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Dramatic Irony
Act 1, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Lear's Three Daughters:
In Act 1, Scene 1, when Lear asks Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia to profess their love to him in a bid for a share of his kingdom, he pits them directly against each other. It follows that the audience would compare each coming declaration of love with the others, and from this moment onwards, the two deceitful daughters, Regan and Goneril, function as foils for their loyal sister Cordelia. The differences between the daughters’ declarations, excerpted below, are quite stark:
Goneril: Sir, do love you more than word can wield the matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor,
As much as child e'er loved or father found;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.
Goneril’s declaration rests on the most dramatic series of statements possible, as she exits the bounds of reason in an effort to insist on her devotion to her father. Regan builds on this approach, saying:
Regan: I am made of that self mettle as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart,
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses[...].
Regan essentially tries to one-up Goneril’s over-the-top proclamation, offering a sweeping rejection of all the joys Goneril omitted in favor of her love. Cordelia, on the other hand, takes a different approach:
Cordelia: Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less.
At first listen, Cordelia’s speech strikes the audience as particularly plain in comparison to those of her sisters. Indeed, it is this very simplicity that draws Lear’s ire and leads to his banishment of his daughter. But Cordelia's plainness of speech underscores her genuine care and affection for her father, while Regan and Goneril have merely overcompensated for their coming treachery by lavishing their father with words of love.
By the end of the play, it is clear that Cordelia alone cares for her father. When Edmund imprisons them both in Act 5, Scene 3, Cordelia expresses her forgiveness for Lear’s cruelty:
We are not the first
Who with best meaning have incurred the worst.
For thee, oppressèd King, I am cast down.
Myself could else outfrown false Fortune’s frown.
When Lear pits Cordelia against Regan and Goneril in the beginning of the play, he establishes that the characters may function as foils for each other. Through Cordelia’s consistent generosity towards her father, even as he falls from grace and faces betrayal after betrayal from his daughters and former court, the stark differences between Cordelia and her sisters emerge.
Related Themes:
Act 2, scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Kent and Oswald:
Although they are both royal servants of King Lear, Kent and Oswald have decidedly different dispositions toward their master. Over the course of the play, the two servants come to embody different styles of service and ultimately act as foils to each other. This is especially evident in their dramatic confrontation in Act 2, Scene 2, which sees Kent—in disguise as Caius and unwilling to abandon his king—admonishing Oswald for his selfishness and moral abandon:
Oswald: What do you know about me then?
Kent: A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service; and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch, one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou denies the least syllable of thy addition.
Kent's strong words in this passage draw a clear line between him and Oswald, making it obvious that they're at odds with one another.
Furthermore, while Kent’s dogged loyalty persists even as Lear banishes him from the kingdom, Oswald’s fealty is not nearly as steadfast. In Act 1, Scene 3, Goneril conscripts Oswald in her plans against her father, and for the rest of the play he is a part of the increasingly depraved maneuvers against Lear and the kingdom. Coming upon a blinded Gloucester in Act 4, Scene 6, Oswald reveals the depths of his depravity:
A proclaimed prize! Most happy!
That eyeless head of thine was first framed flesh
To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor,
Briefly thyself remember. The sword is out
That must destroy thee.
Oswald is concerned only with his own enrichment and advancement, even if this means he must engage in wanton murder. Where Kent serves Lear without a thought for himself, Oswald serves himself without much of a thought for everybody. By pitting Kent and Oswald against each other early in the play, Shakespeare establishes the two servants as foils that, through their conflict with each other and within the kingdom, emphasize the disparity between their styles of service and visions of their duty.
Related Themes:
Act 4, scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Kent and Oswald:
Although they are both royal servants of King Lear, Kent and Oswald have decidedly different dispositions toward their master. Over the course of the play, the two servants come to embody different styles of service and ultimately act as foils to each other. This is especially evident in their dramatic confrontation in Act 2, Scene 2, which sees Kent—in disguise as Caius and unwilling to abandon his king—admonishing Oswald for his selfishness and moral abandon:
Oswald: What do you know about me then?
Kent: A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service; and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch, one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou denies the least syllable of thy addition.
Kent's strong words in this passage draw a clear line between him and Oswald, making it obvious that they're at odds with one another.
Furthermore, while Kent’s dogged loyalty persists even as Lear banishes him from the kingdom, Oswald’s fealty is not nearly as steadfast. In Act 1, Scene 3, Goneril conscripts Oswald in her plans against her father, and for the rest of the play he is a part of the increasingly depraved maneuvers against Lear and the kingdom. Coming upon a blinded Gloucester in Act 4, Scene 6, Oswald reveals the depths of his depravity:
A proclaimed prize! Most happy!
That eyeless head of thine was first framed flesh
To raise my fortunes. Thou old unhappy traitor,
Briefly thyself remember. The sword is out
That must destroy thee.
Oswald is concerned only with his own enrichment and advancement, even if this means he must engage in wanton murder. Where Kent serves Lear without a thought for himself, Oswald serves himself without much of a thought for everybody. By pitting Kent and Oswald against each other early in the play, Shakespeare establishes the two servants as foils that, through their conflict with each other and within the kingdom, emphasize the disparity between their styles of service and visions of their duty.
Related Themes:
Act 5, scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Lear's Three Daughters:
In Act 1, Scene 1, when Lear asks Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia to profess their love to him in a bid for a share of his kingdom, he pits them directly against each other. It follows that the audience would compare each coming declaration of love with the others, and from this moment onwards, the two deceitful daughters, Regan and Goneril, function as foils for their loyal sister Cordelia. The differences between the daughters’ declarations, excerpted below, are quite stark:
Goneril: Sir, do love you more than word can wield the matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor,
As much as child e'er loved or father found;
A love that makes breath poor and speech unable.
Goneril’s declaration rests on the most dramatic series of statements possible, as she exits the bounds of reason in an effort to insist on her devotion to her father. Regan builds on this approach, saying:
Regan: I am made of that self mettle as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart,
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses[...].
Regan essentially tries to one-up Goneril’s over-the-top proclamation, offering a sweeping rejection of all the joys Goneril omitted in favor of her love. Cordelia, on the other hand, takes a different approach:
Cordelia: Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less.
At first listen, Cordelia’s speech strikes the audience as particularly plain in comparison to those of her sisters. Indeed, it is this very simplicity that draws Lear’s ire and leads to his banishment of his daughter. But Cordelia's plainness of speech underscores her genuine care and affection for her father, while Regan and Goneril have merely overcompensated for their coming treachery by lavishing their father with words of love.
By the end of the play, it is clear that Cordelia alone cares for her father. When Edmund imprisons them both in Act 5, Scene 3, Cordelia expresses her forgiveness for Lear’s cruelty:
We are not the first
Who with best meaning have incurred the worst.
For thee, oppressèd King, I am cast down.
Myself could else outfrown false Fortune’s frown.
When Lear pits Cordelia against Regan and Goneril in the beginning of the play, he establishes that the characters may function as foils for each other. Through Cordelia’s consistent generosity towards her father, even as he falls from grace and faces betrayal after betrayal from his daughters and former court, the stark differences between Cordelia and her sisters emerge.
Related Themes:
