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King Lear: Three Sisters Comparison

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King Lear: Three Sisters Comparison
King Lear: Three Sisters Comparison

When trying to compare the three sisters in William Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, it is all most very clear to see the difference between the youngest sister Cordelia and the two oldest sisters Goneril and Regan. The more difficult part is deciphering which out of the two older sisters, Goneril and Regan, are more evil than the other. The personalities between Cordelia and her other two sisters, Goneril and Regan, are very close to opposite. Throughout this essay, it will prove with quotes from the play and other various information on how these sisters differ from each other, and how they are similar.

The youngest daughters of King Lear is Cordelia, the one favored the most out of the three. Cordelia first introduces herself and her personality when we hear her talking to herself in this quote, “What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.” (1.1.). When this quote is first heard in the play it helps describes Cordelia as a person aware of her conscience. Here she is deciding what she is going to say to her father when he has asked his daughters to profess their love for him and in return receive his land. Just shortly after Cordelia is heard again, “I am sure my love’s / More ponderous than my tongue,” asking herself again what she is going to say. This helps prove the first point of her self-conscience, by Cordelia wondering what she is going to say to her father. This quote also points out her real love for her father, unlike her two other sisters that exaggerate their love for the reason of receiving more land from their father. Cordelia proves that she is a very kind hearted and forgiving person when she helps protect her father from her other two sisters, who’s only plans for their father is to kill and dispose of him. Ever after her own father had disowned her and gave her away, she still forgave him and brought him back to her land were he was safe from her other two sisters, Goneril and Regan.

Regan, who is

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