King Lear Cordelia Quotes

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“A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all! / I might have saved her. Now she’s gone for ever. / Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little” (Act Ⅴ. Scene ⅲ. Line 277-279). This quote from Shakespeare's King Lear, is showing how Lear is suffering by losing his only hope left, Cordelia. In this part of the scene, King Lear is explaining is grief and regrets for Cordelia, which ultimately kills him. King Lear is one of Shakespeare's powerful characters that is used as a metaphor in King Lear. In many of Shakespeare’s plays, he takes characters and uses them as metaphors to show greater themes and issues of importance for society. By doing this, he allows the audience to understand his point of view on society and the problems everyone faces on a daily basis in a stylistic manner.
First, Shakespeare uses Edmund as a metaphor for being a justified villain. Edmund for most of his life has been a bastard and considered illegitimate by his father. For example, Gloucester says, “His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have so / often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed / to it” (Act I. Scene i. Line 8-10). This quote is explaining how Edmund’s father thinks that Edmund was a mistake. This causes Edmund so despise his father and put himself on …show more content…

Gloucester couldn’t handle his suffering, which leads him to attempted suicide. Yet, because of his blindness he had no idea that there wasn’t actually a cliff he could throw himself off of. These characters show how suffering can happen to anyone; even the most powerful people can suffer. Shakespeare wants to show audience members the many different kinds and effects of suffering in different types of people. These characters also show how actions may be the cause of suffering, such as in Lear’s case. But other times, suffering may happen without being brought into it, such as in Gloucester’s

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