Loyal Characters in Shakespeare's King Lear
Shakespeare's good characters, in the play King Lear, are considered good because they are loyal even when they are disguised from or unrecognizable by those to whom they owe loyalty. In addition, their loyalty does not waver even when they are banished or mistreated by those to whom they are loyal. Cordelia, Edgar and Kent are all characters that exemplify this goodness and unwavering loyalty.
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 that she will not speak of her love for him in order to get fortunes since this would be deceitful. However, Lear refuses to understand and Cordelia leaves imploring her sisters to care for him.
What makes Cordelia a good character here is not only that she refuses to flatter her father in order to deceive him out of his wealth, but also because she accepts her father's punishment and leaves willingly even though she knows it is not a just punishment. Additionally, she expresses no animosity toward Lear, instead she asks her sisters to care for him. This unwavering loyalty is also exhibited later in the play when Cordelia finds Lear and she realizes he is mad. She cares for him and gives him medicinal herbs until he is well again. Even when Lear begs for her forgiveness she insists that she has no cause to be offended.
Perhaps the most pure form of loyalty is when it is displayed even when the beneficiary is unaware. When loyalty is expressed in this discrete manner the bestower cannot e...
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... loyal servant and friend. He wanted to be close to the King in order to protect him. He demonstrated that he did not desire a reward for his loyal actions since he remained in disguise and did not reveal his true identity to the King.
King Lear is a play about loyalty. "Goodness" is portrayed by the characters as selflessness. Each "good" character displays loyalty through selfless actions. Cordelia selflessly does not attempt to rob Lear of his wealth by flattering him. Even though she risks banishment, she selflessly refuses to indulge her father's foolish wishes. Edgar, too, is selfless in his actions by leading his father to safety even when he knows Gloucester does not recognize him and will not appreciate that he was, in fact, the truly loyal son. Finally, Kent, Lear's Selfless servant, risks his life to protect his king even after he has been mistreated.
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 does not realize that she cares deeply for him and disowns her by saying, "Here I disclaim all my paternal care, propinquity and property of blood, and as a stranger to my heart and me hold thee from this for ever (1.1.120-123)." It is only later, when Cordelia has left him, that Lear realizes he had made a wrong decision. In another fit of rage, Lear ...
... to lower herself to her sisters standards as they exaggerated their love for their father in order to receive more land. In the end, Cordelia receives in just justice for trying to do the right thing throughout the play.
King Lear has been in a position of authority and superiority. This position shapes King Lear into a man full of pride. However, as King Lear’s age grows, his emotional needs also grows. It is the false pride of Lear that blinded him with his emotional needs. King Lear behaved rashly and irresponsibly at the start of the play. Deep within Lear, he realizes that it is time for him to retired from this position of honor. Despite this realization, Lear’s pride keeps him from letting go of his power. King Lear wants the title and treatment of a king, but he does not want the work and obligations of the position. Therefore, when he makes the choice of letting his daughters to govern the kingdom, it foreshadows the strapping away of his p...
...ingdoms and she has shown those all around, especially Lear, what means to take leadership and what it means to do good. It would be a lesson learned for Lear to accept Cordelia and became a better king and a good father to all of his daughter so the play would not end in tragedy.
In King Lear, Shakespeare portrays a society whose emphasis on social class results in a strict social hierarchy fueled by the unceasing desire to improve one’s social status. It is this desire for improved social status that led to the unintentional deterioration of the social hierarchy in King Lear. This desire becomes so great that Edmund, Goneril, Reagan and Cornwall were willing to act contrary to the authority of the social hierarchy for the betterment of their own position within it. As the plot unfolds, the actions of the aforementioned characters get progressively more desperate and destructive as they realize their lack of success in attaining their personal goals. The goals vary, however the selfish motivation does not. With Edmund, Goneril, Reagan and Cornwall as examples, Shakespeare portrays the social hierarchy as a self-defeating system because it fosters desires in its members that motivate them to act against the authority of the hierarchy to benefit themselves. A consideration of each characters actions in chronological order and the reasons behind such actions reveals a common theme among the goals for which morality is abandoned.
“King Lear” depicts several life lessons throughout the play that are still relevant to life today. During the play, Shakespeare emphasizes how evil some may be through acts, scenes, and characters. The lessons learned throughout the play build on top of one another, much like the problems in the play build on top of one another. The root cause to all the madness in the play stems from the multiple characters that are hungry for power. Ultimately, the characters’ flaws come to light, the bad outweighs the good, and only a few are saved from death. “King Lear” illustrates valuable life lessons throughout the play, lessons about greed, deception, and power.
