Price paid by Lear and Gloucester for doing wrong to their loyal children:

In the primary plot, Lear betrays his youngest and loyal daughter and is betrayed by his two
oldest daughters. In the opening act, Lear creates a love test to justify giving Cordelia a larger
share of his kingdom. Although his kingdom should be divided equally, Lear clearly loves
Cordelia more and wants to give her the largest, choice section of his wealth. In return, Lear
expects excessive flattery and gushing confessions of love. But instead, Cordelia's reply is
tempered, honest, and reasonable custom dictates that she shares her love between her
husband and her father.
Just as soon as Cordelia fails to meet her father's expectations, Lear disinherits her. He does not
only disown her, he also refuses to give her any dowry and declares the share of kingdom meant
for her to be equally divided between Regan & Goneril. He thus shows a complete lack of
judgement and he fails to percieve the depth of feelings behind Cordelias bald & unemotional
statements; and fails to percieve the hyprocisy behind the glowing and eloquent speeches of
Regan & Goneril. The hypocrisy of Regan and Goneril becomes apparent to us, when towards
the end of the scene, they have a private conversation in which they adversely comment on their
fathers character.
King Lear is used to having absolute power and when he loses control of his kingdom, he
begins to fall deeper into madness. After giving away his kingdom, Lear fails to understand that
he cannot share the same power as he once had before. As a king, he was not used to being
contradicted and when Goneril and Regan try to take away his 100 knights, Lear is reaching a
new stage of madness not evidenced before. He loses patience with his two evil daughters and
kneels in front of them begging for their understanding. Finding that both his daughters have
adopted the same callous attitude towards him, he flares up and says that they are both unfilial
women and he will have such revenges on them they will be stunned. As a result of losing his
knights and having nowhere to go, Lear is brought to inner turmoil and starts to understand the
mistakes that lead him to despair and madness.
The grief that Lear describes is his regret of having divided his kingdom and disowning
Cordelia and depriving her of her rightful share. At this point, Lear feels powerless and
descends into the storm, which represents chaos and madness, and foreshadows his own actions
by saying "O fool, I shall go mad!" (II, iv, 285). By Act 4, Lear is at the peak of his madness. In
Act 4, Scenes I, II and III, Lear becomes quite a different man and his character has deteriorated
to that of a madman. As Lear's madness progresses even deeper, he realizes that Cordelia is the
only daughter that loves him the most, while Goneril and Regan used their charms to get
control over his kingdom. The more Lear falls into this ultimate state of madness, the more
desperate he becomes. From the beginning of the play his intentions were to be flattered, to
have absolute power and to be loved, even if it's not true love. Having now realized that he lost
all; flattery, power and love, it is only fitting that his inner turmoil turn to madness. The only

redeeming quality left is the love of his daughter Cordelia. Thus in Shakespeare's King Lear,
the tragic hero Lear, descends into madness due to the loss of both his physical and mental
power (kingdom), and because of the wrong he does to Cordelia, his loyal daughter.
Gloucester rejects natural law and a parent's love for his child when he is easily convinced that
Edgar the son he claims to love so much has betrayed him. Gloucester also puts his faith
in Edmund's command of persuasive language, when he rejects the love his eldest son has
always shown him. With this move, the earl demonstrates that he can be swayed by eloquence,
a man-made construct for easy persuasion, which causes him to reject natural law and the bond
between father and child.
Gloucester is a very credulous type of man. He quickly and unsuspectingly believes whatever
Edmund tells him and takes the contents of the forged letter to be true and conludes to the fact
that Edgar has really shown himself to be an unnatural son by having plotted against his
fathers life. His creduility is further proved in Act II Scene 1 when Edmund stages a mock
fight with Edgar and then promptly sends him away from the scene. Edmund inflicts a wound
upon himself and gives a fictious account of the reason why he had fought with Edgar and fools
Gloucester and confirms his suspicion about Edgar conspiring against his life. Gloucester
declares that he would get the assistance and permission of the Duke of Cornwall and proclaim
Edgar as an outlaw & to make every possible effort to have him arrested.
