Poetic Justice - Academic Mode

Definition of poetic justice
In literature, poetic justice is an ideal form of justice, in which good characters are rewarded and bad characters are punished, through an ironic twist of fate. It is a strong literary view that all forms of literature must convey moral lessons. Thus, writers employ poetic justice to conform to moral principles.

For example, if a character in a novel is malicious and merciless in the novel, it is considered to have gone beyond improvement. Thus, the principles of morality demand that their character Analogously, the characters who have suffered at their hand should be rewarded at the same time.

Examples of poetic justice in Lear literature (By William Shakespeare)
In Shakespeare's King Lear we see the evil characters - Goneril, Regan, Oswald, and Edmund - thrive throughout the play. Lear, Gloucester, Kent, Cordelia and Edgar suffer a lot and a lot. We see good characters turn to the gods, but they are rarely answered. In act 2, scene 4 invokes heaven in the most pitiful way:

"… Oh dear!
If you love the old, if your sweet influence
Show obedience, if you are old,
Make her your cause. Get across and take my share! At Dover, the English troops led by Edmund defeat the French troops led by Cordelia, and Cordelia and Lear are imprisoned.

Cordelia is executed in prison, and Lear dies of grief over the death of his daughter. Despite all the suffering that suffers good. , evil is punished. Goneril poisons his sister Regan due to Edmund's jealousy. Later, he commits suicide when his disloyalty is exposed to Albany. In a climactic scene, Edgar kills Edmund. In Act 5, Scene 3 he says:

"My name is Edgar and your father's son.
The gods are righteous and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to torment us.
The dark and evil place where he has you
Cast him his eyes. "

Here:" The gods are righteous "because they punish evil for their wicked actions.

Example 2: Oliver Twist (By Charles Dickens)
We see the role of poetic justice in the cruel character Mr.Bumble in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist .Mr.Bumble was a pearl in the city where Oliver was born - in charge of the orphanage and he is a sadist and enjoys torturing the poor orphans.

Bumble marries Mrs. Corney for money and becomes master of her workhouse. Her fate takes a turn when he loses his position as janitor, and his new wife does not allow him to become the owner of her asylum, beats him and humiliates him, as he himself had done with the poor orphans. Right at the end of the novel, we come to know that both Mr. and Mrs. Bumble end up being so poor that they live in the same work house they once owned

Example # 3: Oedipus Rex (by Sophocles)
A classic example of the Poetic justice is found in Sophocles' Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, in which Oedipus has committed the crime of defying the gods trying to escape his destiny, so he left the kingdom in which he lived and went to the new kingdom . After a fight, he killed the king of the city and married the queen.

Later, we learn that the prophecy was fulfilled, as the man he killed turned out to be his father and the queen her own mother of the. The Greeks believed that their fate was predetermined - shaped by the gods and goddesses. Anyone who tried to oppose them committed a sin and deserved punishment. The idea of justice in literary texts manifests the moral principle that virtue deserves a reward and vice is punished.

Furthermore, readers often identify with the good characters. They feel emotionally attached to them and feel for them when they suffer from the evil characters. Of course, readers want the good characters to triumph and be rewarded. but they also want the bad characters to be punished for their viciousness. Hence, poetic righteousness offers satisfaction and determination.