Abstract

In the early modern period, the image of the monarch’s body incarnated the hierarchical structure and the order of the nation-state. The head surmounted by the crown encapsulated the legal notion of sovereignty and the immortality of the dynasty. Political speeches and treatises were intertwined with medical theories to support absolutist political views and justify centralised forms of government. This paper aims to show that King Lear is imbued with this discourse and mirrors the early modern concern about the new Stuart king’s politics through three ambiguous cases of folly: Lear, Edgar, and the Fool. While Edgar’s blanket and the Fool’s coxcomb are misleading superficial layers, Lear’s outward appearance projects both his mental disorder and the disorder of the state.