PARALLEL BETWEEN CORDELIA AND EDGAR
In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, the good children are disowned by their fathers, but they do not stop loving their fathers and they eventually come back to rescue them from their misery. Shakespeare uses characterization of Cordelia and Edgar to show how true children will always love their parents even if they are sinned against. Cordelia is disowned by her father while Edgar is forced to disown himself. Eventually they forgive their fathers and aide in their recovery from insanity. Edgar’s and Cordelia’s love for their fathers is so strong that they become the reason for their fathers’ death.
Cordelia is disowned by her father while Edgar disowns himself. Cordelia and Edgar are disowned in two different ways, yet there are many similarities. When Cordelia is asked to address her love for her father King Lear, she is unable to “heave” her heart into her mouth (1, 82-83).The imagery created shows how it is impossible to say how one truly feels. Lear is enraged because his authority’s at risk and therefore, disowns Cordelia:
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity, and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation
Messes to gorge his appetite,
Shall be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved
As thou, my sometime daughter. (1,105-112)
This passage from the play is rich in imagery. Lear compares him rejecting his daughter to barbarians who eat their own children for dinner. The metaphor shows to which extent Lear hates his own daughter because she can’t express her love for him. Edgar is also disowned by his father but in a different manner. There is never a face-to-face conversation where Gloucester disowns Edgar. It happens through the circumstances created by Edmund. When Edmund tells his father that Edgar plans to kill him, at first Gloucester is in doubt. But Edmund manages to persuade his father with a fake letter. “Love cools,
Cordelia is disowned by her father while Edgar disowns himself. Cordelia and Edgar are disowned in two different ways, yet there are many similarities. When Cordelia is asked to address her love for her father King Lear, she is unable to “heave” her heart into her mouth (1, 82-83).The imagery created shows how it is impossible to say how one truly feels. Lear is enraged because his authority’s at risk and therefore, disowns Cordelia:
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity, and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation
Messes to gorge his appetite,
Shall be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved
As thou, my sometime daughter. (1,105-112)
This passage from the play is rich in imagery. Lear compares him rejecting his daughter to barbarians who eat their own children for dinner. The metaphor shows to which extent Lear hates his own daughter because she can’t express her love for him. Edgar is also disowned by his father but in a different manner. There is never a face-to-face conversation where Gloucester disowns Edgar. It happens through the circumstances created by Edmund. When Edmund tells his father that Edgar plans to kill him, at first Gloucester is in doubt. But Edmund manages to persuade his father with a fake letter. “Love cools,