Thus Gloucester wrongs Edgar, his loyal son deeply and he has to pay a heavy price for his
actions. Later in the play, in the third scene of Act III, he makes the mistake of revealing the
evil Edmund his noble intention of helping Lear. He also dicloses the fact tthat he has recieved
a secret letter informing him about certain political developments. Gloucester in revealing these
facts to Edmund prove how indiscreet he is though he did not have the least suspicion about
Edmund. But Edmund being the most immoral opportunist betrays his father to the Duke of
Cornwall without further delay.
Soon afterwards Gloucester finds himself as a prisoner in the hands of Cornwall & Regan,
the charge against him being that he has sent Lear away to Dover & that he has secret
corrospodence with the enemy, and he was therefore a traitor. The whole upshot of this affair is
that Gloucesters eyes are gouged out by Cornwall and are crushed under his barbaric boots.
But Gloucester did not feel sorry for having helped Lear. The world is now dark to him and he
calls for Edmund to avenge such a brutal deed. Then Gloucester recieves the greatest shock
when Regan tells him Edmund hates him that it was Edmund who had told his husband about
Gloucesters secret activities. Gloucester now realizes the folly he had committed in trusting
Edmund and suspecting his loyal son Edgar. But he had already paid a heavy price for that; he
had been blinded in the most inhumane way and had lost his eyesight forever.

Edgar, Cordelia, King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester were star-crossed people who did not
have control over their fate:
The story of William Shakespeares King Lear begins when King Lear, the King of Britain
abdicates. Wishing to determine who among his daughters deserve the greatest share in
inheritance, he asks each of them to profess their love for him. Goneril, his eldest daughter
and wife to the Duke of Albany, and Regan, his second daughter and wife to the Duke of
Cornwall, are able to do so. Lears youngest and most favourite daughter, Cordelia, is unable
to flatter her father, even if she is the only one who loves him unconditionally. She earns the
affection of the King of France, but the wrath of her father. Thus, she is disowned and
banished from the kingdom.
Later on, Lear realizes the error of his ways. His two daughters conspire to strip the King of
both comfort and dignity. When his daughters demand that he beg for their forgiveness so
that he may remain with them, Lear is driven to despair, and goes off into a raging storm
where he loses his sanity. Kent, who was banished earlier, disguises himself and presents
himself.
Meanwhile, Cordelia learns of her fathers plight when the disguised Kent is able to bring
news to her. France then, sends an army into Britain to aid the King. Lear is eventually
reunited with Cordelia. But Cordelias army is defeated. Both father and daughter are
captured, with explicit orders for their death by Edmund. Edmund sends Lear and Cordelia to
prison with orders for them to be secretly killed. Lear enters carrying the dead Cordelia in his
arms. He keeps weeping for her and soon after he dies just after he had a feeling that
Cordelia is alive.
So we see that Lear was completely under the rule of fate. He never even imagined that his
most favourite daughter Cordelia will express her love in a harsh way. He also did not expect
that Regan and Goneril to whom he had given his kingdom would show such filial
ingratitude towards him and he have to go out in the open countryside when a raging storm
was blowing. He was also unaware that Cordelia would come to help him restore his power
and heal his madness. Even after being reconciled with Cordelia, Lear did not expect that the
French forces would lose & they would be sent to prison and Cordelia will be hanged under
Edmunds unauthorized orders which ultimately will bring about his fate.
We also see that Gloucester is another person just like Lear who suffered in the hands of fate. In the
second scene of Act I, he is gulled by his evil son Edmund in believing that Edgar his loyal son was
an unnatural son plotting against the life of his very own father by the means of a forged letter. Then
again in Act II, Scene 1 Edmund stages a mock fight with Edgar and promptly sends Edgar away
from the scene. Edmund inflicts a wound upon himself and gives a fictious account of the reason
why he had fought with Edgar and fools Gloucester and confirms his suspicion about Edgar
conspiring against his life. Gloucester declares that he would get the assistance and permission of the
Duke of Cornwall and proclaim Edgar as an outlaw & to make every possible effort to have him

arrested. Fate was actually responsible for this; Gloucester never imagined he had to banish his own
blood and flesh and pronounce him as an outlaw.
