king lear

• Lear: '"Meantime we shall express our darker purpose"'
• Lear's decision to divide his kingdom in three

  According to which daughter claims to love him the most
• "darker"


  Hints at something malign in Lear's motivation, either deliberate or subconscious
• "darker"


  Could also suggest something oblique in Lear's motivation
• "darker"


  Perhaps it is Lear's compulsive desire for his own downfall
• Lear: '"unburdened crawl towards death"'
• Lear


  • Appears to want to be relieved of kingship: it is a 'burden'
  • The word 'crawl' suggests he has become infantilized
• Lear: '"which of you shall we say doth love us most?"'
• Lear


  • Emotional blindness and power-driven arrogance leads him to divide his kingdom according to the flawed love test
  • Lear conceitedly believes that love can be equated to material affection (i.e. commodified rather than something given generously)
  • Lear employs an imperious tone of voice – note the use of the royal plural in 'we say'
• Lear's act of banishing Cordelia


  Demonstrates Lear's commodification of love
• Lear: '"what can you say to draw a third more opulent than your sisters?"'
• Lear


  • Nakedly prefers Cordelia and as such the love-test of 1.1 is rigged from the start
  • The word 'opulent' suggests Lear equates love with value. He has commodifed it
• Lear: '"Here I disclaim all my paternal care, / Propinquity and property of blood"'
• Lear


  • Disowns Cordelia both emotionally but also materially, denying her participation in the marriage market
  • This is an act intended to do material harm to his daughter
  • "property of blood" implies he sees Cordelia as his possession
• Lear's disowning of Cordelia


  Places Lear in a vulnerable position
• Lear: '"Come not between the dragon and his wrath"'
• Lear


  • Treats Kent brutally and with vituperative rage when he tries to intercede, banishing him on pain of death
  • Hints at something demonic inside Lear and that he delights to indulge in
• Lear's banishment of Kent

  Exacerbates Lear's vulnerability because he has lost his closest advisor
• Lear: '"Only we shall retain / the name, and all th'addition to a king"'
• Lear


  • Wants to keep the title of King and the "addition" – a vague phrase which includes his one hundred knights
  • Wants to divest himself of the responsibility of rule
  • Employs the royal plural ('we') to emphasise his power as well as conducting a ceremonial process
• Lear's decision to divide his kingdom could cause political chaos because it would be unclear as to who rules the kingdom
• Lear: '"her price is fallen"'
• Lear


  • Sees Cordelia as his property
• Cordelia: '"What shall Cordelia speak?" (aside)'
• Cordelia


  • Panicked about what to say in response to her father
  • The aside invites the audience's sympathy
  • She has been placed in the position of the victim of her father's arrogance and vanity
• Cordelia: '"Nothing"'
• Cordelia's response


  • Bluntly honest answer as to how much she loves her father
  • Can be read as the product of her panicked state of mind
  • Perhaps she is behaving in a morally righteous manner
  • Her silence could be interpreted as defiance rather than panic
• Cordelia: '"I cannot heave my heart into my mouth"'
• Cordelia


  • Cannot express her love for her father as it is too strong
  • The verb "heave" articulates the pain she experiences as she tries to force the weight of the affection she feels for him into words
  • Could also reflect a brattish reluctance to please her father on Cordelia's part
• Cordelia: '"I love your majesty / According to my bond,"'
• Cordelia


  • Says she loves her father in a way that is appropriate for a daughter
  • This will not please Lear as he demands excessive gratification
  • Whilst this may be logical, it is a response that could be said to lack empathy for her father's position
• Cordelia: '"I want that glib and oily art / To speak and purpose not"'
• Cordelia


  • Claims she lacks the foul deceptiveness of Regan and Goneril
  • This could be an example of her acting in a priggish and morally righteous manner
  • Such a thing only provokes Lear further, whilst also demonstrating a lack of attentiveness on her part to the situation
• Cordelia: '"I know you what you are…time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides"'
• Cordelia


  • Reveals her as not only an astute and perceptive individual, but also someone not willing to hide their integrity
• Goneril: '"I do love you more than word can wield the matter"'
• Goneril


  • Claims to love her father more than words can express
  • This is a clichéd expression she is using to manipulate her father
  • Stands in contrast to the physical pain of Cordelia's expression
• Regan: '"I find she names my very deed of love; Only she comes too short"'
• Regan


  • Professes to Lear that she essentially is repeating what Goneril has said only adding to it
• Goneril and Regan: '"You see how full of changes his age is…'Tis the infirmity of his age".'