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Palgrave Macmillan

Office and Duty in King Lear

Shakespeare’s Political Theologies

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  • © 2024

Overview

Authors:
  1. Alexander Thom

    1. School of English, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

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  • Reconstructs the theological origins of the officer as a conduit for a higher power
  • Argues that office, as a moral problem, is the central theme of King Lear
  • Presents King Lear as a landmark expression of the perils of living within office

Part of the book series: Palgrave Shakespeare Studies (PASHST)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Introduction

    • Alexander Thom
    Pages 1-24

  3. The Majesty of Kingship: Spectacular and Sacred Sovereign Power

    • Alexander Thom
    Pages 25-75

  4. ‘The Bloody Proclamation to Escape’: Edgar and Romantic Outlawry

    • Alexander Thom
    Pages 77-128

  5. Dividing Between Daughters

    • Alexander Thom
    Pages 129-179

  6. Lear’s Redemption

    • Alexander Thom
    Pages 181-242

  7. Conclusion: Lear’s Shadow, Office Today

    • Alexander Thom
    Pages 243-253

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 255-261
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Keywords

About this book

This book advances five original readings of Shakespeare's King Lear, influenced by Giorgio Agamben, but tempered by primary research into Jacobean literature, law, religion, and philosophy. To grasp Lear’s encounter between politics and identity, the play demands a wider understanding of the religious influence on political thought. As Lear himself realises, sovereignty is an extreme, glamorous example of a deeper category: sacred office. Lear also shows duty intersecting with a hierarchy of bastards, outlaws, women, waifs, and monks. This book introduces concepts like petit treason, civil death, and waivery into political theological studies, complicating Agamben’s models. Goneril’s treason shows the sovereign’s consort and children are consecrated lives too. Lear’s crisis of "self-knowing" stages a landmark critique of office. The promise of his poignant speech before the prison is foreclosed by Shakespeare's invention: an officer dutifully murdering Cordelia. This book’s conclusion, through Hannah Arendt, reconsiders Lear’s persistent association with the Holocaust.

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of English, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Alexander Thom

About the author

Dr Alexander Thom is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of English, University of Leeds, UK. His postdoctoral research focuses on the displaced in English Renaissance drama. This book is based on his Midlands3Cities AHRC doctorate, which was awarded in 2020 by the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK.

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