When Lear asks his question about which daughter loves him most, he turns first to the oldest one for a response. Goneril answers that she loves him more than anything and everything else. She states that she loves him more than her own liberty and that she values his love to her own life. Her response, at the very least, is an enormous exaggeration; and nearly everyone listening would recognize it as such. As later events reveal, her response is actually a pack of lies. Goneril knows that her share of the kingdom depends upon her answer, and so she tells Lear exactly what he wants to hear. The king, however, because he is frail and trusting of his daughters, accepts her response as truth. Lear then points to the large map before him and outlines the portion of the kingdom that Goneril and her husband Albany will receive.
The second daughter, Regan, is next to respond. As she was listening to Goneril speak, she was probably thinking about how she could make herself sound even more loving than her sister. Regan also quickly realizes that her response must please the old father. So, she also responds with an even bigger set of lies. Regan tells her father that she loves him even more than Goneril does and that her only joy and happiness in life comes from loving her father. Lear also accepts her lies as truth; and, as before, the old king points out a section of the map that will be given to Regan and her husband Cornwall.
While Goneril and Regan are answering their father, the youngest daughter, Cordelia makes a couple of asides (lines that reveal her thoughts but are not heard by the other characters on stage: such lines are a common convention in drama so that audiences can know what a character is thinking). Cordelia, after hearing the fancy and flattering but untruthful comments made by her sisters, wonders about how she should respond to her father’s question. She loves her father greatly, but she also believes in virtue: and chief among the virtues is honesty. So, when her father asks her to respond to his question, she tells him that she has “nothing” to say (86). Cordelia firmly believes that she should be silent rather than speak an untruth.
King Lear is shocked to hear this response. He fully expected Cordelia to express her love in even grander terms than did Goneril and Regan. But, because he had always held Cordelia in his highest esteem, he gives her a second chance to respond. Lear warns Cordelia that …
This line (which Shakespeare borrows from the clever maxims of Aristotle) indicates that if Cordelia says nothing, then she will receive nothing. She will not receive any portion of the kingdom.
Cordelia realizes that she is forced to give an answer, yet she cannot find it within herself to be untruthful or to exaggerate in even the slightest degree. She tells her father that she loves him and honors him as is proper for any daughter to love and honor a good father. But then she makes a good point by asking the following question:
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? (98-99)
The word all here means completely and fully and excluding all else. Cordelia is being both honest and logical. If Goneril and Regan love their father completely – if they love him exclusively – then that would mean that they have no love at all for their husbands. Cordelia honestly explains that when she marries, half of her duty and love would then go to her husband although she would continue to love and honor her father.
King Lear, however, does not wish to hear logic. He does not want to hear reason. Love is an emotion, and in the old king that emotion overpowers his reason. As noted earlier, Shakespeare frequently incorporates the conflict of Reason vs. Emotion in his plays. His mind cannot accept the logic of Cordelia’s answer. Lear’s emotions are intense for his daughters, and he readily and illogically accepts Goneril and Regan’s statements as truth. He somehow truly believes that they love him beyond all else even though they have husbands.
King Lear had, just a few seconds earlier, referred to his youngest daughter as his “joy” (line 81). The word suggests that in the past Cordelia, of the three daughters, had brought him the greatest happiness. In fact, Cordelia’s name even means heart (from the Latin cordis). Cordelia had always been the one who brought Lear the greatest warmth and love to his heart. But just as he had earlier forgotten the unworthiness of Cornwall and his preference for Albany, the confused old king quickly forgets Cordelia’s loving actions of the past. Lear had wanted to hear exaggerated and poetical words of love, not terse and prosaic words of truth.
So, King Lear disowns Cordelia.
The king swears by the sun and the moon that he no longer will be the father of Cordelia. In fact, Lear even refers to the moon as Hecate (at line 110). Hecate was the Greek and Roman goddess of the moon, but she was also the goddess of witchcraft. Lear is thus setting his words of his disowning Cordelia in the form of a curse. And he concludes that she is not any more welcome to enter his kingdom than a bloody savage (“Scythian” at line 116) or a cannibal who eats his own parents (“generation” means parents at line 117). King Lear is emotionally hurt by Cordelia’s response. He feels that she has eaten his heart out. Lear feels betrayed by her. Ironically, Lear is not betrayed by Cordelia in words or deeds; but he is betrayed in words by Goneril and Regan, and later he will be betrayed by the deeds of those two daughters.
The Earl of Kent symbolizes Duty and
Honor in this play. He is a good and honest man who recognizes that Cordelia is a good and honest daughter. So, when he hears Lear disowning his daughter, the good earl is shocked. He realizes that Lear is making a huge mistake, and he feels duty bound to interfere.
Kent attempts to speak, but Lear sternly tells him to be quiet:
Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath.
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. (121-24)
Lear is angry because he feels that he has been betrayed by the daughter whom he has always loved the most. The king refers to himself with the metaphor of the dragon because he is dangerous. He anger is beyond reason, and he warns Kent that no one should come in conflict with him. If someone does present a conflict, Lear, like a fiery monster, will destroy that person. The king is disappointed as well as angry, for he had hoped that Cordelia would take care of him (suggested by the word nursery) in his old age.
