King Lear Character Analysis

He feels betrayed because his daughters who claimed they “loved” him the most went against his orders. It is like as if Lear views himself weak and not powerful anymore. In Act I, Lear commands his daughters to promote their love for him but in respect for her father Cordelia refuses to. Since Cordelia did not obey his orders Lear throws her out. He becomes furious because to him he feels as if his daughter has no love for him.

Lear’s scheming older daughters, Goneril and Regan, respond to his test with flattery, telling him in wildly overblown terms that they love him more than anything else. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest (and favorite) daughter, refuses to speak. When pressed, she says that she cannot “heave her heart into her mouth,” that she loves him exactly as much as a daughter should love her father, and that her sisters wouldn’t have husbands if they loved their father as much as they say (I.i.90–91). In response, Lear flies into a rage, disowns Cordelia, and divides her share of the kingdom between her two sisters. The earl of Kent, a nobleman who has served Lear faithfully for many years, is the only courtier who disagrees with the king’s actions.

King Lear is losing his mind, he is being back stabbed and lied to by his daughters when all he wanted from them was to see how much they truly love him and hear the truth on how they really felt about him. While reading “King Lear” written by William Shakespeare I noticed that many conflicts and character feuds occurred. The first act starts with character conflict between Cordelia, Goneril and Regan when King Lear orders them to express their love for his land. While Goneril and Regan exaggerate and tell their father what he wants to hear, Cordelia tells the truth and receives nothing. As the act continues you see separation between the family.

His rage and temper and pride have made him send away Cordelia and so is he responsible fore her fate and death in the end. I also think that Lear’s bad personality had a very bad influence on both of his elder daughters and that his bad way of treating people have shown both Goneril and Regan in what ways you can behave when you are the one in power. Of course Goneril and Regan both already might have had their own weaknesses but King Kear’s behaviour in front of them might also have done a lot of damage. So I believe that if Lear had not commited so many sins himself he would never have fallen like this. And it is also because of his sin of pride that to him the sins of the others against him seem so bad while his own sins are not that strong in his eyes.

He reacts too hastily to Cordelia 's response which leads him to leave the kingdom in the hands of the eldest daughters who do not care for him at all. Lear makes the mistake of believing that his two eldest daughters were being honest when telling him how much they loved him. Lear 's character tends to base everything on what he feels sounds and looks the best. He loves to be flattered and praised, and in the end it hurts him, because he as not fully realized what he has given up when dividing his

This act is awfully brave, as Cordelia is made out to be the daughter who knows Lear the most. This means she knew his reaction would be one of anger and harshness, yet still refused to change her answer to one similar to her two sisters. As Lear prompts her to say something, Cordelia politely refuses. She says that while he is her father, it is impossible for him to be the only one she loves. Cordelia’s defiance and refusal to give her father what he wants creates tension and disrupts the overall order of things.

Hamlet is cruel to the extreme to all those who he feels are treacherous, not just to the women in his life. Hamlet expects his mother Gertrude to mourn for King Hamlet in the same way as he does, in "trappings and the suits of woe" (Hamlet, I, ii, 89). Instead, she marries Claudius shortly after the sudden death. Hamlet cannot understand how she could disrespect his father, especially since she so doted upon the King in life. He exclaims, "O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason / Would have mourned longer!"

Throughout Shakespeare's story of King Lear, readers might see a similarity between King Lear and Gloucester. Initially, you feel as if King Lear and Gloucester are, in a sense, bad people for abandoning the individuals that care about them the most. King Lear banishes his daughter Cordelia because she doesn’t express her love for Lear the way he wants her to and he also banishes Kent for standing up for Cordelia in saying that she truly loves Lear the most. Gloucester banishes his son Edgar because he is manipulated by his illegitimate son Edmund into thinking that Edgar is trying to murder him so that he can take his throne. In the beginning, I feel as if King Lear is insecure and has poor judgment while Gloucester is easily influenced and very naive.

Kent was able to see Cordelia’s love for her father and tried to make Lear see the same thing. But instead he got punished for it. As the play progressed, Lear slowly came to clear vision. he realized that that his two eldest daughter did not truly love him after they locked him out of the castle during a tremendous storm. He also finally saw through that Cordelia’s love for him was so tremendous that she was not able to put it in words.

In effect, Lear, Goneril and Regan are very much alike: their failure to love family members causes great pain, first for themselves and then for others. Lear treats Cordelia poorly because he does not realize that he has mistrusted his only true daughter. This mistrust comes from the fact that Lear believed Regan and Goneril when both professed their love for him. However, neither is honest. Toward the end of the play, Lear realizes that he has been very unfair to Cordelia, and that the other two sisters have misled him.