Loyal Characters Display of Love in King Lear by William Shakespeare

588 Words2 Pages

Throughout King Lear by William Shakespeare, loyal characters, despite being mistreated and rejected, display authentic and ardent love to their madmen in order to restore justice, peace, and structure.
Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, demonstrates genuine love to her insane and foolish father despite the fact she has banished and neglected for stating her honest feelings and intentions to her father. In Act 1, as King Lear is dividing up his grand kingdom, he gives the opportunity to his three daughters to profess their true love to him. The eldest two, Goneril and Regan, profess their fake love by giving lavish and bogus speeches in order to inherit the most land. However, King Lear’s most cherished daughter, Cordelia, simply neglects to give a superfluous enunciation, stating her honest feelings towards her father. Cordelia states, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty according to my bond; no more nor less” (I.i.88-90.). Lear, who expected a grandiloquent profession from Cordelia, enrages and unjustly banishes her from h...

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