The Dysfunctional Family of King Lear Essay - 1631 Words

The Dysfunctional Family of King Lear In his tragedy King Lear, William Shakespeare presents two families: a family consisting of a father and his three daughters, and a family consisting of a father and his two sons, one of which is a bastard son. While he has the sons basically come out and admit that one of them is good and the other evil, the Bard chooses to have the feelings of the daughters appear more subtlely. At no point in King Lear does Shakespeare come out and blatantly tell his audience that Cordelia is the most caring and loving daughter, while her two sisters are uncaring and greedy, and love their father only when they stand to gain from it. However, via the three daughters’ speeches throughout King Lear, he does†¦show more content†¦To compound matters, he makes a little game out of it. Whoever loves him the most gets the most land. This does not make Lear look like a very good father. Nevertheless, his daughters, or at least two of them, seemingly have no qualms about telling their fathe r of their love. The first daughter to profess her love to her dear old dad is Goneril, and she lays it on so thick it is almost sickening: ‘Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty; Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor; As much as child e’er loved, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable; Beyond all manner of so much I love you.’ (Act I, scene i, lines 49-55) In this soliloquy, the audience gets its first glimpse of the character of Goneril. The full spectrum of her greed and selfishness will not be revealed until later, but this is certainly a good sample of her personality. Her profession of love is so large that it seems almost artificial, and it also seems motivated by the fact that possession of land is involved. Still, Lear seems immensely pleased by her statement, and requests a similar profession of love from his other daughter, Regan. She obliges, and in her declaration she tells her father that she loves him even more than Goneril does. Regan emerges from herShow MoreRelatedEssay The Dysfunctional Family of Shakespeares King Lear2578 Words   |  11 PagesThe Dysfunctional Family of King Lear      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the reasons why Shakespeare is so thoroughly read today is because of his ability to portray human nature so accurately through his characters.   Shakespeares play, King Lear shows us that humans are treacherous and selfish.   We can also relate to the play because of the family issues that Shakespeare incorporates throughout the work.   Lears family is definitely a dysfunctional one.   However, the disrupted family unit is the basisRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s King Lear846 Words   |  4 PagesShakespeare s King Lear, families are torn apart and are dysfunctional. 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