King Lear

The play is focused around Lear, the aging King of Britain; and his three daughters, Goneril, Reagan, and Cordelia. When Lear wanted to step down from the throne, he decided to divide his kingdom among his three daughters and ask each daughter how much she loves him.

Cordelia

The youngest daughter of King Lear. She is disowned by her father when she refuses to flatter him. She marries the King of France. At the end of the play, she comes to help her father and forgives him for all his little towards her

King Lear

The King of Britain. He loves power and flattery, and does not like being contradicted. He wants to enjoy the authority of being king, even though he has unburdened himself of a king’s responsibilities,

Goneril

The eldest daughter of King Lear and the wife of the Duke of Albany. She flatters her father in order to receive one-third of his kingdom. She is jealous, treacherous, and ruthless.

Earl of Kent

A nobleman and a loyal subject of King Lear. He disguises himself as Caius when King Lear banishes him so that he can continue to serve his master. He continues to get himself into trouble throughout the play

King Lear

Once upon a time, England was ruled by an old and wise King called Lear. King Lear has three daughters — the eldest Goneril, was married to the Duke of Albany; Regan, his second daughter, was married to the Duke of Cornwall; and his youngest daughter was called Cordelia; for Whom the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy were suitors.

After his 80th birthday, King Lear felt that it was time for him to resign from the matters of the state and spend the last few years of his life in other pursuits. So he called for his three daughters to hear from their own lips how much they loved him. He had decided that according to their declaration he would divide the kingdom among them.

His eldest daughter, Goneril, had already come to know about his intentions and therefore immediately started for claiming her love for him and unearthly context. She told him that she loved him more than the light of her own eyes and that there were no words which could adequately describe her love for him. The King was overjoyed and decided to give her and her husband 1/3 of his entire Kingdom.

After Goneril came Regan. She was one step ahead of her elder sister, and the minute she entered the room and her father asked her how much she loves him, she replied that she loved him much much more than Goneril could ever declare. She went on to say that all other joys were dead in comparison she had for her dear father. Lear was obviously flattered on hearing this, and within an instant he bestowed another third of his kingdom upon her and her husband.

Finally it was time for Cordelia, his youngest daughter, to enter and declare her love for her father. Now that Lear had already heard his other daughters speak of their love for him, he was sure that Cordelia would love him more than Goneril and Regan put together. But Cordelia, who had already seen the pretends of her two sisters, merely replied that she loved him as much as she should, no more and no less.

Lear was completely shocked by his daughters seemingly harsh words, and thinking it was in jest, he asked her to rethink lest her fortune be marred. But Cordelia was adamant. She said that she loved her father a lot, honored him and respected him, but once she was married, she would have to share her love with her husband as well. She then went on to ask why, since both her sisters had made such tall claims about their love for their father, had got married at all. Surely they should have stayed with their father!

In reality, Cordelia was the only daughter who loved Lear to the heights which was sisters had expressed. But when she learned that her sisters had betrayed their father in order to acquire his money and that they did not love him at all, Cordelia decided that she would not boast about her love for him, since she did not care about his money or his kingdom.

But old age had completely clouded Lear’s sense of reason and he could not tell the difference between who loved him and who did not. He was so agitated by Cordelia’s response that he immediately withdrew the third part of the kingdom he kept for her and divided it between Goneril and Regan in their husbands. He retained the title of King for himself and concluded an arrangement whereby he, along with his 100 attendants, would spend one month in succession at the castles of his two daughters.

These arrangements seemed extremely risky to the kingdom, yet no one had the courage to defy the king’s orders. Only the Earl of Kent, his most loyal subject, who cherished him as a father and honored him as his master, spoke up. But this only stirred the king’s wrath even more. He was so angry with the Earl of Kent for trying to defend Cordelia that he had once banished from the court.

The Earl bade farewell to the king and, hoping that Cordelia would be safe by the gods against the wrongs done to her by her own father, left the court of King Lear forever.

The king then called the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France to court. He explained Cordelia’s predicament and how she had come to lose everything because of her harsh words. She would now have no dowry to offer them, and this information immediately made the Duke of Burgundy stop loving Cordelia and he walked off in a huff, rejecting any further alliance. But the King of France understood what had happened and said that Cordelia’s virtue and honesty meant much more to him than any kingdom.

Taking her hand in his he asked her to bid farewell to her sisters and father, and to leave with him for France, where she would live as his queen forever.

Cordelia wish her sisters well, and ask them to take care of their father and love him as much as they had expressed. The sisters asked her not to preach to them and, after a tearful farewell, Cordelia left for France with her husband-to-be.

Lear’s daughters, Goneril and Regan, began to show their true colors within a few days of Cordelia’s departure. Lear first noticed this when he was a guest at the house of Goneril. She would feign sickness or pretend that she was busy whenever her father tried to talk to her, and generally make a show of her displeasure and being bothered by him. Even the servants started to neglect him and would refuse to obey his orders. It did not take King Lear long to understand that all that has been said to him by his daughter was false; she did not love him at all.

