King Lear

Goneril and Regan , Lear's first two daughters, please king Lear greatly with
their speeches and he happily gives them large parts of his kingdom. But
beautiful words can hide ugly feelings and Lear doesn't understand this. He
cannot see the selfish, ungrateful hearts that secretly exist behind Goneril's
and Regan's dishonest and meaningless speeches.
Cordelia, his youngest daughter, is different from her sisters. Unlike them she
really loves her father but also unlike them she speaks honestly about her
feelings, she loves him as a child should love a father that is all, Lear mistake
her simple honesty for coldness of heart, and he angrily sends her away. After
he gives Cordelia's part of kingdom to her two lying sisters, his real problem
begins. He gradually starts to see how his two daughters are mean and cruel ,
and that they don't truly love him like Cordelia who got married to king of
France and travelled there
On the other hand, earl of Gloucester is blinded by his bastard son Edmund
who convinces him that his legitimate son Edgar is planning to kill him to
fasten his inheritance. Gloucester gets angry and orders to kill Edgar.
Meanwhile Edgar disguises himself as a mad beggar and call himself poor
tom
Cordelia sends a French army to help her father from the filthy hands of her
two sisters who fight over Edmund
Gloucester receives a letter informing him of the incoming French army and
tells his son Edmund, but Edmund betrays him and tells Goneril and Regan
who tie Gloucester to a chair and order Cornwall Regan's husband to take
Gloucester eyes out with his sword but a servant attacks Cornwall and
severely injures him Cornwall keeps bleeding till death
 Main Themes
Lack of wisdom
Lack of wisdom can be traced through the character of King Lear as he
decided to divide his own kingdom based on a shallow love test. He decided
to ask his three daughters to express their love towards him using words and
based on their answer, he would give them a part of the kingdom.as a result
he was deceived by the flattering words of Goneril and Regan and he
misjudged Cordelia the daughter who loved him the most. Also, he gave
Cordelia's part to Goneril and Regan and banished her out of the kingdom.
Similarly, Gloucester was a superstitious character who was easily tricked by
his bastard son Edmund. Edmund fabricated a letter that convinced
Gloucester that his son Edgar wanted to kill him. As a result, Gloucester
turned against Edgar and wanted to kill him both Lear and Gloucester's lack
of wisdom has led to their tragic end.
Poetic justice
Poetic justice was applied when one of the anonymous servants defended
Gloucester against Cornwall. While Cornwall was attacking Gloucester one
of the servants attacked him and he was hurt but after he stabbed Gloucester's
eyes, Cornwall died directly afterwards as if that anonymous servant is
applying the poetic justice and is being the hand of God in showing that what
goes around comes around.
Moreover, what King Lear and Gloucester faced after showing injustice to
both Cordelia and Edgar can be seen as a part of applying poetic justice for
both children. Lear has paid the price of his shallow-minded judgements as
he turned mad. Similarly, Gloucester has paid his own eyesight
 Father-daughter relationship
Shakespeare's king Lear has represented the theme of father-daughter
relationship through showing two contradictory father-daughter relationship
both Goneril and Regan represent an evil relationship as they betrayed their
own father and conspired against him because they only wanted his kingdom,
they faked their love towards him to take his kingdom. Then they wanted to
weaken his power and asked him to send away his knights. They showed no
pity towards their father's sadness or anger and when Gloucester wanted to
follow him, they asked him to stop. On the contrary, Cordelia was loyal to
her father as she decided to ignite a war against her own sisters when she
heard about the horrible actions of them towards king Lear. She forgot the
injustice her father has shown her and decided to help him and to sacrifice
everything for him.
Father-son relationship
Father-son relationship is a major theme that can be traced through the
characters of Gloucester's sons Edgar and Edmund. Both sons are considered
two foil characters as they are two complete opposites. Edgar is a lawful son
who is loved and respected by everyone, but Edmund is a bastard who doesn't
know anything except hatred, jealousy and envy. Edmund has decided to
fabricate a letter and destroy the relationship between Edgar and Gloucester.
Moreover, he was the main reason behind Gloucester's misery and blindness
because he is the one who told Cornwall about Gloucester's secret plans to
help the king. although Edgar has faced injustice, he has never hesitated to
help his father Gloucester and he has defended him against Oswald
 Betrayal and conspiracy
Betrayal is shown through how Goneril and Regan betrayed their own father
and wanted to take everything that ever belonged to him. They had taken his
kingdom and didn't care about him. Moreover, betrayal was also clear when
Edmund betrayed both his brother and his father. first, he convinced
Gloucester that Edgar wanted to kill him. Then, he told Cornwall about
Gloucester's secret help to the king of France. Finally, betrayal can be traced
when Goneril wanted to conspire with Edmund against her husband Albany
she wanted Edmund to kill her husband so both can marry
Suffering and regret
Suffering has been a result of Lear's lack of wisdom and misjudgment. Lear
started to regret what he had done with Cordelia when his daughters' true evil
nature started to appear once they had everything, they forgot all the promises
that had ever promised. Lear started losing his mind and his misery started to
be his only companion. Similarly, Gloucester's lack of wisdom led him to
suffering and regret. He was betrayed by Edmund so misery and regret were
his destiny. After he had lost both eyes, he recognized his fault. Both king
Lear and Gloucester share the same suffering as both were betrayed by their
chosen children and both have faced a tragic end.