CHARACTERS
Lear, king of Britain
King of France
Duke of Burgundy
Duke Cornwall
Duke of Albany
Earl of Kent
Edgar, lawful son of the Early of Gloucester
Edmund, natural son of the earl of Gloucester
A fool
daughters of king Lear:
Goneril
Regan
Cordelia
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King Lear
Lear, King of Britain, had three daughters - Goneril, wife of the Duke of Albany, Regan, wife of the Duke of Cornwall, and Cordelia, the youngest. The king of France and the Duke of the Burgundy each wanted Cordelia for his wife, and at the time of this story they were staying at Lear's court.
The old king was over eighty years old and tired of government. He had decided to take no further part in state affairs, but to leave younger people to manage it. he called his three daughters to him to find out from their own lips which of them loved him best, so that he could divide his lands and money among them according to their love for him. Goneril, the oldest, declared that she loved her father more than words could tell; that he was dearer to her than the light of her own eyes, dearer than life itself. Such talk is easy to pretend to hear it. Thinking that her heart went with her words, he gave her and her husband one-third of his large kingdom.
Regan, his second daughter, who was as worthless as her sister, declared that the love which she felt for her father was much greater than her sister's. She found all other joys dead compared with the pleasure which she took in the love of her dear king and father.
Lear felt so happy to have what he thought were such loving children that he gave Regan and her husband another third of his kingdom, equal in size to the share which he had already given to Goneril.
Then turning to his youngest daughter, Cordelia, whom he called his joy, he asked what she had to say. He thought no doubt that she would please his ears with the same loving speeches as her sisters, or even that hers would be stronger than theirs, as she had always been his favourite. But Cordelia was upset by the claims made by her sisters, which she knew were only intended to persuade the king to give them part of of his country. So she only answered that she loved her father according to her duty, neither more or less.
The king was shocked at these words from his favourite child, and asked her to consider her words carefully and to improve her speech so that it did not spoil her fortunes.
Cordelia then told the king that she loved, obeyed and honoured him because as he was her father and he had brought her up and loved her. But she could not make such grand speeches as her sisters had done or promise to love nothing else in the world. Why did her sisters have husbands if (as they said) they had no love for anything except their father? If she ever married, she was sure that her husband would want at least half of her love, half of her care and duty.
Cordelia really loved her father almost as much as her sisters pretended to do. At any other time, she would have told him so in stronger and more loving words. But when she saw how her sisters deceitful words won such rich prizes, she thought the best thing she could do was to love and be silent. This showed that she loved him, but not for what she could obtain, and her words, simple as they were, had much more truth and sincerity in them than those other sisters.