Soon afterwards he takes his evil son Edmund into his confidence and discloses his noble intention
of helping Lear. He also dicloses the fact that he has recieved a secret letter informing him about
certain political developments. Edmund betrays his father to Cornwall who takes his revenge upon
Gloucester in the most barbarian way-by gouging out his eyes. Gloucester could not imagine that
destiny would play such a cruel game with him and his loyalty to Lear would be rewarded in this
way and his most trusted son would betray him like this; he also realizes the folly he had committed
in banishing Edgar.
Gloucester now nothing to live for, decides to put an end to his miserable life. He would like to jump
down from the high cliff in Dover. He is led by his very own son Edgar (disguised as the Bedlam
beggar Poor Tom) to Dover where he attempts to commit suicide. But Edgar who recognized his
father tricks him in order to save his life. Not only that, Edgar takes him to King Lear and fights a
duel with Oswald and kills him who had attempted to kill Gloucester. Finally when Edgar reveals
himself to Gloucester who unable to endure Edgars story of sufferings died, not in despair but
smilingly between the two extremes of passion, joy and grief. So Gloucester did not have control
over his fate. He banished his loyal son but it was his loyal son who took care of him and saved his
life before his death. Though Edgar was along him throughout the end of the play, being a father he
could not identify him as his son.
Edgar was yet another star-crossed person. Though it was his noble nature and creduility hat led him
to his miseries, we cannot help blaming his fate. Edgar readily believes what Edmund tells and
agrees to hide himself from his father on Edmunds advice and avoid meeting him. Soon afterwards
Edgar falls into Edmunds trap again and at Edmunds bidding, pretends to stage a mock fight and
then flees away from the scene as soon as Gloucester arrives. He is proclaimed as an outlaw and in
order to save his life he had to disguise as a mad Bedlam-beggar and hide himself in a hovel in his
own country to conceal himself from his own father.
Soon after he meets Lear and his party who has come into the hovel to seek shelter. When his father,
the Earl of Gloucester comes in search of the King, Edgar recognizes his father but he could reveal
himself just because his father is very angry with him & had pronounced him as an outlaw.
Sometime later when Edgar was thinking that he was reduced to his worst condition, he finds his
blinded father was being led to him by an old man. He discovers his fathers intention of attempting
suicide and forgets his previous bitterness toward him & forgives him immediately when he hears
his father telling that he had misconceptions about his son Edgar. Edgar tricks his father by making
him believe that he is really standing on the edge of the cliff and when Gloucester jumps and falls
down, he convinces his father that he had been saved by a miracle. Soon afterwards he fights a duel
with Oswald in order to save Gloucesters life from that villain. Later when he reveals himself to
Gloucester, Gloucester dies for he could not bear to hear Edgars tales of woe. Then he meets his
brother Edmund whom he had trustd once so blindly and kills him in a fray and becomes the new

Earl of Gloucester. So it is all about his fortune. He did not expect to serve his father who had
banished him and save his life twice before he died. He could not imagine that a time will come
when he will kill his brother Edmund who was responsible for his sorrows and gain what he
rightfully deserves.
Cordelia just like her father endured the cruelty of fate. When it is her turn to give her father her
expression of love, she gives a true but harsh expression of love. She says that she loves him exactly
according to her bond no more and no less than that. Lear in his rashness and vanity mistakes
Cordelias honesty to be pride & lack of affection and disowns her and divides his kingdom equally
between his other daughters. She did not imagine that her true nature would earn her fathers curse &
wrath while her sisters hypocritical nature would earn her fathers kingdom. So it was all about fate.
In a moment she was reduced from a princess to a pauper. She is refused by Duke of Burgundy, who
is actually a dowry-hunter but the King of France accepts her for he could value her merits and
virtues.
