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Thesis: In King Lear, William Shakespeare condemns the egocentrism and avariciousness of
humanity.

I. Goneril and Regan, King Lear’s two unscrupulous daughters, abuse the power
granted to them.

A. The sisters, obsessed with their newfound power, are derelict in their duties to
their father.

1. Both sisters lock King Lear out of their house during a torrential storm to
teach him a lesson.
2. The sisters undermine their father’s authority and refuse to grant him any
comforts.

B. Both Goneril and Regan are eventually killed by their own greed.

1. The sisters both desire Edmund and attempt to court him.

2. Goneril fatally poisons Regan and commits suicide.

II. Edmund, Edgar’s brother and the illegitimate son of Gloucester, plots against his
brother in order to obtain the inheritance his illegitimacy and the practice of
primogeniture deny him.

A. Edmund authors a letter in the name of his brother, turning Gloucester against
Edgar.

B. Even though Gloucester intends Edgar harm, Edgar still helps Gloucester
survive after Regan tears out his eyes.

C. Edgar challenges Edmund to a duel to avenge his name and his father.

1. Edgar’s duel is representative of his medieval ideals.

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2. Edmund’s death represents Shakespeare’s approval of the medieval

emphasis on strong filial bonds.

III. Cordelia, exiled by King Lear for her unsatisfactory pledge of love and loyalty,
still loves and protects King Lear, even though he acts as if he wants nothing to do
with her.

A. Lear designed his test of filial devotion to allow him to favor Cordelia, his
favorite daughter.

1. Cordelia’s brute, even cold honesty ruins her father’s plans for her.
2. Lear banishes her from his Kingdom, and Lucie marries the King of
France, even though Lear rescinds his offer of a dowry.

B. Lear selfishly uses his remaining authority as “King” to sate the needs of his
ego.

1. Lear wants Cordelia to take care of him in his old age and senility.
2. The conflict begins when Cordelia tells Lear she will not devote herself to
him fully and that she will share her love and devotion between her
husband and father.

C. Even though Cordelia is exiled from King Lear’s kingdom, she still wants to
protect her father from dangers, including her sisters.

1. Cordelia, along with her husband, the King of France, invades King Lear’s
kingdom to help save King Lear.
2. In trying to save her father, Cordelia meets her untimely death, the greatest
irony in the drama.

IV. The egocentrism and avarice of humanity weakens loyalty and creates conflicts of
interest between characters, such as between King Lear and his servant, Kent, and
between Gloucester and Regan.
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A. King Lear exiles Kent after Kent questions Lear’s decision about Cordelia,
breaking the bonds of loyalty between a superior and his subject.

1. Lear’s actions exemplify his disloyalty to those loyal to him (such as

Cordelia).
2. Kent goes to great lengths to protect King Lear and his good name; he is
the consummate loyal subject.

a. Kent tries to protect King Lear’s good name against a servant of Lear’s
daughters and is placed in the stocks for challenging the servant.
b. Kent also protects King Lear by offering him advice.

B. Gloucester, concurrently dealing with the loss of his eldest son’s loyalty,
remains loyal to King Lear.

1. Regan and Cornwall blind him as a punishment for his loyalty to King
Lear.
2. Gloucester’s loyalty is rewarded when his son helps him say alive.

a. Gloucester is a victim of Edmund’s disloyalty.

b. Edgar challenges Edmund to a duel and kills Edmund, avenging
Gloucester’s death.

Thesis: In King Lear, William Shakespeare condemns the egocentrism and avariciousness of
humanity.

I. Goneril and Regan’s abuse of power

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A. Dereliction of duties to King Lear

1. Abuse of King Lear

2. Abuses of authority

B. Death by greed

1. Mutual desire for Edmund

2. Poisoning of Regan

II. Edmund’s plot against Edgar

A. Edmund’s false letter

B. Edgar’s loyalty to Gloucester

C. Duel between brothers

1. Medieval ideals
2. Importance of filial bonds

III. Cordelia’s love for King Lear

A. King Lear’s test of loyalty

1. Cordelia’s honesty
2. Cordelia’s banishment
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B. King Lear’s selfishness

1. King Lear’s plan for Cordelia

2. Beginnings of conflict

C. Cordelia’s attempts to protect King Lear

1. Cordelia’s invasion of Britain

2. Cordelia’s death

IV. Conflicts caused by weakened morality

A. Exile of Kent

1. King Lear’s disloyal actions

2. Kent’s loyalty to King Lear

a. Punishment for loyalty

b. Continuing efforts of protection

B. Gloucester’s loyalty to King Lear

1. Gloucester’s blinding
2. Gloucester’s reward for loyalty

a. Gloucester’s death
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b. Edmund’s death.
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Throughout King Lear, Shakespeare criticizes inherently dangerous emotions, such as

hatred, greed, and jealousy, as they ravage the lives of the royal family and those close to them.

