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On top of the criticism, Goneril also asks that Lear reduces his number of knights:
“A little to disquantity your train,
And the reminders that shall still depend
To be such men as may besort your age,
Which know themselves and you.'; (I, iv, 245-249)
All that is left of Lear is his knights, and yet Goneril decides to strips his away from him as well. This is like stripping away his title as king. Without his entourage, Lear would have nothing left. Goneril’s lack of compassion is also shown.
Lear, broken-hearted, turns to his other daughter Regan for shelter instead. Yet he is in for another disappointment. Regan, having received the letter from Goneril, departed for Gloucester’s castle, cruelly deciding not to be at home when Lear came to visit:
“Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,
Of differences, which I best thought it fit
To answer from our home.'; (I, iv, …show more content…
The thought of killing someone who have given everything he possess, loved and nurtured their child is inhuman. What further showed Regan’s beastiality is when Regan plucked out Gloucester’s eyes when he was discovered to be helping Lear, leaving Gloucester completely blind. Like Kent, Gloucester represented Lear figurally, the act of torturing him is like torturing the King himself.
One might argue that Goneril might be justifed for feeling mad when Lear striked Oswald:
“Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding of his fool?'; (I, iii, 1)
Oswald oversees the estates for Goneril and is responsible for all servants, and striking him would be an insult to Goneril. Goneril also had every right to ask his knights to behave themselves: his knights might really have been disordered and being the owner of the castle, she had every right to request for good behaviour from them and she certainly didn’t deserve her father’s curse of sterility at that point:
“Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature
“A little to disquantity your train,
And the reminders that shall still depend
To be such men as may besort your age,
Which know themselves and you.'; (I, iv, 245-249)
All that is left of Lear is his knights, and yet Goneril decides to strips his away from him as well. This is like stripping away his title as king. Without his entourage, Lear would have nothing left. Goneril’s lack of compassion is also shown.
Lear, broken-hearted, turns to his other daughter Regan for shelter instead. Yet he is in for another disappointment. Regan, having received the letter from Goneril, departed for Gloucester’s castle, cruelly deciding not to be at home when Lear came to visit:
“Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,
Of differences, which I best thought it fit
To answer from our home.'; (I, iv, …show more content…
The thought of killing someone who have given everything he possess, loved and nurtured their child is inhuman. What further showed Regan’s beastiality is when Regan plucked out Gloucester’s eyes when he was discovered to be helping Lear, leaving Gloucester completely blind. Like Kent, Gloucester represented Lear figurally, the act of torturing him is like torturing the King himself.
One might argue that Goneril might be justifed for feeling mad when Lear striked Oswald:
“Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding of his fool?'; (I, iii, 1)
Oswald oversees the estates for Goneril and is responsible for all servants, and striking him would be an insult to Goneril. Goneril also had every right to ask his knights to behave themselves: his knights might really have been disordered and being the owner of the castle, she had every right to request for good behaviour from them and she certainly didn’t deserve her father’s curse of sterility at that point:
“Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature