Response Paper No Ii

KING LEAR, Act I, scene I, lines 117-150 LEAR’S OUTBURST

King Lear gathered his three daughters and asked them to tell him how much they love him so that he would know if they were his appropriate heiresses. Goneril and Regan delivered two elaborated speeches in which they informed their father of their great love. At first Cordelia refused to say a thing, then she only said that her feelings were of those of a daughter to a father and that she couldn’t marry anyone in order to love Lear with all her heart. That made the king furious and he punished her severely. By refusing to answer, Cordelia showed a great disobedience to her father. He warned her, still she didn’t listen. Such an act was unacceptable for the king, so he punished her by refusing to consider her his daughter any longer. Lear was angry and disappointed in Cordelia because, as he said, she used to be his most loved daughter and he had hoped to let her take care of him after he abdicates. In the times the play was created in, the children had no right to do so, no matter what. Despite all that Cordelia meant in her speech, the only thing that mattered to her father was her pride and rebelliousness that, so he thought, made her act like this. Not only was Cordelia a daughter that acted against her father’s will, she was also a woman acting against the will of a man. She refused to marry a candidate chosen by Lear and despite the fact that the reason she had was quite noble, she was still disobedient. That’s why she was told to marry her pride instead and take her truth as a dower. Women in that times were in no position to question the decisions of men, they were supposed to be quiet and do what they were told to do. Finally, Lear punished Cordelia for her lack of loyalty to her king. He took away her part of the kingdom, dividing it between his other children, and banished her. Why did Lear think of this unusual test for his daughters? Did he really want to hear their flattering speeches? Maybe all he had in mind was only to check if his children are still loyal to him and maybe that’s why he didn’t notice and didn’t appreciate the words of his youngest daughter.

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SOURCE: Shakespeare, William, King Lear, Wrocław: KOG, 2003.

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