“The Lord That Counseled Thee to Give Away thy Land”: The Wardship Controversy in the First Quarto Version of King Lear

Abstract

This thesis argues that the 1608 First Quarto (Q) version of William Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear responds to then-ongoing popular agitation in England against the institution of wardship. Q implicitly affirms routinely-made complaints about wardship routinely but also implicitly critiques the popular agitation against the wardship system for failing to recognize the importance of wardship. After providing background information on the unpopularity of wardship, this thesis details ways in which Q references and reiterates common critiques about wardship and then explains how Q ultimately emphasizes the goodness and importance of having a system for providing care and guidance to those who lack the wisdom or rationality needed for independence.