How Ugly Didst Thou In Cordelear

Eloise, I liked how you narrowed in on the character of King Lear to incorporate the words “nature”, “natural”, and “unnatural”. King Lear uses the term nature many times throughout the play. I agree with you that Lear feels it is in the nature of his daughters to obey they father. In 1.4, after realizing how awful his daughter Goneril is, Lear says of Cordelia, “O most small fault, how ugly didst thou in Cordelia show, which like an engine wrenched my frame of nature” (257-259). Lear is acknowledging that Cordelia’s tiny flaw completely bent him out of shape and wrongfully removed any love he had for her. In the same scene, Lear says to Albany and Goneril, “Hear, Nature, hear, dear goddess, hear! Suspend thy purpose if thou didst intend/