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

Perhaps Shakespeare saw through the court’s facade better than his contemporaries did. But when King Lear addresses Cordelia in the last scene of the play, he doesn't simply talk of how they will “laugh at gilded butterflies” - he says that they will "talk with them, too." And this is what Shakespeare did in his plays, ultimately expressing his cynicism of the court alongside his tributes to it.

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