King Lear Character Analysis Essay

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.

If she had, then he would not be in this horrible state. King Lear was a play that drew the audience into a tragic family destruction. Although, a father’s had sovereignty over his household which included his wife, children, and servants, King Lear seemed to have none. Yet the audience is keenly aware of how much the king demands respect and loyalty from his daughter’s and when he feels betrayed he withdraws his support. Lear’s desire for love above all is his destruction.

In the first act King Lear commands his daughters to profess their love to him as payment for their part of the kingdom. The conflict starts when Lear’s youngest daughter Cordelia refuses to respond to the king’s request, due to the fact that she does not want to lie to her father. Lear comes across as a very egotistical man who has to have everything his way. Therefore, due to Cordelia’s response it would make sense for him to become so enraged that he would ruin her marriage with Burgundy. Lear makes it very apparent that he wants all of Cordelias love and isn’t satisfied with Cordelia’s words which are not offensive, but hurtful to her father who desires all of her love.

We immediately get the notion that Lear is attention loving and that he loves flattery. As the scene develops we also discover that he knows almost nothing about his daughters, as he couldn?t recognize their falseness. As long as his eldest daughters flattered him, he was happy. He doesn?t even recognize honesty, as he scolds Cordelia for being true when she told him ?I love your majesty according to my bond, no more nor less?. Lear shows poor judgment when he banishes his favorite daughter and leaves her without a dowry.

Lear's relationship with his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, is, from the beginning, very uncharacteristic of the typical father-daughter relationship. It's clear that the king is more interested in words than true feelings, as he begins by asking which of his daughters loves him most. Goneril and Regan's answers are descriptive and sound somewhat phony, but Lear is flattered by them. Cordelia's response of nothing is honest; but her father misunderstands the plea and banishes her. Lear's basic flaw at the beginning of the play is that he values appearances above reality.

He doesn’t like to be.  Conceded: He enjoys having other people tend to all his needs and having the title of king but leaves the work to others.  Tormented: As his mental health deteriorates, he is being internally tormented and later discovers that people that he thought that he could trust are out to kill him. • Cordelia- She is the youngest daughter of King Lear, whom he disowns upon her not being able to put her love for her father into words. The King of France marries her without dowry, but for her virtue.

The most shocking and maybe also the most fatal sin of King Lear is the disinheriting and chasing out of Cordelia by her own father right at the beginning of the play. When Cordelia is asked by Lear to tell him how much she loves him she answers in a way Lear did not expect by not telling him sweet words he liked so much when they were told to him by Goneril and Regan before. She tells him that she loves him like a daughter loves her father and nothing more. Lear gets mad at her and calls for France and Burgundy, to give her to one of them as his wife. Lear disinherits Cordelia and she has to leave her home to become the wife of France.

Gertrude marrying her husband's brother is incestuous, and this bestirs feelings of bitterness in Hamlet. However, sinc... ... middle of paper ... ...mark. Unable to speak freely before Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, Hamlet exaggerates his emotional turmoil so that these two women will soften their attitudes towards him and listen to him. Not only does Hamlet wish to win back the hearts of Gertrude and Ophelia, these two women also serve to verify Hamlet's supposed madness to the other characters. Furthermore, Hamlet must hide his rationality and cunning from his peers and from King Claudius so that he may proceed with his revenge plan.

Hamlet is believed by Polonius and Laertes to be just getting what he can from this young, naïve girl. To her father and brother, Ophelia is a future mother and valuable wife, given impossible expectations. This causes her to be deceitful, maddening Hamlet because she put her sense of love and duty for another man above her sense of love and duty for him (Maki).This causes Hamlet to believe that deceit is the true character of a woman, especially Ophelia. Ophelia is broken hearted. She learns later on that her father was murdered by the one she loves.

The Psychoanalytic theory is applied to one of Shakespeare’s plays, King Lear, by understanding the needs of the Lear’s love from his daughters and the actions that follow. Throughout the play King Lear’s tone is harsh and angry due to his madness for his daughters who betrayed him. After Lear foolishly divides his kingdom to his daughters, based upon their love for him, his pride and self-esteem comes to a low standard. Throughout the play Lear seems to not know himself very well as much as others. He feels betrayed because his daughters who claimed they “loved” him the most went against his orders.