King Lear is play of passion and power; ignorance and insight; light and darkness. There have been many productions of King
Lear and although a large number of post-modern directors have used certain social conventions as the focus of their plays, these particular elements always stand out. However, the characters are depicted according to the social, cultural and historical contexts chosen by the director.
Shakespeare has used vocabulary and imagery a great deal in this scene to denote the particular traits of the characters and to make their “intentions” come across without stating the obvious. This can be seen in Goneril’s profession of love for her
father. She states that she “loves her father more than words can wield the matter”… “No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour”. She is using what she values most to create an analogy to her love for her father. But the word honour gives away her intent as Elizabethan women were more inclined to value health, grace and beauty as opposed to honour. Honour symbolises power and was associated more with the men of the time which suggests that Goneril is
trying to buy her share of the Kingdom by “speaking and purposing not”. Imagery is also used, for example, when Lear states that “the vine’s of France or the milk of burgundy strive to be interest” in Cordelia’s love. He is not looking for what will benefit Cordelia but what will benefit him. By stating the produce of the two lands it sounds as though he is planning business rather than trying to marry off his daughter. This portrays the egotistic nature of Lear.
So therefore, It can be derived from the language of the extract that Lear is quite an autocratic ruler and in being so, is oblivious to anything outside his scope. This is apparent when Lear abdicates responsibility of his realm to the “glib and oily art” of his two malicious daughters, Goneril and Regan. He completely disregards Cordelia’s honesty and banishes her, dividing her share of the kingdom between her malevolent siblings. This proves that Lear is a man of poor judgement, as he allows his emotions to supersede his rational pattern of thought. He is also very insecure “Which of you doth love us most that we our largest bounty doth with merit challenge?” as he doubts the love of his own family for him. Lear’s character could also be interpreted as insane, because he is allocating his daughters to land and the responsibility of his crown in accordance with how much they love him. A kingdom cannot be distributed in relation to love because love is immeasurable.