The Conflict Between Loyalty and Greed

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Recommended: Themes of king lear

Themes are often used to portray a deeper character insight. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, many themes seem to reflect a character’s values based off their decisions and actions. Specifically, these are conflicting themes of loyalty and greed, where the characters have mutual relationships between each other but oppose each others’ morals. This is seen through Cordelia and her sisters; Regan and Goneril, and their treatment towards their father, Albany and his brother in law Cornwall’s dealings regarding King Lear and Gloucester and lastly, Edgar and his half brother Edmund, with the actions towards their father, Gloucester.

Cordelia expresses her loyalty to Lear, while Regan and Goneril express greed. Cordelia, unlike her sisters is very truthful to her father Lear and has demonstrated this through her loyalty on numerous occasions. When Lear asks his daughters for how much they love him, Cordelia replies, “Obey you, love you, most honour you…/never marry like my sisters, to love my father all” (I.i.100-106). It is through Cordelia’s perseverance to claim nothing but the truth to Lear, despite the rewards, as her sisters reap, in the latter case of professing false love, that Cordelias’ loyalty is displayed. Moreover, when Cordelia and Lear are united, Cordelia disallows her father to ask for forgiveness. “No, Sir, you must not kneel” (IV.vii.67). Cordelia still shows her loyalty to Lear even though he had banished her and her loyalty is articulated by how she still honours him. However, upon receiving power from Lear earlier, Regan and Goneril use it to abuse him and want more in return. “Dowers digest the third” (I.i.133). “Idle old man…/those authorities he hath given away…/old fools are babes again” (I.iii.17-20). Cordelia...

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...nd is hungry for power and is willing to do whatever to attain it. This shows his comparison, with Edgar who in general is loyal to his father, while he is not. They may be brothers but they definitely do not share the same values towards their father.

The roles each character has in the play distinguish the certain theme that the character follows. The comparison between the two conflicting themes; loyalty and greed only relate by the characters’ mutual relationships but differ by who values what. Cordelia, Edgar, and Albany prosper in the play by praising faithfulness, while their sisters, brother, or in law; Goneril, Regan, Edmund and Cornwall suffer from greed. In the end, it does not depend on who they are to each other, but how they treat each other.

Works Cited
Saliani, D. King Lear (Global Shakespeare Series). Belmont: Thomson South-Western, 1997.

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