Family/Women

• ‘I must change arms at home and give the distaff / Into my husband’s hands’ - Act 2 Scene 2 


  Gonerill employs traditional symbols of masculinity and femininity such as ‘arms’ and ‘distaff’ and swaps them round. The modal verb ‘must’ implies she has no choice but to take on a more masculine role 
• Goneril: ‘Decline your head; this kiss, if it durst speak,/Would stretch thy spirits up into the air’ - Act 4 scene 2 


  The imagery of ascension in ‘stretch thy spirits up into the air’ has sexual connotations which emphasizes Goneril’s sexual promiscuity. Her use of the imperative ‘decline’ places goneril physically above Edmund giving her power over him
• Lear: 'A wretch whom Nature is ashamed /Almost t’acknowledge her.' -Act 1 Scene 1
• “You strike my people and your disordered rabble / Make servants of their betters” - act 1 scene 4 


  Goneril asserts herself onto Lear’s rule, her vengeful and malicious tone clear in her use of pronoun “you” to place blame on Lear> She uses a possessive pronoun “my” to refer to the kingdom — an explicit claim to power as a ruler. 
• “Let them anatomize Regan, see what breeds about her heart”  


  Analeptic to him praying that Gonerill is sterile (into her womb convey sterility) which shows his sexism and fury at the daughters, perhaps risking losing the sympathy of the audience. He uses visceral, corporeal imagery, showing his hatred and rage at his daughters. The intrusive verb choice further illustrates his misogynistic character. 
• “Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?” Act 5 scene 3 


  The repeated determiner demonstrates Cordelia’s bitterness towards Gonerill and Regan. She refuses to name them, showing her morality as she doesn’t like what they’ve done to Lear. Shows a sense of filial duty.  
• 'With a more riotous appetite / Down from the waist they are centaurs' 


  Animalistic imagery of ‘centaurs’ dehumanises women, implying they are commanded by basic instinct only, a belief furthered by connotations of ‘riotous appetite’, suggesting women do not have full control of themselves and are consequently untrustworthy and unreliable. 
• 'Beneath is the fiends’ - / there’s hell, there’s darkness' 


  Biblical, hellish imagery again dehumanises women and suggests they area a manifestation of evil and sin, perhaps alluding to the original sin and downfall of humanity caused by eve.
• “I am a very foolish, fond old man.”


  The fricative alliteration creates a soft sound which reflects Lear’s newfound empathy. 
• Act 2 Scene 4  “And let not women's weapons , water-drops, stain my mans cheeks!” 


  Misogynistic language as he charactersises tears as women's demonstrates his hubris and hamartia. Prolepsis to ‘they shall make us weep’ showing Lears change in identity 

  The pleading tone to not ‘stain my mans cheeks’ suggests his fear of losing his identity as king. 
• “I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb” Act 2 Scene 4 


  Address term ‘thy’ - distance - Lear ascribes his daughter’s betrayal to their dead mother- attempt to perhaps usurp his own responsibility in their lack of loyalty to his authority as the King 
• “But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in account.” Act 1, Sc 1 


  Quantifying familial love and relating to wealth/ money 

  Implications of adultery – corruption of the court  
• “Tigers not daughters” Goneril 4.2


  Animalistic imagery shows Albany disgust at Goneril. Implies a patriarchal world in which men are terrified of women and what they represent. 
• 'Thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter; / Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh'
• ' I love you more than word can wield the matter / Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty”


  Goneril falsely professes underling love and care for her father, uses verbal irony – loves him more than words can express. Lear shown as gullible and presents mental and moral blindness – fails to recognise insincere flattery. Prolepsis of Gloucester's blinding.  
• ‘See thyself devil! / Proper deformity shows not in the fiend / So horrid as in woman’ Albany 4.2


  Direct insult and hellish, satanic imagery – the imperative perhaps emphasizes Gonerill’s blindness to her evil, and the blatant address term aligns her as the antagonist. Motif of deceit and appearance as he sees her as ‘deformed’  
• 'Into her womb convey sterility’ Lear 1.4


  Imperative- lear is calling upon the gods to curse his own daughter- complete subversion of natural order and familial duty of care