The
paper looks at the importance of the father-
daughter relationship to the playwright and the Sixteenth Century society he wrote for. The paper highlights the Shakespearean play "King Lear" as containing the perfect example of such a relationship, in the way King Lear loved Cordelia, his third daughter. The paper also examines other heroines of Shakespeare who have also been shown in roles as daughters, where they either help their fathers or become a source of genuine comfort for them.