There is no denying that a powerful political doctrine became popular during the sixteenth century in England. The Tudor monarchs propagated this concept with great care to ensure the longevity of their rule. Under this system, kingship was believed to be ordained by God himself, rendering human interference unnatural and illegitimate. This doctrine affirmed that the king was divinely appointed, completely autonomous, and a direct representative of God on Earth. Therefore, under no circumstances could a monarch be removed or replaced, as the throne was held by divine right. Once a king was crowned, he remained king until his natural death; abdication was simply not permitted. In his famous play, Troilus and Cressida, William Shakespeare writes, “Take but degree away, untune that string, / And, hark, what discord follows!” Through these lines, he articulates that for the Elizabethans, the monarchy was not merely a functional political role. Instead, it was a fundamental link in a cosmic hierarchy predestined by God, which connected the celestial, angelic, human, animal, and material worlds. Everything had its assigned place in this “Great Chain of Being.” To disrupt this order was to invite chaos. The king was God’s voice on Earth, and any attempt to seize the throne would trigger political and spiritual pandemonium. Far from being a detached theory, this concept heavily influenced the drama of the era; many of Shakespeare’s plays deal with the overthrow of kings and the inevitable catastrophes that followed, reflecting Elizabethan anxieties over royal succession.
Consequently, the Elizabethans would have found it incredibly difficult to comprehend King Lear’s abdication. Even worse was his decision to divide the kingdom, which directly invited political rivalry and fractured the sacred order.