By creating characters who commit brazen acts of disloyalty, who want to control others, who

compete for forbidden rewards, and whose blatant disregard for others results in many deaths,

including their own, Shakespeare denounces humanity’s malevolent qualities and illustrates the

consequences these dangerous emotions can have. In King Lear, William Shakespeare condemns

the egocentrism and avariciousness of humanity.

Goneril and Regan, King Lear’s two unscrupulous daughters, abuse the duties granted to

them. Each given half of King Lear’s kingdom to rule, the two sisters use their power to take

advantage of their family in order to become more powerful. Exploiting their husbands and

others to achieve the authority they seek, they further entrench themselves in the inescapable pit

of greed and egotism. King Lear intends to have Goneril and Regan care for him when he splits

the kingdom between his daughters, but the façade of love and flattery the daughters project to

King Lear is just that – a façade. Obsessed with their newfound power, the sisters are derelict in

their duties to their father. Regan and Goneril lock King Lear out of their houses, abandoning

him during a torrential storm to show him their authority and teach him humility and obedience

(2.4.299-300). The sisters threaten to imprison and prosecute those attempting to help Lear and

ultimately wish for his death. Regan and Goneril’s failure to care for him as filial propriety

dictates constitutes a grave abuse of their power and exhibits their carelessness for their family.

The daughters fail “to respond with generosity and understanding to a father whose physical,

emotional, and mental conditions put him in need” (Young). King Lear’s fear of senility and
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decomposition initiates the gift of land and power to his daughters who “are aware of his needy

and vulnerable condition […]. [T]heir failure is deliberate and even malicious” (Young).

Even before King Lear’s daughters abandon him, they undermine their father’s authority

and refuse to grant him many of the comforts he grew accustomed to during his reign. The

sisters’ refusals do, however, contain some validity. Since King Lear has relinquished his

sovereign powers to his daughters, he has no legal right to claim authority; consequentially, this

imbalance of power creates a vicious cycle. King Lear desires something, his daughters refuse to

grant his wish, he sees this denial as devaluation of his being, leading to his near insanity and

increases his daughters’ neglect.

Shakespeare illustrates his disapproval of Goneril and Regan’s injustices against King

Lear by creating a mutual interest for the sisters (Edmund) which will eventually lead to their

deaths. Goneril and Regan romantically approach Edmund, the traitorous son of Gloucester,

although they are married. In Act Five, the culmination of their mutual love for Edmund shatters

the sisters’ alliance as Goneril fatally poisons Regan and commits suicide (5.3.98-99). In the

deaths of Regan and Goneril, Shakespeare’s condemnation of the sisters’ acquisitive, self-

centered behavior is at its strongest. The sisters suffer because of their actions, reflecting their

deeds against their father and others. Evil, Shakespeare implies, comes full circle.

Cordelia, exiled by King Lear for her unsatisfactory pledge of love and loyalty, still loves

and protects King Lear, even though he acts as if he wants nothing to do with her. The bond

between them breaks as Cordelia utters the truth of her love to King Lear when he asks how

much she loves him:

LEAR. What can you say to draw

A third [section of the kingdom] more opulent than your sisters? Speak.
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CORDELIA. Nothing, my lord.

LEAR. Nothing?

CORDELIA. Nothing.

LEAR. How? Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.

CORDELIA. Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty

According to my bond, no more nor less. [Itals. mine] (1.1.84-92)

Cordelia’s words (italicized above) destroy Lear’s hopes for a future abundant with

Cordelia’s love and care. From this point, King Lear’s mental acuity steadily decreases, causing

him and those around him grief and anguish. The failure of others to fulfill his inconsiderate and

selfish demands brings about his slow mental decay.

King Lear requests that his daughters tell of their love for him. King Lear designed this

test of filial devotion to favor Cordelia, his favorite daughter. Cordelia disappoints, stating her

love for him is “[a]ccording to [her] bond[s]” (1.1.92). King Lear places Cordelia in a perilous

situation. If Cordelia lies to King Lear and tells him of her unsurpassed love for him, she will tie

herself to King Lear and to his land for the rest of her life, with no space for a husband or family

(Stern). Cordelia’s brute, even cold honesty ruins her father’s plans for his life with Cordelia

after his kinghood. The loss of Cordelia confronts King Lear with a devastating loss of his

personal identity, security, and family. He plans his life around Cordelia’s strong love and

loyalty, and when she delivers an answer he does not expect, he loses all sense of his future.