She learns of her fathers plight and returns to Britain with a large army of France soldiers in order to
restore him his throne and power. She gets reunited with her father and cures him of his insanity. But
the French forces lose and along with Lear she gets imprisoned. She becomes the victim of the
conspiracy hatched by the villanious Edmund and Goneril and she gets hanged. She proves to be a
puppet in the hands destiny which reunites her with her father who had once banished her. She did
not suppose that the French forces will lose and she and Lear had to land up in prison. She was
happy in prison with her father but as destiny had planned she achieved her death by getting hanged
under the evil Edmunds unauthorized orders.
The horrific incidents that the villains seek in order to achieve their goals:
There are a number of horrific incidents that the villains seek during the play. The first incident is when Gloucesters bastard son
Edmund forges a letter in order to fool both his brother and father so he can achieve his fathers property which he is not entitled
to. He lies to his father that the letter has been written by Edgar his other son and his rightful heir and fully convinces him that
Edgar is a villain and is plotting against Gloucesters life. When Edgar appears on the scene he persuades him to conceal himself
from his father for his father is angry on him for some unknown reason. Edgar being credulous, believes him and acts at
Edmunds bidding. This is a horrific incident that Edmund seeks in order to achieve his goal.
Then we see Goneril ordering her steward to be negligent & adopt a cold manner toward Lear and his knights. Soon afterwards
Goneril appears and she bluntly tells Lear that all his knights and his Fool was behaving in a very rowdy and undisciplined
manner. She gives him a warning and asks him to reduce the number of knights in his retinue. This angers Lear very much and
he utters an awful curse upon Goneril and prepares to leave her castle for Regans. The next moment we see Goneril has already
dismissed half of his knights. This was another horrific incident that Goneril seeks to get rid of Lear & his knights.
In Act II Scene 1, Edmund manages to pursue another terrible incident. He pretends to fight a duel with Edmund & promptly
sends Edgar from the scene. He quickly inflicts a wound upon himself and gives a fictious account of Edgars villainy and his
reason to fight with him to confirm Gloucesters suspicion about Edgar. This time Gloucester declares to get Edgar proclaimed
as an outlaw and get him arrested and Edmund succeds to get rid of his brother.
The next horrific incident is sought by the Duke of Cornwall. Cornwall gets angry with the disguised Kents inosolence and puts
him into the stocks. Though Kents fault was a serious one it should have been left to King Lear to deal with. It is just a way to
humiliate the aged King and his authority by punishing his servant in such a vile manner.

The next horrific incident is when Lear is driven into the storm by both his wicked daughters supported by the Duke of
Cornwall. When Lear meets Regan at Gloucesters castle, Regan hesitates to keep his knights and asks him to go back to
Goneril and seek her forgiveness. Goneril also arrives and both sisters join together in putting the entire blame of the situation
on Lear and take the plea that Lear does not need a single knight aand can be attended by their attendants. Their filial ingratitude
infuriates Lear a lot & Lear leaves Gloucesters palace in the violent storm. Thus both sisters and Cornwall achieves their goal
in discarding their poor father & his knights.
Then we see that Edmund planning to reveal his fathers intentions to help Lear and about the secret letter he recieved. He
betrays his father to the Duke of Cornwall who declares to punish Gloucester and dispossess him of his title and lands. He
reward Edmund by making Edmund the new Earl of Gloucester, who feels happy in suceeding in his aim.
The blinding of the Earl of Gloucester by the Duke of Cornwall suggested by Goneril is the most horrifying incident of all.
Cornwall & Regan feels very annoyed with him for he helped Lear against their wishes and had secret corrospodence with the
enemy. Regan shows her wickedness and disrespect by pulling his beard while Cornwall shows his barbarian and inhumane
nature by gouging out Gloucesters eyes and crushing them under his cruel boots. A servant who fights Cornwall for his
wickedness gets stabbed by Regan, which adds to the horror of the incident. Cornwall punishes Gloucester in such a way to
gratify his anger and revenge and also that Gloucester will not prove to be a further source of help to Lear and the French
enemy.