In his anger, Lear rashly then informs
Cornwall and Albany that they can split the land that was intended for Cordelia. Thus, Cornwall and Albany each become ruler over half of England. Lear then explains that he wishes to keep the title and respect belonging to a king and to keep only one hundred knights as his retainers or followers (line 133). Moreover, Lear adds that each month he will alternate his living conditions, spending one month with Cornwall, and then one month will Albany. Lear expects Albany and Cornwall to provide food and lodging for him and his one hundred retainers.
Lear, however, is making a mistake of gigantic proportions. He wishes to keep the title and respect of being a king even though he no longer will be king. That simply just will not work. A kingdom can have only one king, and everyone else in the kingdom is subservient (or obedient) to that king. By giving up his position as king, Lear thus becomes a servant to Cornwall or Albany when he is in one of their kingdoms. Lear will soon learn that a man can only have the respect of a king if he is king himself. That is why traditionally a king in England remains a king until his death.
As for Cordelia, Lear declares …
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her. (128)
Cordelia was simply being plain, direct, and honest when she answered her father’s question regarding her love for him. But Lear accuses her of being proud, arrogant, and self-centered. Since she will no longer receive a dowry (money and property presented to the groom by the bride’s father), Lear believes that no man will want to marry her. Thus, Cordelia can only marry her pride.
Once again the Earl of Kent attempts to interfere and speak on behalf of Cordelia, and once again Lear threatens him – this time with the metaphor of the bow and arrow (line 143). Lear is again threatening Kent with harm and even death if he interferes. But Kent places duty above his own life and, so, he speaks despite the king’s threat. Kent accuses Lear of being “mad” (line 146). This line begins the theme of madness that runs throughout the entire play. Madness indicates irrational thought, a loss of all reason. And Lear certainly is acting irrationally. Kent, though, should have thought better than to try and argue with a mad man. But Kent believes he is duty-bound to speak:
Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honor’s bound,
When majesty stoops to folly. (147-49)
The careful reader should note the words duty and honor in this passage. These lines rely on personification. Kent personifies Duty, and as Duty he is not afraid to speak. Lear represents Power, and Goneril and Regan represent Flattery. Lear is bowing down to Flattery by giving all of his kingly power and authority over to the husbands of Goneril and Regan. Cordelia, on the other hand, symbolizes Plainness (honesty and directness); and Kent also symbolizes Honor. As Honor, he feels bound to serve Honesty especially when his king (majesty) is stooping (bowing down) to the authority of Folly (stupidity and madness). Thus, Kent is declaring Lear’s actions regarding Cordelia and regarding his kingdom to be both foolish and mad.
But Lear is mad and will not listen to the words of wisdom spoken by Kent. In fact, Lear even accuses Kent of having the same fault of which he had accused Cordelia: pride (line 170). But Kent, like Cordelia, is actually guilty of the same qualities that Cordelia possesses: plainness, honesty, duty, and honor. The mad king, though, punishes, rather than rewards, such qualities: Lear banishes Kent from England, and he tells Kent that if he returns to England, he will be immediately put to death.
Shakespeare thus establishes another dialogic relationship (a parallel between two similar characters) early in this play. Both Kent and Cordelia are honest and direct, both feel duty and honor toward Lear, and both are accused of being proud by Lear. And, as will become evident by the end of the scene, both are banished from England. However, as the end of the play will reveal, both Kent and Cordelia remain loyal to Lear even though Lear had not dealt with them justly and fairly.
Another parallel set of characters appears in the form of the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. Both are wealthy aristocrats and both are suitors to Cordelia. During the Middle Ages, political marriages among aristocrats were common. A lord would marry a lady in order to gain title and property and wealth or to establish a pledge of peace between two rival kingdoms. However, being disowned, Cordelia has neither property nor title to offer. And since the conditions have changed regarding his daughter, Lear still has enough presence of mind to warn Burgundy and France about marrying her.
In keeping with the folktale manner of asking a test question, Lear first asks Burgundy what is the smallest dowry that he would agree to take in order for him to accept Cordelia in marriage (line 192). Burgundy, who had been off stage and does not know that Lear has disowned Cordelia, states that he would accept that which had been previously offered. But when Lear then informs him that Cordelia has been disowned and is now without wealth or title, Burgundy responds that he cannot then accept Cordelia in marriage. Lear had expected this response.
Because the King of France is an even higher aristocrat and is equal in standing with the King of England, Lear tells France that he will not even insult him by asking the same question. Lear fully expects France to respond the same as did Burgundy.
The King of France, though, is a character of contrast to Burgundy. France is more thoughtful and introspective. He wants to know the reasons why Cordelia has lost favor with her father. France sees Cordelia not just as an object to enhance his wealth or to further his political goals. France sees Cordelia as a person. He asks Lear what “monstrous” and “unnatural” act Cordelia committed in order to lose the affection of her father (lines 218-22). The King of France believes that no wise and rational man would ever disown his daughter unless she has committed some terrible deed that was directed directly against her own father.