King Lear banishes Cordelia from his kingdom, and Cordelia marries the King of France, even

though King Lear rescinds his offer of a dowry, an example of Shakespeare’s approval of

chivalrous values. After Cordelia’s “denial,” his hatred for his daughters grows so severe that he
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insults them, calling them “pelican daughters” (as Perry explains in The Making of Jacobean

Culture, “pelican” is a term used for voracious and destructive young, especially towards

parents), and curses their wombs (Shakespeare 3.4.65-70, ctd. in Holloway 430). He asks each of

the elements of a storm to condemn his daughters to a sterile life, as punishment for the

daughters’ apathy and cruelty (Holloway 430). Both King Lear and Cordelia have nothing. Her

loss of King Lear’s love and land is tantamount to King Lear’s loss of love and meaning in his

life (Stern).

King Lear’s punishment of Cordelia affects him more gravely than it does Cordelia as he

selfishly attempts to use his remaining authority as “King” to sate the needs of his ego. Young

effectively summarizes King Lear’s condition: “The self-centered self is a sickly self.” Although

he attempts to live somewhat normally, obstacles, such as his devious daughters, reverse his

efforts to succeed, and he reaches new mental nadirs. He bases his entire future upon Cordelia’s

compliancy and becomes mentally dependent on Cordelia (Young). The rage and anger that King

Lear demonstrates after he fails to obtain the care he seeks results from the inability to come to

terms with aging and senility (Stern). King Lear displaces his anger towards his subjects,

punishing Kent, the character most loyal to King Lear. King Lear tries to fulfill his need for

attention and affection and fails, becoming a more destitute, broken man (Hawkes).

Cordelia continues to protect her father from dangers, including her sisters, even though

King Lear exiled her. Cordelia’s devotion to King Lear matches Edgar’s loyalty to his father.

This fidelity is uncommon in a time where individualism is beginning to grow and “[c]hildren

are only kind to ‘fathers that bear bags’” (Shakespeare 2.4.42, qtd. in Young). Because Cordelia

loves Lear and does not covet his riches, she, along with her husband, the King of France,
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invades Lear’s kingdom to save him. Although Cordelia fails to save her father, the bravery of

her actions and the loss of her own life make her the epitome of love and loyalty.

Using death as a medium for his message, Shakespeare denounces King Lear’s self-

centered rants and narcissism but does not praise Cordelia for her loyalty, valiance, and

unconditional love. In trying to save her father from the other characters, Cordelia dies in the

greatest irony of the play. Cordelia’s death illustrates the true power of evil’s destruction and

Shakespeare’s ultimate condemnation of the evil in King Lear.

Edmund, Edgar’s brother and the illegitimate son of Gloucester, plots against Edgar to

obtain the inheritance that primogeniture and his illegitimacy deny him. As the drama unfolds,

Shakespeare shows the reader the devastating effects of Edmund’s Machiavellian values

(Dreher). Edmund shows Gloucester a letter he forged in Edgar’s name. In the letter, “Edgar”

proposes that he and Edmund work together to kill Gloucester and secure his land and money,

freeing the brothers from their responsibilities to Gloucester as he ages (12.45-58). Gloucester

dies after Edgar reveals his identity to his father. Edgar avenges Gloucester’s death by

challenging Edmund to a duel to the death. This duel represents Shakespeare’s criticism toward

the “paradigm shift” from “the feudal system of the medieval age to the individualism of the

Renaissance” (Dreher). Shakespeare obviously supports Edgar and his moral ideals.

Shakespeare’s development of Edmund reveals that “personal identity can often disintegrate”

during this transition from medieval values individualism (Dreher). This disintegration causes

the moral degeneration of the malicious characters in King Lear; they lose touch with normality

and begin to view the world in terms relating only to themselves, causing several fatal conflicts.

The struggle of Regan and Goneril against King Lear and the struggle of Edmund and Gloucester

parallel one another because the antagonists’ view of life. Regan, Goneril, and Edmund want
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their fathers’ power and riches without the responsibility of taking care of their aging parents.

Dreher summarizes the struggle accurately and succinctly: “These three schemers […]

manipulate their aging fathers and gain dominance. Without the restraint of [caring] roles […],

they delight in their sadistic acts, driven by appetite and an insatiable lust for power.”

Gloucester, after reading the letter, orders the guards to find and capture Edgar if seen.

