Shakespeare's King Lear - Goneril and Cordelia in King Lear

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.

During the opening act, King Lear was preparing to divide his kingdom amongst his daughters. This test of love essentially pitted the daughters against each other and signified the sibling rivalry that was shown. He was seeking a verbalized declaration of false affection, instead of a true affirmation from the heart. Goneril and Regan were quick to assert how they adored their father more than the other, while Cordelia was unable to proclaim her love for her father in spoken words. She simply announced, “Wretched as I am, I can’t express in words what’s in my heart. I love your Majesty according to my duty as a daughter. No more, no less” (Shakespeare 27). King Lear disowned his favorite daughter for merely not articulating in words what she expressed in her daily actions. Had a mother been present, she may have required more intent, rather than presumed conclusions and doubt upon their children. The queen could have expressed how the king was acting irrational in the heat of the moment and that perhaps banishment was slightly harsh. After all, it is “from being mothered and fathered, we learn to be ourselves as men and women (Kahn 241).

Let us first consider King Lear and his relationship with his daughter Cordelia. When King Lear asks Cordelia to profess her love for him she merely answers that she loves him according to her bond, no more. Enraged, the king banishes her without an inheritance or dowry. Cordelia tries to explain

In his tragedy King Lear, William Shakespeare presents two families: a family consisting of a father and his three daughters, and a family consisting of a father and his two sons, one of which is a bastard son. While he has the sons basically come out and admit that one of them is good and the other evil, the Bard chooses to have the feelings of the daughters appear more subtlely. At no point in King Lear does Shakespeare come out and blatantly tell his audience that Cordelia is the most caring and loving daughter, while her two sisters are uncaring and greedy, and love their father only when they stand to gain from it. However, via the three daughters’ speeches throughout King Lear, he does

As Granville-Barker has pointed out, Cordelia possesses the same pride and obstinacy we find in Lear, only her emotions are purer, more cultured and refined than his. We have already quoted Lear's response rejecting and cursing his best loved daughter. In eloping with Othello, Desdemona infuriated her father to the point where he refused to have her re-enter his home and died of grief shortly thereafter. Though her intention was never to hurt him it comes as a mortal blow. Desdemona is only following the promptings of her heart and mind. When Cordelia refuses to make public protestations of love to her father, she too is only following the promptings of her heart and mind. She would fain use her genuine affection for her father to win any worldly gain. The deeper emotions rebel at the very thought of public demonstration. To her the truest thing is not to speak, rather than flatter even by saying what is true. Lear is proud and vain. Cordelia refuses to

The consequences of this problem appear very early in King Lear. Near the end of the initial scene, Cordelia has already deciphered the evil designs of her sisters. As she is leaving them to live with her new husband, Cordelia says: "Use well our father. / To your professed bosoms I commit him" (1.258-9). She realizes that her sisters are using their pseudo love for their father to garner the power of the throne and to misuse the authority that Lear has given them. Cordelia also points out in this statement that she realizes that her father is stuck in his role as king, unable to provide for himself, thus needing the support of the evil sisters to care for him. And they have little use for him: "Nothing will come of nothing, and since he has

In King Lear, Lear’s conflict of power with his daughters is brought about by his own arrogance, which flaws his judgement and propels his change of heart. When Lear parcels out his kingdom to his daughters, he finds the honesty of Cordelia’s praise to be ungrateful and

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.

Cordelia personifies integrity, honesty and love throughout the play. By her very nature she is unable to flatter or curry favour since dishonesty is not part of that nature. She represents the truth and it is against the backdrop of her loyalty and undying love for her father that we measure Lear’s arrogant behaviour.

At the beginning of the play King Lear denounces Cordelia as his daughter in a fit of rage. He has this reaction simply because she refused to flatter him and speak exaggerations of her love for him. As his favourite daughter, Lear was expecting Cordelia to shower him with compliments and praises like his other two daughters and when this did not occur he was overwhelmed with fury and denounces her as his daughter. Lear also falls victim to wrath once he realizes what his other two daughters have done to him. “I will have such revenges on you both, That all the world shall--I will do such things,-- What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be The terrors of the earth.” (2.4.305-9). In this quote Lear reveals the wrath that he wishes to inflict on both of his daughters for deceiving him and rejecting him after he gave them everything he had. King Lear’s wrath is fueled by his daughters’ betrayal. Lear never actually did proceed to inflict his wrath upon his daughters but he did however have every intention of doing so if given the opportunity.

The hunger for power is the root of the tragic outcome in King Lear. There are 3 characters that embodied this theme exactly. King Lear with his loss of power made him lash out. The way Edmund was treated made him want the power he could never have and deceive anyone to get it. Goneril’s hunger for power made her go against those she supposedly loved. These three characters aren’t only to blame for their own tragedies but the tragedies of every character.

Whenever the issue of power allocation arises, there usually emerge a few individuals who, given only a moderate amount of authority, overstep their bounds to exert more dominance than they rightfully own; such is the case with Goneril. Yet, although Goneril certainly errs in betraying the very father that bestowed a large dominion upon her, King Lear deserves much of the blame for Goneril's haughtiness. After grossly misinterpreting the reticence of his heretofore prized daughter Cordelia, Lear divides his kingdom between the mendacious Goneril and the scheming Regan, thereby leaving the fate of the land at their unskilled mercies. Naturally, Goneril relishes her newfound control, so

King Lear's hot temper and hasty decisions play a significant role in his fall from grace. His old age has caused him to behave impulsively, without any consideration for the consequences of his actions. When Lear asks his devoted daughter Cordelia to express her love for him, he becomes upset with her because she cannot put her feelings into words. He

Many of the traits that Cordelia embodies and actions that she performs are all a part of the male fantasy. In Lear’s mind Cordelia is going to take care of him for the rest of his life. If Cordelia takes care of him, he will always have control over her and she won’t be able to have a life of her own. Lear states that he is looking forward to spending time alone with his daughter in a very confined area,”We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage” (Shakespeare 130). Failing to open up to others can be either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the circumstances. Cordelia experiences the advantages of failing to open up because she is not characterized solely based on her lack of emotions and feelings. Rather than being characterized by something so miniscule, she is characterized by her ability to help her father without harming others in the process. While being society’s obsolete woman she is also able to be a mix of society’s modern view of an ideal woman. She does not lash out at anyone while there is chaos happening all around her Cordelia is able to remain

King Lear an imprudent, old man symbolizes selfishness like no other. What is most daunting is the fact that he is adamantly loyal to appearances and ranking in life. He carries a title which most can not even dream of attaining, but wants to give up the position and all the responsibilities that follow it. “ Know that we have divided/ In three our kingdom, and `tis our fast intent/ To shake all cares and business from our age” (1.1.37-39). It is quite understandable if he just wanted to end his reign as king, but it’s another thing when he also wants to bask in the glory of the title and be treated like he still owns it. This egotistical attitude of his is more annoying than anything else, for he brought forth all his problems upon himself, and also unto others. His most arrogant moment is at the very beginning of the play, when he demands his daughters to profess their love for him openly, “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” (1.1.53). The use of his words in this quote is disgusting, it exudes pride, self-importance, and flattery. It’s because of these very words, that Cordelia denied him his right to the, all so selfish public display of love. Although Lear made costly mistakes throughout the play, his love to Cordelia rang