Betrayal In King Lear Essay

Betrayal is a common theme in literature. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, people who closely associate themselves to a character betray him or her. Unintentionally, parents betray their children. The children betray their parents because of their urge for power and greed. Parents and their children betray one another, and able to do so because they are family. While the children betray their parent because of their of greed, the parent betray them through their overestimation of trust placed by those children and in turn neglects the child that loves their parent the most. The powerful and aging King Lear and the gullible Earl of Gloucester are both betrayed unintentionally. The characters are betrayed because of a family presumption of …show more content…
Edgar and Cordelia forgive Lear and Gloucester. When Edgar learns of his father’s literal blindness, he overlooks the figurative blindness that his father once hand and ultimately forgives him. Before leading Gloucester to Dover, Edgar says, “Bless thy sweet eyes, they bleed.” (IV,i,61-62) By saying this it shows that Edgar still loves his father and forgives him. He does not hold any grudges and wishes his father the best. Also near the end of the play Lear forgives Cordelia and is now able to see the truth. When Lear’s insanity reaches its climax he sees that Cordilia is actually the one that loves him the most and not just his power. Lear never forgives Goneril and Regan for their acts. As a matter of fact he does not even care if they die unlike with Cordelia. When Cordilia dies he says, “I might have saved her: now she’s gone forever-Cordelia. Cordelia! Stay a little. Ha?” (V,iii,282-283) It has come to a point where he feels no regrets or remorse to Goneril and Regan who dies the same death as Cordelia. In the end those that have once betrayed eventually forgive the characters that become wise, but the power driven ones are