The plain-speaking honest Cordelia responds to France’s question. She explains that she lacks “the glib and oily art to speak and purpose not” (225-26). The word glib here means smooth and slippery. Cordelia is suggesting that people who tell lies (who speak to no well-intended purpose) speak as if their tongues are coated in oil. The false words just slip out or pour out easily. Thus, Cordelia is explaining that she is honest: she does not lie. Cordelia adds that she also lacks a “still-soliciting eye” (232). The word still means always, and soliciting means asking or begging. Goneril and Regan are always looking for ways to make themselves richer or more powerful, and they are always ready to lie to get what they want. Cordelia, on the other hand, is not only honest: she also is not greedy and self-serving.
Although the irrational King Lear does not understand Cordelia’s response, the King of France does. He knows that honesty and a lack of greed are virtues, and he prizes such virtues above wealth. France then says to Burgundy …
Love’s not love
When it is mingled with regards that stands
Aloof from the entire point. (239-41)
Shakespeare many times in his poetry and plays has defined love. He does so here again. The word regards refers to external matters of an aristocratic marriage (dowry, wealth, property, title, social standing, political significance). Such regards or matters are quite separate and distinct from (stand aloof from) the reasons why one should feel love for another. France is asking Burgundy if he feels any love for Cordelia. He is asking if Burgundy loves the person or only the wealth and property that comes with her. But Burgundy cannot separate the two. He wanted wealth, and he wanted to be ruler over onethird of England.
The King of France already has wealth and property and power. And he is not so greedy that he demands or seeks more. Thus, he still wants to marry Cordelia because of her “virtues” (253). He realizes that her virtues will make him richer spiritually, and such riches are far more important than material ones.
France cannot believe his good luck:
Gods, gods! ‘t is strange that from their cold’st neglect
My love should kindle to inflamed respect. (255-56)
The King of France is suggesting that the gods (or destiny) have neglected or abandoned Cordelia because she has lost her position of respect and has lost her father’s love. Shakespeare often reveals that fate or destiny can be most cruel, but sometimes that cruelty can also produce a positive result or consequence. If Cordelia had not been disowned by Lear, the King of France would never have realized how virtuous and how special Cordelia actually is. And if he had not known about her virtues, he might not have then married her. But seeing those virtues has intensified or inflamed his feelings or passion for her. The King of France realizes that he could easily marry into wealth, but marrying a woman of utmost virtue is rare and far more valuable to him.
King Lear is indeed surprised by the King of France’s decision. However, mad Lear still believes that Cordelia deserves his wrath. And so he feels glad to be rid of her and informs France that he wishes never to see Cordelia again.
Cordelia bids farewell to her older sisters and asks them to take good care of their father. Goneril and Regan, though, are haughty and contemptuous and tell Cordelia that she deserves being disowned by Lear. Cordelia then predicts the future:
Time shall unfold what pleated cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides. (281-82)
Cordelia is asserting that eventually the lies and vices (faults) of Goneril and Regan will be revealed to Lear and everyone else even though now they hide those lies and vices cunningly and cleverly. The clever lies are like a pleated blanket. It is thick and hides the faults from sight. But soon that blanket will come down, and Shame (personified) will scorn and ridicule them. In other words, once Goneril and Regan’s true natures are revealed, they will be left with only shame and disgrace and dishonor.
An observant reader will notice that at the end of the first scene, the lines of dialogue shift from poetry to prose (at line 284). Shakespeare always makes such shifts intentionally, with a very definite and specific purpose in mind. Poetry is refined language – high, noble, and beautiful. Prose is common and frequently coarse. Often Shakespeare will use prose for his rustic clowns and servants and use poetry for his noble aristocrats. But in this scene the shift has a far different purpose. Goneril and Regan are aristocrats and had been speaking in poetic meter (iambic pentameter). But now their dialogue is in prose.
The reason for this shift is that the two sisters are plotting or scheming against their father. Their intentions are not noble or honorable, so the language they use in this instance is neither refined nor beautiful.
Goneril and Regan have good reason to be worried. Their father has just disowned his youngest daughter even though, as Goneril notes, “he always loved our sister most” (288-89). And Lear also banished the loyal Kent, who had always served the king faithfully. The older sisters worry that their aged father will also change his feelings toward them. They are worried that Lear will disown them and take away their inheritance as well. They have just become queens in the new split kingdom of England, and they do not wish to give that up.
On the other hand, Goneril and Regan are selfish and dishonorable. They were glad that Cordelia was disowned because that makes their inheritances larger, and they speak disrespectfully about their father. Goneril adds that even when Lear was a younger man, he acted rashly and impetuously (line 293). Goneril wants to add more excuses for the appalling behavior that she will exhibit later in the play. Now that she has newly inherited property and title, she no longer has any use for her father. Thus, the two sisters plan to meet again, very soon, to determine what they shall do.