King Lear: Deception Between Children And Their Parents

Deception in Family Relationships
The relationship between children and their parents is complicated. There tends to be a love and hate relationship that starts to form as children grow older. When children begin to age and do things that they should not so, often ties they are punished by their parents. This creates the hate portion of the relationship because children hate to be punished by their parents. There is still the underlining feeling of love that they have for them, but at the same time they hate what the punishment that has been given. The play King Lear, explores the relationships between parents and their children. In King Lear both the parents and children betray traditional assumptions toward family relationships in order …show more content…
King Lear describes how he going to divide his land when he says, “[w]hich of you shall we doth love us most, / [t]hat we our largest bounty may extend” (Shakespeare 11). King Lear betrays the traditional assumptions toward family relationships with his daughters to get the acknowledgement that he desires. He knows that his daughters are supposed to love him so when he declares that the one that loves him most will receive the bigger third of the kingdom, he knows that they will try and express their greatest love for him. After Lear describes how he is dividing his kingdom, the first of the two oldest daughters Goneril exclaims, “[s]ir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, / Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, / Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, / No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor” (Shakespeare 11). Goneril is betraying traditional assumptions toward family relationships with her father in order to get the part of the kingdom she desires. She knows that her father desires the profession of her love and so she exaggerates her love for him. This can also be seen in the other older daughter Regan. She responds to her father’s declaration by saying, “ I am made of that self-mettle as my sister / [a]nd prize me at her worth. In my true heart/ I find she name my very deed of love; / [o]nly she comes too short, that I profess / …show more content…
Gloucester asks Edmund, “We must incline to the King. I will look him and privily / relieve him. Go you and maintain talk with the / Duke, that my charity be not of him perceived. If he / asks for me, I am ill and gone to bed” (Shakespeare 135). Gloucester uses traditional assumptions toward family relationships with his son so that he can help King Lear. He trusts his son not to tell the Duke of Cornwall his plans to help Lear, but Gloucester is mistaken because that is exactly what Edmund does. There was no way for Gloucester to know that his son was plotting against him because he trusted that his son would look out for him like family is supposed to do for each other. The play King Lear gives many examples of how complicated family relationships can be. Not all family relationships are cut and dry, in most cases they are very complex like the ones seen in King Lear. The relationships that are shown in this play, depict how easy family members can deceive each other. The play shows how easy it is to use that trust that is expected between family members and exploit it for personal gain. In this work the characters betray traditional assumptions toward family relationships in order to get what they ultimately desire, even if that means hurting their own