How should I relate injustice to loyalty in King Lear?

This is a fascinating question to consider. The concept of
justice in the play is a major theme and is worthy of some serious attention. This play
has been called the most brutal of all of Shakespeare's tragedies, and we can understand
why when we consider the way in which one terrible and catastrophic event follows yet
another. This of course causes both us and the characters to ask whether there is any
such concept as "justice" or whether we live in a world that is at best indifferent to
us, if not downright hostile. Gloucester believes the latter, painting a picture of
capricioius gods who "kill us for their sport." He thus questions whether we are able to
expect the natural world to understand and demonstrate the same concept of justice that
is present in the human world. Edgar, by contrast, believes stubbornly that "the gods
are just," arguing that the fate of individuals is decided in accordance with their
actions and faults.

However, the ending of the play, and in
particular the soul-destroying image of the grief-stricken Lear cradling the broken body
of Cordelia in his arms, challenges such hopeful notions of justice, as both the good
and the wicked are shown to die. Loyalty or any form of goodness seems to have no
bearing on your eventual fate, and in spite of Edgar's loyalty and his belief in
justice, the injustice that pervades the play and the lack of a happy ending seems to
mock the concept of any divine order or system of justice. Loyalty or lack of loyalty
has no bearing on whether or not you receive a happy ending.