If presented in an effective manner, thought is a very effective devise for an audience to understand. An idea can impact an audience through writing by making them strongly reflect on what that idea really means in a real world context. The idea can takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us reflect on a certain issue that we may have never considered, or even show a prevalent social context from a different perspective. This is all over modern day media/entertainment as we as a society are finding it more relevant to talk about issues. During Elizabethan times, talking about society’s faults wouldn’t have been common so seeing a play where themes hit you so hard and are so relevant would have been really impactful.

Shakespeare’s take on human nature is that there is no one who can surpass flaw, not even royalty. Lear is a king and with that, we wouldn’t be stupid to think that he is rather exemplary, however the further we get into the play, the more his flaws are revealed. He see how prideful and wrathful he is with his actions and how human he really is. An Elizabethan audience would traditionally believe royalty to be perfect humans, incapable of flaw. Shakespeare is able to reveal the flaw that every human is capable of.

Justice is another theme discussed in King Lear, the character that experiences the greatest level of injustice would be Cordelia. She is honest, faithful and is although, expresses it the least, actually loves her father the most. Her honesty is what gets her banished and as a flow on from that, killed. This is an interesting thought to provoke in an audience as we can think critically as to how this theme applies in our real world. In our world there are countless of examples of people get wrongly accused for things they didn’t do, or a just treated wrongly through vice of the society we’ve created. I personally believe injustice to one of the most cathartic thought device in literature. When I think of times where a text has made me upset, it can comeback to the theme of injustice. For example, The Green Mile is a movie that is very well known for its sad ending. What makes it so sad is how we see how gentle and kind that John is, however he is predetermined to be killed because its his word as a negro, against a white persons word. This is injustice at its purist and as an audience, it can feel like a dagger through the chest seeing this. King Lear is absolutely the same. As Lear walks out with Cordelia, dead in his arms, it is harrowing, we know she didn’t deserve this fate. She was and only had good intentions and we as an audience feel the pain of the injustice that has occurred. Feeling that pain makes it easier to reflect on our real world.

“Nothing shall come of nothing” is a quote that bears a heavy theme that is constantly visited and revisited in King Lear. The quote is ironic in a way, because as the play progresses we learn that everything comes of nothing. What this means is that there can be dire consequences for doing nothing in a situation.