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bene punished in otherheretofore,whereby admonished,I trust it will be a good occasion to move you to thesoner amendment”(Winston,381).It aims to persuade the ruling class to learn fromthe examples in the book and eschew the same flaw,reminding them of theirresponsibility and obligations.It is based upon the assumption that the rulers wouldeasily correct their mistakes if they have the same mistakes as the protagonist in thetragic story.

Chapter Two The Providence in King Leir and King Lear

2.1“Cordella”’s Happy Ending and Cordelia’s Tragic Ending

John E.Van Domelen pointed out that“in all of the accounts except the earlierplay King Leir Cordelia commits suicide”(132).That is,Cordelia committed suicidein the early sources,while she was given different endings in King Leir and King Lear.In the sources,such as Geoffrey Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae,JohnHiggins’s The Mirror for Magistrates,Raphael Holinshed’s The Chronicles ofEngland,Scotland,and Ireland,Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen,Cordeliainvaded Britain and restored Leir successfully.After the death of Leir,she became theQueen of Britain.When the sons of the two elder sisters grew up,they put Cordeliainto prison,and she committed suicide:“Till wearie of that wretched life,her selfe shehong”(Spenser,334);“Wherewith she tooke such griefe,being a woman of manliecourage,and despairing to recover libertie,there she slue hirselfe”(Holinshed,319);“Cordila”shewes how by despaire when-she was in prison she slue herself”,“Andtherewithal Dispayre the stroke did strike:Whereby I dyde,a damned creature like”(Higgins,323,332),“where for Grief at the Loss of her Kingdom she killed herself”(Monmouth,316).In the sources,the reason why she committed suicide was that shelost her kingdom,and she was in despair because there was no hope to regain it.Themethods she adopted were stabbing and hanging,and the latter was only adopted bySpencer(Williamson,415).Compared with the early versions,King Leir and King Lear end differently.In King Leir,“Cordella”helped her father regain his crown,andthe story ended.“Cordella”’s inheritance of Britain,the rebellion of the nephew,andthe suicide plot were deleted.In the end,“Cordella”in the anonymous King Leir hada happy ending.

2.2 The Christian Tradition in King Leir

Christianity and the Bible have a crucial influence on western literature.“Thehistory of western literature is actually a history of religion”,and“the characterarchetypes,story motifs,narrative structure,metaphors,and language styles of theBible have had a great influence on the creation of western literature”(Jin Li,5).KingLeir represented the traditional Christian text.In the play,the characters were pious,and God was concerned about human affairs.The king was God’s chosen king,whowas blessed by God.

The characters in King Leir were ardent adherents of Christianity,God was notabsent,and human beings submitted to His rule.There was no doubt that“Cordella” was faithful.Ragan thought that“Cordella”was fit to marry a Parson(488),and shedid decide to marry the Palmer disguised by the Gallian King.After“Cordella”wasbanished and deprived of everything,she deemed that the tragic fortune was the planof God.What had happened to her was the“pleasure”(610)of God.

I have bin over-negligent to-day,In going to the Temple of my God,To render thanks for all his benefits,Which he miraculouly hath bes本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。