Laughing at Gilded Butterflies: Shakespeare, King Lear, and the Court

The Elizabethan Court in the Bard's Most Famous Works

"We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage...
...so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies..." —King Lear, Act V, Scene iii

In his comedy plays, Shakespeare often contrasts the court world with the "green" or rural world. In As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Merchant of Venice, the pretensions of the urban upper class prevents lovers from being together. In order to drop their facades and fall in love, they must leave that world for the simpler, greener, natural world. Only here can they fall for each other without the court’s interference. In these comedies, Shakespeare makes it clear that love cannot work in the political, scheming, false world of the court.

The Tragedies

Shakespeare also attacks the court in his tragic plays. The courts of his most famous tragedies are vicious circles fed by murderous ambition. In Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, Shakespeare addresses the lengths to which people will go in order to secure a place on the throne. In the courts of the tragedies, the message is simple: get to the throne, and kill anyone standing in your way.

The Histories: The Court from a Different Perspective

In his history plays, Shakespeare shows us the court from the inside out. People become caught up in the facades of the court, and believe that they are immortal. From Richard II to Henry VIII, the histories are packed with monarchs becoming aware of the gilded butterflies - the frivolous court facades - that have them trapped. For example, in the fourth act of Henry V, Hal disguises himself as a peasant and walks amongst his soldiers, only to come face-to-face with the realization that the only thing separating him from the commoners is the crown he wears.

Shakespeare’s Contemporaries - Jonson, Marlowe, and Webster

Shakespeare did not seem to love the court as much as other playwrights of his time did. Ben Jonson, the most famous court-flatterer, was a peasant who came into favour by perfecting the outlandish masque plays that the court so loved and the Queen commanded. Jonson was so concerned with the court and the snobbish upper class that he changed his name (“Johnson” by birth) to separate himself from the slew of "commoners" named Johnson. Marlowe and Webster also flattered the court far more than Shakespeare did.