Poetic Justice

Short Note- Poetic Justice

 

Poetic justice is an ideal form of justice, in which the good characters are rewarded and the bad characters are punished by an ironic twist of fate. The term was coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer in the 17^th century. It is a strong literary view that all forms of literature must convey moral lessons. Therefore, writers employ poetic justice to

conform to moral principles. For example: In Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” the evil characters- Goneril, Regan thrive throughout the play and the good characters- Lear, Cordelia suffer long and hard. The good characters turn to gods, but they are rarely answered. At last, despite all the suffering that good undergoes, the evil is punished.