In the play King Lear, the struggle between chaos and order could be dramatised and highlighted through different productions, reflecting certain perspectives. Shakespearean critic, Kathleen McLuskie, criticises King Lear from a feminist perspective, arguing that both the narrative and dramatisation of the play portrays a misogynistic and conservative patriarchal society, which was considered as the natural order of things. Chaos in the society occurs when females, Gonerill and Regan are empowered through the division of the kingdom, thus creating a struggle between chaos and order. A Marxist argument however, would dramatise the collision between the eroding values of the feudal era and the emergence of individualism. Such changes in social condition result in a power struggle between classes, consequently resulting chaos between the old and new order.

The feminist approach examines the society in King Lear as a patriarchy where men generally have power over women. This was...