway station) with tracks from every direction converging in him. Another way to describe this concept is to picture the spokes on a bicycle, with man at the centre where all the points converge and with the spokes representing, for instance, the various items in the chain of being I've already mentioned: roses, diamonds, lions, eagles, micro-organisms. Tillyard shows that man is the ultimate being because man possesses the divine ability to reason (speech and cognitive thought which separates man from the animals), and because of this, man is able to bridge the gap between matter, or the physical world. and spirit, or the soul. LEAR How now? What art thou? KENT A man, sir. [I.iv.9-10] Kent's answer frequently gets a laugh from the audience, probably because we hear a flippant answer coming from Kent because we can all see he is a man. To the Elizabethans, however, his answer has a different connotation. Man is the noblest creation of all God's creations and Kent is asserting the fact that not only is he a person, he is the key element. In King Lear, while most other characters are subverting the natural order of the chain of being, Kent continually tries to uphold it, most notably when he is admonishing Lear for disinheriting Cordelia and when he stands up to Lear's daughters, actions which lead to first his banishment and, later, a spell in the stocks. LEAR Those wicked creatures yet do look well-favoured When others are more wicked. [II.iv.251-252] LEAR And thou all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o'the world, Crack Nature's moulds, all germen spill at once That makes ingrateful man! [III.ii.6-10] CORDELIA Alack, 'tis he! Why, he was met even now As mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud, Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds, With hardokes, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow In our sustaining corn. [IV.v.1-6] For in the universe there are gods, the four elements, the dumb beasts, and the plants. Of all these man possesses the faculties: for he possesses the godlike faculty of reason, and the nature of the elements, which consists in nourishment growth and reproduction. Photius, Life of Pythagoras. Tillyard explains that this lowest echelon of the chain of being existed because it was a mirror to Man. Man's function was unique in that it bound together all creation and linked matter with spirit. All things existed because of Man and in animals, plants, and metals are perceived to be human characteristics. When the natural order of the chain of being is upset, those human upsets also occurred in the lowest chain. The passages above illustrate this, as do many other lines within the play. In II.iv, Lear dehumanises his daughters by calling them 'creatures' and inferring that the real creatures in the world look appealing when put next to his daughters. In Act 3 scene 2, the storm is a manifestation of the chaos that Lear has created by overturning the natural chain of being-this fifth rung on the chain of being is mirroring the chaos in the kingdom created by Lear's abdication. In Act 4 scene 5, Cordelia equates a 'vexed sea' and his crown of plants with Lear's madness, relating the natural world to Lear's humanity. by Jami Rogers