Imagine yourself being Gonerial, when you are ruthless and deceitful. I am writing about Gonerial because I thought it will be interesting to write about her. I want to prove that Gonerial is mean, deceitful, and also jealous. Gonerial was neither a good daughter nor wife. She also wasn’t a great queen.
Gonerial’s characterization is mean. “The best soundest of his time hath been but rash; then we must look to receive from his age, not alone the imperfection ………unruly wag wardness that inform and choleric years bring with them” (1.1.320). Gonerial was talking about King Lear to Regan. This was not a good situation, because King Lear favored his daughter Cordelia who was now disowned by her father. And now that Regan and Gonerial has to split
After King Lear’s two oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan express their love for their father in a flattering speech they were granted their share of the kingdom, and Cordelia his youngest daughter and favorite daughter refused to play along, Lear felts she was disrespectful and she was banished from his sight. Cordelia bids farewell to her sisters, and tells them that she knows they don’t love him, “I know you what you are, and like a sister am most loath to call your faults as they are named.” (1.2.273-275). “Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides; who covers faults, at last shame them derides. Well may you prosper!” (1.2.284-286). Once Cordelia left, Goneril and Regan revealed to the audience that they had no love for their father.
The power that Lear gives to Goneril and Regan makes them treacherous and deceitful. Lear offers his
In this soliloquy, the audience gets its first glimpse of the character of Goneril. The full spectrum of her greed and selfishness will not be revealed until later, but this is certainly a good sample of her personality. Her profession of love is so large that it seems almost artificial, and it also seems motivated by the fact that possession of land is involved. Still, Lear seems immensely pleased by her statement, and requests a similar profession of love from his other daughter, Regan. She obliges, and in her declaration she tells her father that she loves him even more than Goneril does. Regan emerges from her
Goneril and Reagan try to convince Lear that he is old and incapable and to lessen the number of knights he has protecting him. Lear refuses and heads out of the castle out anger that both his daughters refuse to provide him shelter unless he follows their orders. It is at this event that Lear has realized the error in his choices. Lear’s distribution of power had left him defenseless and that his daughters – as if they were men, were taking full advantage of his self-inflicted disability. And the hierarchy that reigned for centuries of a king over his daughters was now destroyed.
Reacting with rage at this notion, Lear proceeds to beat his forehead with his fist in frustration: “O Lear, Lear, Lear!/Beat at this gate that let thy folly in/And thy dear judgement out!” (1.4.267-269). Lear believes that he is still the ruler, despite giving up his kingdom, and as such feels that Goneril should obey him. He obviously regrets his decision to give Goneril any power. Later, Regan and Goneril cause Lear further suffering by undermining their father’s sense of authority, without hesitation. They do this by severely diminishing the number of knights they will allow him to keep under his rule:
In act 1, scene 1, Lear says that “Meantime [he] shall express [his] darker purpose” (1,1,36). The expression “darker purpose” tells us that there is a secret and a tragedy that is about to be revealed. The power that Lear gives to Gonerill and Regan makes them deceitful. He offers his kingdom to them but in return they must tell him how much they love him “which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend”. (1, 1,56-57). Lear gives an opportunity for his daughters to take advantage of him. Gonerill “loves [him]
There is such an incredible amount of killing, violence, and deceit in King Lear by many characters that it is difficult to choose the most evil character. The most evil character may deceive one into thinking she is less evil than she is, but upon closer inspection it is quite clear that the most evil character is Goneril. Nevertheless, some may think Edmund, Cromwell, or Regan are the worst, but for a variety of reasons Goneril surpasses their evil. First of all, how does one define evil? Anything highly immoral is evil. In terms of the play King Lear, the most common form of evil is deceit and cruelty.
In our world, life is a contest, and sometimes in these contests, we get so far away from the search for truth [...] that we make something bad out of our good intentions (McNickle 162).
In King Lear two of the older characters, King Lear and Gloucester, fight with their own sanity not only in the eyes of their hateful children but also from their own view. Lear says this very early on in the play in regards to his sanity “Oh, dear god, don’t let me go mad.” Even very early on in the play Lear foreshadows and maybe even feels his sanity starting to weaken. While Lear and Gloucester deal with issues with sanity their children are taking every vital power position not only in Britain but also in France. Goneril states this in regards to Lear’s credibility “Just because a senile man with poor judgment calls something an insult doesn’t necessarily mean it is one.” Goneril is trying to discredit her father and also gain dominance over him in one statement. As the story progresses the older characters
Elderly people become less capable of doing everyday tasks with each year that goes by. I believe that's important that the elderly get the care and Necessities that they need and to help them out in any way you can even if that means having a small conversation with them because I know that aging is an inevitable thing that you can't control; we all grow up. And so I know that when I'm at the point in my life where everyday tasks become harder, I’d want the help from others as well. So when the time comes to where I'm going to have to take care of the senior citizens in my family, I would make sure they have everything they need; even if that's just a friend to talk to. Goneril and Regan didn't respect or love Lear and only expressed their love to him through empty words that didn't mean anything enable to acquire his land and property.
Vincere est Vivere Prey, the hunted, are a misunderstood group. We see them as runners and hiders, not the cunning, intelligent ones they are. Always thinking ahead, always planning for what’s around the next corner and never tipping a hand. Regan and Goneril exemplify this ideal.
We all know that being betrayed is not the best thing in the world to be done to you. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, Lear and Gloucester have both been betrayed in some way. Clearly, Gloucester suffered a greater betrayal than Lear. Firstly, you have to consider the people that betrayed these two characters in the play. Secondly, one must consider why these two characters were betrayed in the first place. Using these criteria, it is clear that Gloucester has suffered a greater betrayal than King Lear.
Goneril is the eldest of the King’s daughters in the famously tragic Shakespearean play, King Leer. Her, along with her younger sister Regan are considered evil, as they want to kill their father just to take his riches and power, which is a terrible reason to kill your dad. An early example of her duplicitous acts comes when King Leer decides to divide his land into three parts, one for each of his daughters. Goneril knows that the more fake and cheesy her message is, the more land she will get, so she says “Sir, I do love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor, As much as a child e’er loved or father found—
Goneril's first underhanded act, falsely professing an exalted love for her father solely in order to gain more land, does not constitute an isolated incident; Lear's blindness to the love of Cordelia fosters Goneril's megalomaniacal tendencies as well as permits likeminded Regan, "of the self-same metal that [Goneril] is," to commit the same trespass (1.1, 69). Although Goneril speaks first and delivers a very calculated response, Cordelia's genuine, candid answer should have trumped the transparent rejoinders of her sisters. Instead, Lear falls victim to their ploy and invests far too much command in Goneril; she responds as would anyone of her ambitious disposition and decides that she "must do something, and i' the heat," meaning take advantage of Lear's burgeoning infirmity (1.1, 308).
As Regan and Goneril show their disdain and, thereby, expose their `natural' selves to Lear, his recognition of them and the wrong he did to Cordelia are also expressed with the language of nature; of Cordelia he says, "O most small fault, how ugly dids't thou in Cordelia show! That, like an engine, wrenched my frame of nature from the fixed place" (I.iv. 262-265). And when Lear realizes that both Regan and Goneril have deceived him, he calls them "unnatural hags" (II.iv. 276).