King Lear is regarded by many to be the Bard of Avon’s greatest play, and King Lear himself one of his most tragic, compelling characters. King Lear was written around 1605-1606. King Lear , King of Britain, decides to retire from rule due to his age, give up half of his kingdom to two of his daughters in exchange for their promises to honor him and share with him, and divide the rest of his kingdom between King Lear’s third daughter, Cordelia, who loves King Lear dearly, and her two suitors—the King of France and the King of Burgundy.
King Lear plans to live out his retirement in comfort with whichever daughter honors her vow to him; but King Lear’s evil (and illegitimate) younger daughters go back on their word, causing havoc for everyone around them. As King Lear devolves into madness, he begins to see what a horrible mistake he has made by choosing flattery over love, forcing Cordelia into exile while trying to make amends by dividing Britain among its actual heirs—his remaining daughters suitors.
Despite many King Lear character-analysis articles referring to King Lear as a victim, King Lear is actually like Oedipus in that King Lear’s own actions were the cause of his tragedy. King Lear deserves pity for having created his own misfortunes, but King Lear does not deserve blame for ultimately bringing about his own unhappiness with the decisions he made.
King Lear sinned against Cordelia by choosing flattery over love when he disinherited her; King Lear sinned against himself by giving up half of Britain to two women who had already broken their promises; King Lear sinned against Regan and Goneril by dividing Britain between them instead of marrying off Cordelia to one ruler and France or Burgundy to another ruler so King Lear could retire in peace; King Lear sinned against Gloucester by plotting his death; King Lear sinned against Kent and Edgar by banishing them; King Lear sinned against himself again when he ordered Cordelia’s bodies to be desecrated (an order revoked at the last minute, as King Lear realized that the evil Regan and Goneril would not do such a merciful thing); King Lear sinned against everyone else with curses upon those who had wronged him.
King Lear is more sinned against than sinful because King Lear is an old man who foolishly made decisions based on flattery instead of love and was betrayed for it: King Lear sent Cordelia away and got nothing but grief from Cordelia’s sisters; King Lear lost half of Britain to his evil daughters who had already broken their promises; King Lear got nothing but grief from Regan and Goneril; King Lear was betrayed for joining King Lear’s suitors against him; King Lear watched the people he loved die (Cordelia, Gloucester, Kent, Edgar) while he lived on; King Lear cursed everyone who had wronged him.
King Lear has many traits that make King Lear seem like a victim—age, physical weakness, the love of an innocent daughter—but King Lear also has many traits that show King Lear is more sinned against than sinful. King Lear deserves pity despite having brought about his own misfortunes through sinful actions.
King Lear, an aging King who decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters according to the love they profess for him. King Lear then later gets betrayed and rejected by two of his elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, which leads him into insanity and eventually death. The play was first published in 1608 in quarto format after being performed on stage. King Lear begins with King Lear’s decision to divide up his kingdom between his three daughter Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan.
King Lear has become weary of ruling over all of Britain so he decides it would be best if he gave up the duty to one of his children while still keeping his title as King. King Lear proves to be a strong and decisive King; he is not afraid of making such a difficult decision that will ultimately cause harm to his kingdom. King Lear gives the largest portion, containing the best lands and the majority of Britain’s armies, to the daughter whom professes her love for him most: Cordelia.
Goneril and Regan both proclaim their love for King Lear but receive much smaller portions than Cordelia because they fail to give King Lear convincing reasons why they should inherit more land than their sister or why they deserve to be rulers over Britain. Despite King Lear’s hard decision, it seems as though dividing up his kingdom was unnecessary since all three daughters were plotting against King Lear from early on.
King Lear is unaware of these plots, however, because he relies on his most trustworthy companion/advisor Gloucester to inform him of his daughters’ various misdeeds. King Lear doesn’t realize the effects that dividing up the kingdom will have until Cordelia leaves for France with her husband King Edgar. King Lear’s other daughters are unhappy about their portions so they rebel against their father and come together in an evil alliance to take control over all of Britain.
King Lear is faced with adversity throughout the play as he trusts two people who ultimately cause him more harm than good: Gloucester and his youngest daughter Regan. King Lear makes the terrible decision to rely on Gloucester to him what his other daughters are doing. King Lear believes Gloucester when he is told that his daughter Regan is being inappropriately involved with Edmund, King Lear’s illegitimate son. King Lear believes Gloucester so much so that he has his bastard son banished from Britain.
King Lear ultimately receives news later on in the play that Gloucester was lying to him about Regan and Edmund; it was King Lear who truly loved King Edmund rather than his own flesh and blood (King Edward). The unfortunate outcome of King Lear not trusting Cordelia over Gloucester eventually leads to Prince Edgar killing both of King Lear’s treacherous daughters. Another problem for King Lear arises when Goneril becomes suspicious of her husband the Duke of Albany after overhearing a conversation he had about her with King Lear’s other daughter Cordelia.
King Lear, once again believing Gloucester over his daughters, doesn’t consider Goneril’s feelings and exiles her husband the Duke of Albany when she asks him to. King Lear later regrets this decision when he realizes how much better off he would have been if he had allowed his son in law to stay by his side. King Lear makes another bad decision in the play when he banishes himself from Britain; at this point King Lear is beginning to lose touch with reality because of all the harm that has come to him due to false information Gloucester provided him with.