"Nothing can come of nothing": Systems of Exchange in Tate’s King Lear

This article begins with a scrutiny of the discrepancies between Nahum Tate’s King Lear (1681) and Shakespeare’s original (1606). Tate romantically links Cordelia and Edgar and also permits Lear and Cordelia to live and reign at the end of his play. Within his alterations, Tate exposes and revises two latent systems of exchange present in Shakespeare’s text. These systems, linked to language and marriage, are both motivated by property gain. In the linguistic contest scene, Cordelia is the key participant in both exchanges, as she refuses to use the flattery necessary to gain her inheritance. The inability of Shakespeare’s Cordelia to contribute to the linguistic contest is transformed in Tate into an unwillingness to participate in her father’s planned marriage transaction. Tate’s revision of the balance between these two systems culminates in the final coronation scene and reflects concurrent cultural shifts in attitudes towards marriage and emerging functions of language.