Thursday, November 7, 2013
The Heart of It All
Of all the major characters in King Lear Cordelia has the fewest lines (116 lines, barely edging out Cornwall and less than her two sisters). Yet, her actions are central to the play: her refusal to flatter her father leads to her banishment, her rescue of Lear restores his sanity, her senseless death leads to Lear's own death. The history of this play is also full of questions and controversies about her character. Is her refusal to flatter Lear an act of honesty or defiance? Is her portrayal in the Folio significantly different from the Quarto? Is there a connection between the Fool and Cordelia (the two never appear on stage together)? Why did Nahum Tate's adaptation of the play, in which Cordelia survives and marries Edgar, essentially replace Shakespeare's original from 1681 to 1838? FOCUS on a speech, a scene or a controversy and explain Cordelia's importance to the play.
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One of the controversies that surrounds Cordelia in King Lear centers on her speech to Lear about how she cannot give him all her love, this speech is not an act of defiance however as it might seem at first but only a little brutal honesty. This speech at first seems to be an exemplification of one of the major themes of the play, filial piety, more specifically the effect its disappearance can have on the world. The loss of filial piety in the royal family magnifies its effects because of the hereditary tradition of both power and land. In fact in the very selfsame scene Lear is dividing his kingdom upon his daughters, a decision that will come to haunt him as Regan and Goneril turn on their father and leave him without a kingdom. This fact combined with Cordelia’s steadfast defense of her father, even while in exile would seem to dismiss any suggestion that her love was not more true than her sister’s. And yet when Lear asks her how much she loves him, instead of replying like her sisters saying “I love you more than the world can wield the matter” (1.1.60). She replies bluntly saying “I love your majesty according to my bond no more, no less”(1.1.101). This bond it turns out, is quite large and she loves her father quite a bit more than either of her sisters, and yet her honesty shows some thing about what a good son or daughter is supposed to be. Someone who is honest, and willing to go the extra mile for their family, some one who will while starting their own family always keep a place in their heart for their parents.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major controversies surrounding Cordelia in Shakespeare’s King Lear is her relationship with the fool, because they never appear on stage together. In order to understand why this is, it is necessary to look at Lear’s relationship with each character. It is obvious that the fool’s main purpose in this play is to make fun of Lear and be completely honest with him, because that was actually what a fool’s job was. Soon after Lear gave up his land and his titles, the Fool calls Lear himself a fool because, “All thy other titles thou hast given away. That thou wast born with,” (1.4.153-4). Here, the Fool is telling Lear that he is an idiot for giving all of his possessions, which includes Cordelia, away. In other words, the Fool is telling Lear that is proper place is not where he currently is. Lear, instead of having no titles and no land, is supposed to beside the one daughter who he truly loves, which is Cordelia. The reason that Cordelia and the Fool are never on stage together is because when ever Lear is with Cordelia, he is where he is supposed to be. Whenever Lear is away from Cordelia, the fool comes on stage in order to try correct Lear’s position, and tell Lear that he doesn’t belong without Cordelia.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that Lear is, in fact, supposed to be by Cordelia’s side because she is what ends up curing him of his insanity. When Lear begins to wake up from his insanity, he says to Cordelia, “I am a very foolish fond old man,... I fear I am not in my perfect mind… I think this lady to be my child Cordelia,” (4.7.69/72/78-9). At the beginning of this speech, Lear is insane, and even admits that he is a fool, but by the end of the speech Lear is cured by Cordelia’s love and is able to recognize her. The language here further proves that the fool’s purpose was to try to bring Lear and Cordelia back together. Lear admits that he is in fact a fool, just like the actual Fool called him, for being away from Cordelia. By the end of this speech, Lear leaves this foolishness behind because he is now with Cordelia. Thus, there is no reason for the Fool to be on stage with Cordelia because when Lear is with Cordelia, he is in the right place.
At the very beginning of King Lear, Lear asks his daughters each to tell him how much they love him. His youngest daughter, Cordelia, decides not to give in to his wishes to prove a point. I believe the point she is trying to make here is that Lear takes his daughters for granted. Cordelia’s way of proving that her father needs her rather than the other way around is this act of defiance. Cordelia is very clear and calm as she says, “I love your Majesty / According to my bond, no more nor less” (1.1.101-2). It’s obvious that Lear will take this as a shock because Cordelia is his favorite daughter. She knows that this will happen. This act eventually leads to Lear’s reconciliation with himself about the life he has lived so far. As Lear experiences the world as a homeless man and says, “O, I have ta’en / Too little care of this” (3.4.37-8) he realizes that he has looked over important things. While he may be talking about the poor people in his former kingdom here, it shows that he has been ignorant, possibly of his family too. How much he truly needs his daughter is summed up in the scene where Lear is finally cured of his insanity. A few scenes later it is clear that Lear is now truly thankful for his daughter as he says to Cordelia, “Come, let’s away to prison. / We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage” (5.3.9-10). Lear accepting a life of just sitting with his daughter shows that he knows what is important now.
ReplyDeleteCordelia plays an integral role in the very first scene of King Lear. Her unwillingness to lie to Lear about how much she loves him sets her up as representation of goodness and virtue for the whole play. Her goodness is emphasized even more by all the lying, trickery and evil acts undertaken by many of the other character in the play. An example of this shows up in the very start with her sister. They both have no qualms about lying to their father about how much they love him.
ReplyDeleteWhen Cordelia says, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty/According to my bond, no more no less.”(1.1.100-3), she immedaitly becomes an audience favorite. She is willing to tell her father that she does love him but only as much as she is expected, not more. She is being realistic, knowing that she will love her future husband, when she is married. Audiences sympathized with her when she was banished, because no one wants to be punished for telling the truth, since honesty is supposedly considered a virtue. And even after she is banished by her own father for telling the truth, she still wants to help him. She is the perfect daughter, even if King Lear does not recognize it in the beginning. The audience become especially attached to Cordelia because among all the trickery and deceit in the play, Cordelia is shown to always be truthful and kind. That is why Nahum Tate’s adaptation became so popular, over the original. If Cordelia dies at the end, it is like purity and virtue die with her, and that is something audiences could not handle.