King Lear And Cordelia Death Essay, Research Paper

King Lear is a tragedy unlike any other written by William Shakespeare. It

focuses on the psychological downfall of a powerful King. It proves that as long

as a nation has a king on the throne all is well, but as soon as a king steps

off the throne nothing but chaos transpires. The downfall of the king results in

the downfall of the kingdom. More importantly, it focuses on the relationship

between parent and child. This is proven in two plots with the most important

being the relationship between Cordelia and King Lear. Lear goes through a

period of great mental instability in which he gives up his throne, gives up his

daughter Cordelia, and also gives up his sanity. When this happens all hell

breaks loose among the characters, and the evil persona Edmund takes control of

the plot. In most cases love is thought to shine through all evil, however it is

not the case in King Lear. Cordelia must die to illustrate that good does not

always conquer evil, and this is shown no matter how painful it may be for the

audience. This is stated in an essay by Northrop Frye called King Lear who says

that this reflects "the principle that the evil men do lives after

them" (148) no matter what good may try to do to defeat it. Cordelia is the

epitome of a true person. Unlike her sisters, she is sweet, honest, loving, and

good. From the start Cordelia speaks the truth even though it hurts her father’s

feelings, and sends him spinning into an eventual rejection of her. Her sisters

Goneril and Regan are hypocritic wenches who profess their undying love for Lear

without an ounce of truth to back it up. Cordelia tries to show this to her

father, but he is completely blind to it, and cannot see that Cordelia loves him

the best of all three of his daughters. When Lear asks Cordelia how much she

loves him she simply replies "I love your Majesty/According to my bond, no

more nor less"; (Act 1, Scene1, 94-5) plainly she loves him as much as a

daughter should love her father without over or understepping her bounds. The

reader instantly takes a liking to Cordelia for her truthfulness, and feels

nothing but sorrow for her when Lear disowns her because of what seems to be a

redeeming quality. Cordelia never loses her love for her father even after he

has disowned her, and this is yet another reason it is so hard to see her die.

Lear’s downfall begins when he gives up his kingdom to his daughters. He is no

longer the ruler of the kingdom, and has no real authority left. When he breaks

his crown, the powers of evil burst through and take over everything virtuous

they come across. Evil is directly connected to the downfall of the kingdom.

This can be compared to a wheel rolling down a hill; when the wheel of evil

starts rolling it gains momentum crushing everything in its path until it

reaches the bottom. Nothing is spared, and nothing can stop it. Cordelia is not

spared, and love can not stop it. Lear does not begin to regain his sanity until

he overcomes his blindness towards his daughters. Even after he finds out that

Regan and Goneril only used him for his land and title, Lear does not blame

himself for falling into their trap. He still puts the blame on everybody else

saying "I am a man/ More sinned against than sinning" (Act 3, Scene 2,

58-9). He does not realize that he cannot start healing until he takes

responsibility for his own actions. One reason that for Cordelia’s death is to

punish Lear for thinking that Cordelia did not love him. It takes Lear a very

long time to realize that his two seemingly precious daughters have swindled

him, and it is this long time period that allows evil to penetrate into all the

characters including the faultless Cordelia. By the time Lear regains his sight

and sees Regan and Goneril as "a disease that’s in [his] flesh" (Act

2, Scene 4, 221) the worst has already been done, and there is no way that

anything can change what has come to pass. His blindness in the end costs him

all three of his daughters, Cordelia being the most moving of all for the

audience. Lear and Cordelia are finally reconciled late in the play, and as

Simon O. Lesser states in a work titled Act One, Scene One, of Lear "their

love-reappears in its original intensity, if not in heightened intensity"

(171) which leads the reader to believe that the world will end up as it should

be. As the play continues the notion of love being a healing redemptive force is

quickly shattered. One reason that Cordelia’s death so painful is this reuniting

of father and daughter where Lear seems to be perfectly sane and at peace. When

he and Cordelia are being taken to jail he tells her to go with him, and to have

no fear. He tells her that they will "live,/And pray, and sing, and tell

old tales, and laugh" (Act5, Scene 3, 11-2) because no matter where they

are, as long as they are together they shall be happy. Now that Lear has

regained sanity, and once again found love for Cordelia it seems the pain and

destruction will end. This cannot happen though, because Lear is no longer the

king of the country, and as there is not yet a king the world has not yet been

restored to its rightful place. The final blow from evil’s wretched hand comes

with the sentencing of Lear and Cordelia. The head of all the disaster Edmund,

sentenced Lear and Cordelia to be hung while he was acting as King. When he is

finally defeated all the attention is focused on his collapse, and Lear and

Cordelia’s impending dooms are all but forgotten. When finally they are

remembered Edmund renounces the sentencing, and it seems as though their lives

will be spared. But it is too late; Cordelia has already vanished from existence

at the end of a noose. It is dreadful to imagine Lear’s reaction to this as he

cries "Howl, howl, howl, howl,! O, you are men/of stones:" (Act 5,

Scene 3, 258-9) as he has again lost his dear daughter. It proves what no one

wants to believe, that "this destruction of the good through the evil of

others is one of the tragic facts of life" (212) as stated in an essay

titled King Lear by A.C. Bradley. Love as a redemptive quality in King Lear is

nonexistent. On the surface it seems utterly needless for Cordelia to die. She

does nothing wrong or evil to deserve such a horrible fate. Once Lear overcomes

his blindness and can see again it is too late to stop Cordelia’s death. The

evil has been given too much time to take over and conquer, and even finds its

way to the most innocent of all characters. The wrath of evil can be shown in no

better way than in the destruction of Cordelia "an innocent victim swept

away in the convulsion caused by the error or guilt of others" (Bradley,

212) which is a heart wrenching end to a tragic play. As painful as it is for

the audience to read of Cordelia’s death it completes the cycle of the wheel

barreling down the hill. It does not stop unil it reaches the bottom, and

unfortunately at the bottom is the helpless Cordelia who cannot get out of the

way to be saved from the hand of evil.

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