KING LEAR ESSAY

Submitted By sammy1493
Words: 1268
Pages: 6

Cordelia and Edgar comparison

An individual's strongest qualities are the base of how they will appear to others. Dedication, compassion, honesty, these are the main characteristics that Cordelia and Edgar possess. Both having similar qualities non-coincidentally both face similar realities. Cordelia is compared throughout the play King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, to Regan and Goneril, who are both deceiving and hungry for power and wealth. By declining to “heave her heart” she is banished early in the play. As for Edgar his illegitimate brother deceives his father and gets Edgar exiled. But the similarity between Cordelia and Edgar falls back to the two’s characteristics and knowing the right thing to do after being relegated is to continue to help and be loyal to family.
Every family is unique in their own way and may act upon situations differently then other families but the bond between a child and their parent and the loyalty and passion for one another is almost the same in every family. Although Cordelia and Edgar appear to be completely different individually, the two contain the same characteristics and know what’s right. The parallel between Edgar and Cordelia was introduced early in the play but did not seem meaningful until Act III Scene 4, when we are reintroduced to Edgar communicating with Lear. In the play Cordelia and Edgar’s relationship with their fathers are very complex but both cases can be easily related to one another. The principal similarity between Cordelia and Edgar is that each child is unreasonably accused of betraying their father. Edgar and Cordelia both face the similar outcome of banishment after being cheated and deceived by their siblings. In both relationships the father’s feel abandoned and a sense of disloyalty although this is false. They only receive support from their exiled children who stay faithful to their fathers. In the play both Cordelia and Edgar share a comparable life and it is evident that you can speak kind words but if your actions don’t back you up words mean nothing.
In the play Cordelia was asked if she could put her love for her father in words showing everyone her love and affection for him. When she says “nothing”, Lear disowns and relinquishes his youngest daughter because he does not get the equivalent public flattery that he obtains from Regan and Goneril. “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond, no more nor less …you have begot me, bred me, loved me. I return those duties back as are right fit. Obey you, love you, and most honour you.” (I, i, 82-90). Although Cordelia did not praise her father publicly she is the only daughter that does not betray her father, unlike her evil sisters, she battles for Lear and his kingdom. Despite Lear banishing Cordelia, she does not despise nor loathe Lear for banishing her; Cordelia remains dedicated to her Father and demonstrates commitment to her father and everlasting devotion. “I know you do not love me, for your sisters have, as I do remember, done me wrong. You have some cause, they have not” (IV, vii, 72-74) “No cause, no cause” (IV, vii, 75). These series of quotes demonstrates the loyalty Cordelia has for Lear basically saying that Cordelia should have every right to hate Lear and she does not and she says that she had no reason to be. Demonstrating her modest and passionate personality toward her father. As for Gloucester and Edgar their relationship worsens for the most part fairly identical to that of Cordelia and Lear’s in the beginning of the play. The big connection between the two families is a sense of betrayal. In the play Gloucester feels betrayed by Edgar even though it was his illegitimate son Edmund plotting his fathers death and therefor frames Edgar. Nonetheless Edgar displays he’s loyal to his father by pretending to be homeless so his father wouldn’t recognize him but he could still stay by his side to try and assist him and