Lack Of Trust In Shakespeare's King Lear

Lear’s trust in his other two daughters, Goneril and Regan is shattered when Regan tells him that he will have to dismiss fifty soldiers if he is to stay with her. In response, Lear says, “But yet thou art my flesh, my blood, my daughter-/Or rather a disease that’s in my flesh/Which I needs must call mine” (2.4.220-222). His contempt and his discovery of their intentions that were hidden behind their “love” for him are shown. Here, Lear’s blind trust that he placed in his daughters shows his ignorance and his previous trust in humanity that his stature will always be preserved no matter where he is. He is having difficulty that even though they are blood related, his daughters still only look out for their own interests. He compares them to a disease …show more content…
ten? or five?/To follow in a house where twice so many/Have a command to tend you?” (2.4.262-264). By not explicitly telling Lear that his soldiers must go, she is suggesting that maybe he does not need that many soldiers; here it is worse because they are stripping Lear of his power and showing that he is irrelevant in their minds. Goneril is also suggesting in an innocent way as to why Lear needs so many soldiers when he is just going from Goneril’s castle to Regan’s castle. This further shows their desire for power and that they will kick out their father from their land in order to rise up to be the most powerful person in the kingdom. Lear is speaking to the Fool when he says, “I should be false persuaded/I had daughters” (1.4.227-228); this synthesizes Lear’s new attitude towards his daughters; he resigns himself to the fact that none of his daughters had his best interests and were just using him in order to generate a favorable outcome, namely land and power. Thus, Lear comes to his senses too late when his daughters explicitly remove him from his prearranged circumstances in order for them to more easily rule the land without him, effectively usurping