However, in the face of such adversity, there are some who have always respected you and cherished your company, and who do their duty once again. Such a man was the Earl of Kent. Though Lear had banished him and said he would be executed if you were ever found in Britain again, the earl had not left. He had stayed to ensure that the King was safe and taken care of. So, after disguising himself as a man by the name of Caius, he entered the services of the king, but not for a second did Lear realize that the man serving him was the banished Earl of Kent.

Lear had one supporter left besides Caius; the royal jester who had stayed loyal to the king through all the trials and tribulations. He had kept the king entertained and tried to make him smile when he had lost all reason to do so. Finally Goneril came to her father one day and informed him that he was inconveniencing her by staying at her castle for so long and that she wanted him to leave immediately. As if that were not enough, she also informed him that he should see company with people who were more his own age and would provide him with better company.

Lear was dumbstruck. He could not believe that the same Goneril who had showered him with love was now telling him to leave. He immediately ordered his horses to be saddled and decided to leave for Regan’s house. He cursed Goneril and wished that she should never have a child, for one day she would probably even ask the child to leave. Lear left her castle at once.

Lear asked Caius to go on ahead and inform Regan that he was on his way, but it seemed that Goneril had already informed Regan about her father’s inconveniencing ways. She had also asked Regan not to entertain her father’s 100 attendants, as she claimed that they were a nuisance.

When Regan came to know of this, though Caius was a messenger of King Lear, she had him locked up. When Lear arrived at the castle, the first thing he saw was his own messenger in chains. Then he discovered to his utter dismay that his daughter and her husband were not even there to receive him. Upon seeing how angry he was, they came out at last, but Lear was heartbroken to see that Goneril was with them. Only now is he starting to see the virtue of Cordelia’s words.

Regan, as if in a bid to outdo her sister, declared that the 100 attendants her father had with him for a bit too much and that only 25 should stay. This shocked Lear, as he realized that his own daughters did not care about his honor and prestige. Goneril further commented that actually he had no need for any attendance at all.

Lear then decided that under no circumstances would he enter either of their castles, and though a violent storm had begun he mounted his horse and set off to the countryside. Neither of his daughters tried to stop him

Even though he took shelter under a large tree, the poor King was slashed by the rain. The jester tried to entreat his master to return, but Lear was adamant that he would rather take the evil temperament of nature and beg his daughters to show him any mercy.

Caius who had been released by Regan’s men found his master and refused to have him stand there in the storm. He took him to a small hovel, where they could take shelter. There the King saw a beggar, who was lying in the cold with nothing but a blanket over him. Lear remarked to Caius that perhaps he too was a father who had given everything away to his unkind daughters! The poor King seem to have gone insane

As the storm subsided, the Earl of Kent, along with the help of some of the King’s faithful attendants, took Lear to the Castle of Dover where he had friends. Leaving King Lear there to be looked after by his people, the Earl hastened to France to meet Cordelia, now the Queen of France, and inform her of her father’s condition. The minute she heard what had happened, she set off to Dover at once with the royal French army. She had decided to subdue her sisters and restore her father’s Kingdom to him.

Meanwhile, Lear had managed to escape from the castle and run away to the countryside. He was found by Cordelia’s entourage stark raving mad running around singing with a crown of straw in his head. Cordelia’s physicians gave him some medication and soon father and daughter were reunited. Lear was overjoyed to see the daughter who really loves him and ask for her forgiveness, but Cordelia said that he had done nothing to require her forgiveness in the first place.

Meanwhile, the two evil sisters were having troubles of their own. They had both fallen in love with Edward,the Earl of Gloucester, who had himself cheated his brother Edgar out of his rightful title. At that time, Regan’s husband, the Duke of Cornwall, died.

Regan immediately decided to marry Edward, but this did not go down well with Goneril, who also wanted to marry him. She poisoned Regan to get her out of the picture but was caught in the act. Goneril’s husband, the Duke of Albany, also learned of her love for the Earl of Gloucester and put her behind bars. Unable to bear the humiliation, Goneril took her own life.

During this time, another tragic event with the death of Cordelia. Regan and Goneril had both sent large armies to meet Cordelia’s army, under the leadership of the Earl of Gloucester. Cordelia was captured and decided to end her life in prison by consuming poison. Lear did not live long after receiving news of her death.

Cordelia had lived a full life, for she had even had the opportunity to serve for dear father one last time and all have been resolved between them.

The Earl of Kent who was also the faithful Caius, could not cope with his master’s death. Like the true faithful servant, he followed him to his grave, perhaps to take care of his noble master in heaven.

The saga ended when the evil Edward, the wrongful Earl of Gloucester, was killed in battle with his brother Edgar, the rightful Earl. Goneril’s husband, the Duke of Albany, who had always been averse to his wife’s treatment of her father, ascended the throne of Britain. He ruled wisely for many years.