King Lear - Renaissance models of femininity require women to be quite and submissive; Lear's evil daughters Goneril and Regal subvert all excepted codes of filial and feminine behaviour. Discuss?

The Jacobean age was a time of social and religious change. The feudal, medieval view of the world was under scrutiny and traditional assumptions about gender and class were being questioned by many. One of the main themes of King Lear is filial ingratitude, shown primarily by the attitudes of Goneril and Regan, who also refuse to behave like good, submissive Renaissance women should and were expected to in those days. The traditional values that …

…days or royalty for that matter. They not only controlled the running of the Kingdom, but they were disrespectful to their respective husbands when it was they that were actually given the power and ruling over the country. The filial ingratitude of the two evil daughters leads to total chaos and destruction. At the end, however, nature takes its revenge when Lear's daughters and Edmund receive the retribution due to them for their filial ingratitude.