The Gospel of Divine Mercy in King Lear

• Authors: Małgorzata Grzegorzewska

Abstracts

EN

The paper discusses Shakespeare’s preoccupation with the Christian notions of divine love, forgiveness and justice in The Tragedy of King Lear. In my reading I employ Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenological reflection on the givenness of love and Hans-Urs von Balthasar’s theology of Paschal mystery. I take issue with the Marxist and existentialist interpretations of Shakespeare’s tragedy which prevailed in the second half of the $20^{th}$ century. My aim is not a simple recuperation of the “redemptionism” of the play, but an in-depth consideration of Christian allusions in the play which may tie love and forgiveness to justice and throw light on the ending of King Lear.

Keywords

EN

William Shakespeare; King Lear; gift; mercy; forgiveness

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture
• Year: 2021
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 321-333

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Małgorzata Grzegorzewska

• University of Warsaw

• https://orcid.org/0000000201942919

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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/2083-2931.11.20

Biblioteka Nauki

2032701