Following this Lear begins to banish those around him that genuinely care for him as at this stage he cannot see beyond the mask that the evil wear. He banishes Kent, a loyal servant to Lear, and his youngest and previously most loved daughter Cordelia. This results in Lear surrounding himself with people who only wish to use him which leaves him very vulnerable attack.
When one examines the words “pride” and “self-respect”, it is possible one may assume that the two are identical in meaning. That the words go hand in hand like butter and bread. For quite some time I was pondering on the meaning of the two words “pride” and “self-respect”. The more consideration I put into the two the deeper I was in a maze of confusion. After a long thought on the subject I had come to my own conclusion.
Cordeila chooses to speak truthfully from her heart instead of stroking the king’s ego with flattery like Goneril and Regan. She says that she loves him “according to my bond”, meaning that she understands and accepts her duty to love him as a father and king. Cordelia’s...
The theme of loyalty is prevalent in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Many characters are often unreliable and will lie in order to receive their way. There were a select few who continued to be faithful, even if they were obligated to do so. Kent, Cordelia, and Edgar were the three people who remained honest either to their parent or master until the end. Their positions in life would cause those to assume that they only stay true to their superiors because of who they are. A king’s servant must remain by their master’s side, whilst children of them must listen and obey without question. Despite these social standards, these three characters were able to find true compassion for those above them. King Lear proves
Meanwhile, Kent has unknowingly has become Lear’s middleman in a brewing civil war between the Duke of Cornwall and the Duke of Burgundy set to completely oust the old king of his remaining power. So on seeing the sight of Kent in stocks, the fool explains the nature of power as well as how to best follow it: “Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill lest it break thy neck with following; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after.”(Shakespeare. pg. 101) Here the fool suggests to Kent that his loyalty to decrepit King Lear is futile, as the king’s mental health and decision-making is in steep decline, and that should he go any further with him it will come at his own detriment. Still, the fool’s lesson places a special emphasis on the merit of loyalty, for while he encourages Kent to entertain the notion of jumping ship, he also tells him to think twice before abandoning his friendship with Lear: “And let the wise man fly. The knave that turns fool that runs away; the
The setting of King Lear is one spoiled with materialism, and is portrayed clearly within the first scene. King Lear is demanding his daughters proclaim their affections towards, in order to divvy up the land of his kingdom upon his retirement. Upon this forcefulness, Regan and Goneril are willing to falsely profess their love towards Lear, with clearly negative intentions. Their deceit is established early in the play. Cordelia, Lear’s third daughter, refuses to comply immediately. She will not participate because she understands the vanity, although her feelings towards her father are the most genuine; she believes that there are no words to accurately express her love. Lear’s inflamed insecurities cause him to dismiss Cordelia, refusing her an inheritance. Her initial refusal is minimal as a means to convey the depth of concern she has for her father, as she witnesses her sisters fake their admiration for material wealth and power.
The Earl of Kent plays a small but important part in Shakespeare's play King Lear. From the beginning scenes to the end we see a minor character that is used to show the values that Shakespeare believed in. Whether Kent is an example of the dutiful servant or plays the intermediary between Lear and Cordelia he is essential to the functioning of the plot.
Shakespeare expresses two major themes in King Lear: love and wisdom. King Lear’s struggle to recognize authentic love, love himself, and acknowledge the wisdom imparted on him, due to his weak emotional state, results in needless conflicts and the deaths of many. In the first scene of King Lear, Lear reveals his plan to split his kingdom between his daughters by asking them how much they love him. The daughter that proves she loves him the most receives the largest portion of the kingdom (1.1.46-50). Kent intends to calm Lear down, yet Lear’s unstable emotions at the time lead to him thrashing out against Kent, even threatening him.
The gaining and the maintaining of power require sacrifice of one’s moral integrity. Such idea is shown in the play, King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, as he explores the implication of power within family relations and showcases its link between power and morality, thus expressing the impact power has on one’s conscience. Cordelia says “My love's richer than my tongue”, exclaiming the magnitude and the legitimacy of her love towards her father. As before Cordelia, her sisters gave false words of love in order to gain power, the contrast of “love” and “tongue” is evident as one was used to give affection thus losing power, while other one was used to deceive to gain a selfish power. The contrast between the two further emphasizes the