father by not honouring him but Lear has sinned against them by choosing who loves him the most and then cursing them. In the sub-plot, Edmund has convinced his father that Edgar is evil (A lie, so therefore a sin) and Edgar has taken on the role of a beggar after being banished by his father. As a result of all the sin, Lear goes mad. Cordelia returns and proves to be the honest creature Lear banished her for and she protects him from her sisters. Ultimately, Cornwall is killed after plucking out Gloucester’s eyes, Cordelia is hung on the command of her sisters and Lear dies from a broken heart on realising that she is the most loving daughter he has. Regan poisons Goneril, Edgar kills Edmund and Regan kills herself on hearing of Edmunds death. Cordelia is the only one to have not been sinful, but truthful in her actions but all the other characters that die have committed a sin and been punished for it. In “King Lear”, the dramatic chain of events resulting in so many sinners’ deaths shows that cause and effect really does exist and that the two work together. Shakespeare was clever in the way he wove both elements into his plays. One didn’t seem to be able to exist without the other.I am not sure what audiences expected in Elizabethan times, but I am sure that entertainment was a vital element of expectation. Shakespeare wrote plays that reflected real life situations, such as that of Iagos jealousy, and showed what he believed would happen as his course of action continued. The anticipation of a play depends on its genre: tragedy, historical, comedy and so on. I believe death and sin are expectations for a tragic play, such as the ones I have looked at in this essay and I think that without them, the audience would be disappointed in the play. ...