Edmund tells Edgar of their father’s search for him, and Edgar disguises himself as a vagrant in

the town to stay near his father. Even though Gloucester intends Edgar harm, Edgar helps him

throughout the drama by assisting him during troubled times and saving his life (Shakespeare

2.3.1-21, ctd. in Rosen). Both Edgar and Edmund reach extremes in the drama. Edmund will

superficially mutilate himself to back up his malicious plot, and Edgar will anonymously

challenge Edmund in a potentially fatal duel to avenge the injustices against Gloucester. These

extremes are the quintessence of maliciousness and faithfulness, respectfully. Edgar embodies

chivalry and loyalty, representing medieval ideals competing for power in a society dominated

by a more self-centric, renaissance society. Edgar succeeds in killing Edmund and avenging his

father. With this murder, Shakespeare focuses on the conflict between medieval ideals and

renaissance ideals, condemning the power-driven society, its products, and the cruel morals of

Edmund through Edmund’s death. Edmund’s death represents Shakespeare’s approval of the

medieval emphasis on strong filial bonds, which Edgar exemplifies through his unwavering

loyalty to his father (Rosen).

The self-centrism and avarice of humanity weakens loyalty and creates conflict between

characters, like those between King Lear and his servant Kent and between Gloucester and

Regan. These conflicts, caused by the weakened loyalty, drive the drama forward and provide

insight into the characters’ selves through their actions. King Lear exiles Kent after Kent
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questions his decision to banish Cordelia, breaking the bonds of loyalty between a superior and

his subject (1.1.167-179). King Lear’s unfaithfulness to his loyal subjects and rage originate

from two sources: his concept of himself and his anger towards subjects beyond his control. Kent

rejects King Lear’s actions as unfounded and Lear consequently exiles; Lear believes he never

falters in his judgments, building an unrealistically perfect self-image (Holloway 437). The

second source of King Lear’s rage is “fundamentally against Time,” the betrayal of his

daughters, and those who attempt to reason with him (Stern). King Lear represents the failure of

loyalty throughout the drama and eventually dies of grief over his own actions. “[T]he

playwright is careful to motivate each [plot] change so as not to dilute a character’s strength as a

representative figure” (Boyce 349). Kent, the consummate loyal subject, goes to great lengths to

protect King Lear and his good name. He, Cordelia, and Edgar all show their unwavering and

magnificent loyalty to their respective elders in various ways. Kent shows his in a way similar to

Edgar by disguising himself. Trying to protect King Lear’s good name against a servant of King

Lear’s daughter, Kent finds himself placed on the stocks for challenging the servant. He also

protects King Lear by offering him advice during his service in disguise, helping King Lear

make the reasonable and morally correct decisions, however effort may be.

Gloucester, concurrently dealing with the loss of his eldest son’s loyalty, remains loyal to

King Lear. He is one of the few characters who remain loyal to King Lear even when facing a

devastating personal crisis. Regan’s ruthlessness and cruelty reach their peaks as she tears out

Gloucester’s eyes for his loyalty to King Lear (Shakespeare 3.7.65-66, ctd. in Stern). Gloucester

finds himself blinded and clueless in the streets of the town; a former tenant of his assists

Gloucester until Edgar finds his father (Shakespeare 4.1.14-16, ctd. in Rosen). Shakespeare

rewards Gloucester’s loyalty by using Edgar to help him cope with the tragedy and abuse he has
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endured. Gloucester dies, symbolizing the ultimate criticism of Edmund’s wickedness and

demonstrating the true power of evil. Shakespeare’s condemnation of Edmund’s disloyalty

through Gloucester’s death – an innocent death, one of two in the novel – affects both the reader

and the characters, showing how strongly Shakespeare feels about Edmund’s disloyalty (Rosen).

Shakespeare’s criticism of self-centeredness and avarice drives the plot forward with the

condemnations of characters such as King Lear, Edmund, Goneril, and Regan. Using death and

destruction as a medium for his message, Shakespeare illustrates the consequences of

wickedness and immorality through the fortune of his characters. Throughout King Lear,

Shakespeare’s critical commentary delineates the consequences of evil through his characters’

fate and provides few positive consequences for those characters that embody the ideals of

altruism and loyalty, showing the reader the true iniquities of evil.
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Works Cited

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and Times, and More. New York: Roundtable, 1990.

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287-301. Literary Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Chesterfield County Public Lib, VA.

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Holloway, John. “The Tragedy of King Lear.” The Reader’s Encyclopedia of Shakespeare. Ed.

Oscar James Campbell and Edward G. Quinn. New York: Crowell, 1966. 427-440.

Perry, Curtis. The Making of Jacobean Culture: James I and the Renegotiation of Elizabethan

Literary Practice. Cambridge UP, 1997. Google Books. 19 April 2008

<http://books.google.com/books?id=YmNxMg9TLZQC>.

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Stern, Jeffery. “King Lear: The Transference of the Kingdom.” Shakespeare Quarterly 41.3

(1990): 299-308. Literary Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Chesterfield County Public

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