The focus of this essay is Regan and Goneril’s portrayal in Shakespeare’s play King Lear. This paper will examine the actions and attitudes of King Lear’s two eldest daughters, Regan and Goneril, in relation to natural/divine law or man’s law. King Lear creates a contest of affection amongst his daughters and their husbands. Both older daughters show reflective characteristics of their father and build on the seeds of unworthiness he has sown in their hearts and minds.
Lear creates a contest of affection between Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia which results in the eldest two daughters becoming cold, distant and deceitful. Lear gives neither Regan nor Goneril their dowries at their weddings as he has promised, yet plans to give Cordelia’s hers …show more content…
They are invited to compete with each other for the richest portion of their father’s gift in the knowledge that they must lose to his favourite Cordelia. Could it be that the deceitfulness and coldness they exhibit comes from their own chilling realization that nothing they can do or say could win for them an equal place in their father’s heart?...If her[Cordelia] father’s love provided a fertile soil in which her goodness could grow, then the absence of genuine fatherly feeling must have been the barren ground from which the deceit and hate of Goneril and Regan have sprung,” (Hanly). In agreement with Hanley, the two elder sisters know that even though they have a right to their dowries, they will never be able to live up to their youngest sister’s worth in the eyes of their father. According to Lear, Cordelia was the prized daughter, the one to be earned and to be worth winning. Lear implies this by offering to give Cordelia’s husband a huge piece of land through her dowry, whereas there was no such offer with the eldest daughters. King Lear says, “Right noble Burgundy, When she was dear to us we did hold her so, But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands. If aught within that little seeming substance, Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced And nothing more, may fitly like your grace…” (Greenblatt and Abrams). Lear encourages Regan and Goneril’s …show more content…
Lear clearly does not understand true sacrificial and unconditional love which is freely given without a price to be paid. After Regan’s husband dies, she becomes infatuated with the misconception and lies of Edmund. Goneril not only is plotting against her father, but also her loving husband, which shows her misconception of love. She loves things that are deceptive and immoral, because of how Lear ‘loved’ her as a daughter. “Goneril and Regan had thought themselves to be indifferent to the ordinary filial bonds and affections. And so they are. But their indifference, their capacity for cold manipulation is rooted in their sado-masochistic bondage to their father,” (Hanly). Edmund being characteristically like Lear, causes Regan and Goneril to fight for his love, just as they did with Lear, yet this time one of them will be the favored individual. Their father instilled in them the way that love appears, to which he portrayed heartlessness, selfishness and favoritism. Not only does Edmund treat Regan and Goneril the same way Lear does, but he does worse and turns the daughters against each other. Edmund has both daughters professing their love for each other, but in reality he does not care for either, just as Lear had them profess their love but cared for neither. Rudnytsky states, “…the sisters’ sexual rivalry over Edmund reenacts their genteelly
Lear creates a contest of affection between Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia which results in the eldest two daughters becoming cold, distant and deceitful. Lear gives neither Regan nor Goneril their dowries at their weddings as he has promised, yet plans to give Cordelia’s hers …show more content…
They are invited to compete with each other for the richest portion of their father’s gift in the knowledge that they must lose to his favourite Cordelia. Could it be that the deceitfulness and coldness they exhibit comes from their own chilling realization that nothing they can do or say could win for them an equal place in their father’s heart?...If her[Cordelia] father’s love provided a fertile soil in which her goodness could grow, then the absence of genuine fatherly feeling must have been the barren ground from which the deceit and hate of Goneril and Regan have sprung,” (Hanly). In agreement with Hanley, the two elder sisters know that even though they have a right to their dowries, they will never be able to live up to their youngest sister’s worth in the eyes of their father. According to Lear, Cordelia was the prized daughter, the one to be earned and to be worth winning. Lear implies this by offering to give Cordelia’s husband a huge piece of land through her dowry, whereas there was no such offer with the eldest daughters. King Lear says, “Right noble Burgundy, When she was dear to us we did hold her so, But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands. If aught within that little seeming substance, Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced And nothing more, may fitly like your grace…” (Greenblatt and Abrams). Lear encourages Regan and Goneril’s …show more content…
Lear clearly does not understand true sacrificial and unconditional love which is freely given without a price to be paid. After Regan’s husband dies, she becomes infatuated with the misconception and lies of Edmund. Goneril not only is plotting against her father, but also her loving husband, which shows her misconception of love. She loves things that are deceptive and immoral, because of how Lear ‘loved’ her as a daughter. “Goneril and Regan had thought themselves to be indifferent to the ordinary filial bonds and affections. And so they are. But their indifference, their capacity for cold manipulation is rooted in their sado-masochistic bondage to their father,” (Hanly). Edmund being characteristically like Lear, causes Regan and Goneril to fight for his love, just as they did with Lear, yet this time one of them will be the favored individual. Their father instilled in them the way that love appears, to which he portrayed heartlessness, selfishness and favoritism. Not only does Edmund treat Regan and Goneril the same way Lear does, but he does worse and turns the daughters against each other. Edmund has both daughters professing their love for each other, but in reality he does not care for either, just as Lear had them profess their love but cared for neither. Rudnytsky states, “…the sisters’ sexual rivalry over Edmund reenacts their genteelly