In Act IV Scene 2, we see Goneril developing an illicit passion for Edmund. This illicit passion leads to many horrifying
incidents. Regan orders Oswald to kill Gloucester, so he does not be a further threat. Oswald attempts to kill Gloucester but he
gets himself killed in a duel with Edgar. But that was not all. Edgar finds a letter in Oswalds pocket which was written by
Goneril to Edmund which clearly stated Goneril was in love with Edmund and she had called upon him to kill her husband
Albany, so they can consummate their love affair. Then in Act V, Scene 1, Goneril swears that she would lose in the battle rather
than her sister marying Edmund. Her jealousy toward her sister leads her to commit the most awful act; she adminsters poison to
Regan and kills her. When her villainy and treachery is exposed, she commits suicide by stabbing herself.
Just a little time back, we see Edmund arresting Lear & Cordelia and giving his orders to hang them. He had plotted with
Goneril to kill them both, so they do not prove to be a menace later. This is another horrifying incident that lead to the death of
Cordelia followed by the death of Lear, who dies out of grief and despair for the loss of his beloved daughter.
In the face of destruction and gloom what rays of hope are found:
The first ray of hope is found in Cordelias letter sent to Kent. After Lear is rejected by Goneril and is soon to be rejected by
Regan, Cordelias letter arrives which suggests that Cordelia has been already informed about her fathers miserable plight and
the political situation of the country. Then the reference of Curan about the possible conflict between the Dukes of Albany &
Cornwall and the confirmation of it is found is Act III, Scene 1 by the disguised Earl of Kent also brings in a ray of hope for
their conflict will eventually result in a civil war and Lear will be able to regain his throne. The landing of French forces at
Dover and Cordelias return also brings great relief to the audience because with the help of Cordelia and her army Lear will be
able to regain back his lost power and authority. In the storm on the verge of madness Lear realizes his folly of trusting Regan &
Goneril and doing injustice to Cordelia is another ray of hope which brings assurance to the audience.
The next hope is found in the loyal Earl of Gloucester who decides to help Lear in his distress irrespective of the fact he had
been forbidden to do so by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. We next find Gloucester searching for the King on the heath. He
finds that Lear and his party had no shelter over their heads and quickly takes them to his castle at Gloucester to provide them
proper care, food & clothing. Soon afterwards he learns of the plot to murder the king and he arranges a carriage & deputes Kent
to drive the king to Dover where he will recieve both welcome and protection.
But Gloucester had to pay a heavy price for helping Lear. His evil bastard son Edmund betrays him to Cornwall, and both
Cornwall and Regan punish him in the most horrific manner. As suggested by Goneril, Cornwall decides to gouge out
Gloucesters eyes. Cornwall manages to take out Gloucesters first eye, but before he proceeds to take out the second one, one
of Cornwalls servants stands up for Gloucester and fights a duel with Cornwall for he could tolerate his masters savegery. He
suceeds in inflicting a wound upon Cornwall, but he gets stabbed by Regan from the back and dies. Cornwall gouges out

Gloucesters another eye but he soon dies due to the fatal wound he had recieved. The servants humane nature and the death of
one of the villains Cornwall serve relief to the readers and bring outs the fact that though justice is delivered late, it still exists in
the world.
In the Act IV, we see Edgar accompanying and guiding his blind father in his disguise. Gloucester realizes his mstakes and he
wants to go to the cliff at Dover to commit suicide and Edgar takes him. When Edgar learns that his father wants to commit
suicide, he tricks his father into believing that he is standing on the edge of the cliff at Dover. Gloucester jumps & lands on level
ground and is thus saved from the heinous sin of committing suicide. Edgar also saves his life from another villain Oswald who
had been ordered by Regan to kill Gloucester. Edgar fights a duel with Oswald and kills him & brings out a letter which is sent
from Goneril to Edmund stating the conspiracy to kill Albany so both the lovers can become united. All these incidents serve as
a ray of hope; Glocester realizing his mistakes; Edgar helping his father and saving his life; the death of a villain and the
unveiling of Gonerils treachery and Edmunds wickedness.
