I had a hard time choosing just what to talk about for this post, since there was just so much packed into those two acts. So I decided to talk about honesty, since it seems to be one of the main characteristics that set apart the "good" characters and the "bad" characters so far. It's emphasized first in the beginning scene, when Cordelia refuses to exaggerate her love for her father for the purpose of gaining a greater inheritance. For her, honesty has both good and bad consequences because even though she's banished for it, it leads to her ending up with the best suitor, the King of France, who values her honesty. The next scene that stuck out to me was Act II, scene II, when Kent talks about being honest and plain. Although he isn't totally honest himself (since he's in disguise at this point) he uses honesty as an excuse for his treatment of Oswald. It seems that the good characters, even if they aren't completely honest themselves, at least see the value of honesty. The bad characters don't seem to care about honesty at all, and they rely on deceit for their plans to work.
To continue that thought, it seems that the people who are in a position to make judgements based on people's honesty are not able to see it even when it hits them in the face. Or they do not wish to see it because it is not what they want which does them and everyone more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteYou should read Merry's post. Did you feel like Cordelia weak in the way she approached responding to her father? I agree with you, that Cordelia's honesty makes her seem stronger, and wins her the king's love in the end. I would be interested to see how you think King Lear fits into this honesty paradigm, and whether he is good or bad.
ReplyDeleteI'd say King Lear is in between in some ways, because he is definitely participating in a power play with his daughters and pretending to be a faithful father. However, he doesn't outright deceive people in quite the same way as Goneril, Regan, and Edmund do. He does some bad things, but he remains just good enough that the audience can have some sympathy for him.
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