King Lear Research Paper

“Live by the sword, die by the sword” was said by a man who is considered by many the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This was to explain that to live by a certain lifestyle you will also die by the same lifestyle, in this case if you are to live a villainous lifestyle; you will also die as a result of that villainous lifestyle. This is defined by the three characters Goneril, Edmund and Regan as their evil and malicious intent eventually leads to their end in the “masterpiece” written by William Shakespeare; King Lear. The deaths of Edmund, Goneril and Regan; Shakespeare has shown that good does not vanquish evil but that evil eventually leads to its own destruction.

Goneril as a character seems to be the crueler of the two sisters in the play, …show more content…
Regan proclaims to her father “How, in one house, should many people, under two commands, Hold amity? ‘Tis hard; almost impossible.” making the reader wonder if she is throwing a subliminal shot at her counterpart as the other ruler of Britain who is also listening in to the conversation going on. Ultimately, this was somewhat of a foreshadowing of the two sisters not being able to coexist as two power figures as Goneril takes Regan’s life and then takes her own. In addition to that, Regan’s abandonment of her father to the madness inducing storm, defines her as a character with no moral high grounds. As she claims after Lear is kicked out of Gloucester’s castle “O sir, to wilful men, the Injuries that they themselves procure Must be their schoolmasters.” kicking her own father out saying that he will learn from his mistakes is cruel and is unfathomable to the readers to think of a daughter doing this to the former king and father. This act exposes to the reader that Regan will do anything to achieve her desires, and eventually dies because of these strong desires. Lastly, the now widowed Regan’s jealousy over her Goneril’s fling with Edmund ends with her being poisoned by the sister. During conversation with Goneril’s servant Regan claims “My lord is dead; Edmund and I have …show more content…
Edmund is introduced as someone who feels like isn’t getting enough because of his title as a “bastard”, he with much sadness says “Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund As to th’ legitimate. Fine word, ‘legitimate’,” while in the beginning of the soliloquy and end there’s a beautiful message of him wanting to rid the societal stigma for bastards but his intentions were always to take land from Edgar which is a small reward for such a big problem; although his message started off as a good one his actions to rid the stigma and gain what he sought out for were leading to the end of the illegitimate Edmund. When all's said and done with Edgar being banished because of Edmund, he decides to move on to his father who is now also looked at as a villain; planning to tell Cornwall about his father’s betrayal saying “This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke Instantly know; and of that letter too: This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me That much my father loses; no less than all: The younger rises when the old doth fall.”. This was his biggest mistake as when this happened it was the reason why Gloucester and Edgar found each other which led to Oswald trying to go after Gloucester that turned into a series of events that ended with Edmund

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