Meanwhile King Lear has been reconciled with Cordelia at Dover. He is still insane, but he soon recovers from his lunacy
through the treatment of the doctor & the care of Cordelia. After his recovery, Lear changes completely and all his character
development brings us the hope that he will be a better person in future.
In the last scene of Act V we see that Albany learns of Gonerils and Edmunds treachery and villainy from Edmund. Goneril
poisons Regan and she stabs herself after she learns of the exposure of her treachery to her husband. Edgar fights Edmund and
he receives a fatal wound which results into his death. The death of the villains as a great source of relief and hope to the
audience until the moment Lear enters the scene caarying the dead Cordelia in his arms.
How normal/ abnormal are the characters in the play:
The most reasonable and the most unreasonable character of the play:
The many deaths that take place in the play and how they take place:
Cordelias appearances in the play and her control over situations in her presence & absence:
Similarities and differences in the characters of Lear, Goneril, Regan & Cordelia:
Lear is a rash, arrogant & haughty king who wants to have his own way. He asks his daughters to profess their love for him just
to gratify his childish vanity. Indeed he knows it is his youngest daughter who loves him the most. In spite of that he proceeds to
disown and disinherit her when she fails to meet his expectations in professing her love for her father. This characterstic is
shown in his evil daughters Regan & Goneril. We see that Goneril is also a haughty person who goes to the extreme driving her
poor father who had gave her half his kingdom. She satisfies her pride by dismissing half his fathers knights in order to get rid
of her very own father. Just like Lear she has her own way and she refuses to keep her fathers knights. Just like Lear she also
has outbursts of passions. Lear had two outbursts in the first scene, one with Cordelia and the other with the Earl of Kent. Regan
is another person with the character more similar to Goneril than Lear. Regan also inherits the characterstic of driving away
people who fail her or disagrees with her. She is also used to have her own way. On receiving Gonerils instigating letter, she
immediately leaves for Gloucesters castle in order to avoid her father. She also humiliates her father by supporting Cornwalls
action of putting his messenger into stocks so Lear feels disgraced and leaves them foever. She did not want her father to come
over with his knights to her place and when Lear arrives at Gloucesters place, she first avoids meeting him under the pretext of
being sick. Just like Goneril she also refuses to keep Lear and his knights at her castle for she is also a vain daughter who shows
her filial ingratitude by insulting her father and treating him callously and driving him into the raging storm along with Goneril.
So it is in their blood to banish. Just like Lear exiles

Cordelia and Kent, Regan & Goneril also drives Lear

away. But Lear is a kind person who later develops his character and becomes an unselfish, humble,
gentle, patient and caring old man. But throughout the play his two daughters Goneril and Regan
show themselves to be unlike him and similar to each other. They show their hypocrisy by planning
to consult each other when their father behaves in a rash manner so their father would not be able to
affect their authority adversely. Next we see their cruelty and ungratefulness in driving their

unfortunate father away into the furious storm and plotting against his life. Cruelty and inhumanity is
shown in Gonerils suggestion of blinding Gloucester and Regans support in Cornwalls act of
gouging out the eyes of Gloucester and stabbing her husbands servant. During the same scene we
see Regan pulling Gloucesters beard which showed extreme disrespect for he is a senior noble and
moreover their host. Goneril also shows disrespect to her kind but weak minded person by calling
him a fool who was unworthy of her. Both sisters develop a love affair with Edmund, but both were
different cases. We see Regan develops the love affair only after she became a widow, but Goneril
develops the love affair even though she is married. This proves that Goneril is a morally depraved
and lustful woman who has an illicit passion for another man. The love affair also leads to extreme
jealousy between two sisters. Though the two sisters are equivalent in their wickedness we see that
Goneril is one step ahead of Regan in her cruelty. She goes to the extremes of conspiring against her
husbands life and poisoning her sister so she can become united with her lover Edmund. She also
schemes with Edmund to kill her father King Lear and her sister Cordelia. Thus both these sisters
show themselves as devilish women & unnatural daughters who are the epitome of all the seven
deadly sins and other vices that exist in the world.
Regans and Gonerils cruelty: