Inversion as a Literary Device in William Shakespeare's "King Lear"
Shakespeare's play, "King Lear," relies heavily on the concept of inversion to create the irony that adds so much to its dramatic impact.
Inversion Sets the Stage
In the play's opening scene, King Lear sets the mechanism of inversion in motion by dividing his kingdom between his evil daughters, Regan and Goneril, disowning his good daughter, Cordelia, and banishing his loyal servant, Kent.
In so doing, he "divests" himself of those persons who represent goodness, honesty, loyalty, and nobility (Cordelia and
The word "divest" is highly appropriate here, and is intended by Shakespeare as a very purposeful foreshadowing of the figurative nakedness that Lear unwittingly brings upon himself as a result of his impulsive and unreasonable actions. "Since now we will divest us both of rule, interest of territory, cares of state... (1.1, lines 47-48).
His corresponding use of the word "invest" is equally deliberate and also very apt, expressing as it does Lear's "clothing" of his evil daughters with the "vestments" of power and authority, the willing removal of which is the cause of their father's pitiful "nakedness." "I do invest you jointly with my power, preeminence, and all the large effects that troop with majesty" (1.1, lines 129-131).
The clothing/unclothing metaphor is adeptly continued through Scene 1 and slipped into Scene 4 as a reminder of Lear's humiliating predicament.
The divestment of his power and property is referred to in lines 216-217, in part, as a "dismantl(ing of) so many folds of favor" in regard to his loving daughter, Cordelia; and his investment of these is alluded to in Cordelia's declaration to her evil sisters that "time shall unfold what plighted (or pleated) cunning hides" (line 279).
The Fool also reminds us in Scene 4 that "E'er since (Lear made his) daughters (his) mothers [another example of inversion], (he gave them) the rod and (put) down (his) own breeches" (lines 165-167).
Tragic Irony Reigns Supreme
In addition to his innate ability in the sustained use of metaphor, Shakespeare's lines are executed with poetic power and vivid emotional impact, which he skillfully utilizes to create and maintain the play's tragic mood and firmly establish its exalted character.
Lear's heart-rending oath to Cordelia is an excellent example of the sheer tragic power of Shakespeare's prose (1.1, lines 109-119):
"The mysteries of Hecate, and the night; / By all the operation of the orbs / From whom we do exist and cease to be; / Here I disclaim all my paternal care, / Propinquity, and property of blood, / And as a stranger to my heart and me / Hold thee from this forever. The barbarous Scythian, / Or he that makes his generation messes / To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom / Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved / As thou my sometime daughter."
The King's reaction to the inexcusable treatment he receives at the hand of Goneril (Scene 4, lines 256-260) likewise displays Shakespeare's powerful command of language: " Detested kite! thou liest. / My train are men of choice and rarest parts, / That all particulars of duty know, / And in the most exact regard support / The worships of their name.--" The rest of his angry diatribe, first over Cordelia, then against Goneril (lines 260-266 and 269-283), and his new outburst after losing 50 of his followers (lines 296-309--not quoted) are further examples of this power:
260-266: "O most small fault, / How ugly didst thou in Cordelia show! / Which, like and engine, wrench'd my frame of nature / From the fix'd place; drew from my heart all love / And added to the gall. O Lear, Lear, Lear! / Beat at this gate, that let thy folly in / And thy dear judgement out!--Go, go, my people."
269-283: "Hear, Nature, hear; dear goddess, hear! / Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend / To make this creature fruitful; / Into her womb convey sterility; / Dry up in her the organs of increase, / And from her derogate body never spring / A babe to honour her! If she must teem, / Create her child of spleen, that it may live / And be a thwart disnatured torment to her. / Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth; / With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks; / Turn all her mother's pains and benefits / To laughter and contempt; that she may feel / How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is / To have a thankless child!--Away, away!"
A World Turned Upside Down
Essentially, inversion, expressed powerfully and with great beauty, is a key element in the play's first two acts. The following potent examples of inversion indicate the strong part the literary device plays in this tragic drama:
Child(ren) in authority over parent; King ruled by his subjects; good punished-evil rewarded; flattery triumphing over honesty; greed triumphing over unselfish love; impulsiveness triumphing over reason; anger triumphing over mercy; cold rejection kindling ardent respect; Fool becoming wise-King becoming Fool.
Perhaps the most pointed (and also the most powerful) example of inversion in the first two acts occurs in Scenes 4 and 5, when the Fool becomes the voice of reason for the King, who has unwittingly relegated himself to the status of Fool. The words of wisdom spoken by the Fool in this portion of the play represent prime examples of the inverted status between Lear and his Fool; and the Fool's manifold vocal jabs also evoke a poignancy born of his deep love, loyalty, and concern for his master (lines 207-210, 217-218, 224, 228).
Shakespeare has, in "King Lear," skillfully and systematically created a universe turned upside down--a topsy-turvy world fraught with injustice, irony, and pathos--a world by which only a "marble-hearted fiend" of the likes of a Goneril, a Regan, or an Edmund could possibly remain unmoved.