In King Lear, the Characters of Goneril and Regan Demonstrate the Very Worst of Human Nature.

In King Lear, the Characters of Goneril and Regan Demonstrate the Very Worst of Human Nature.

  • Submitted By: adamcbcr
  • Date Submitted: 06/07/2010 4:56 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 906
  • Page: 4
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I agree with the above statement that the characters of Goneril and Regan demonstrate the very worst of human nature. Their evil is evident both physically and mentally. In the opening scene, we are introduced to loving and caring daughters. Goneril lavishly claims that her love for Lear makes “speech unable” while her sister claims the same. However behind this loving façade lies two “gilded serpents”. The reality is these characters are filled with malice and hypocrisy. This malice ebbs and flows through them until they are capable of betrayal and murder. They are always ready to devour their next gullible, naïve victims. When Lear divides his kingdom amongst his daughters, he is left vulnerable. He survives only by his knights. However Regan and Goneril unite against Lear, greeting each other as friends, to Lear’s disgust. They gradually reduce Lear’s train until he is left with no knights. “10? What need one?” Together they strip Lear of his remaining dignity. Goneril is even determined that he will be not be allowed stay with anyone at all “Entreat him by no means to stay!”
In many ways, Lear and his daughters are very alike. They are all driven by power. Power is an aphrodisiac for Lear and his daughters have no qualms about indulging Lear’s vulgar whim. “Quote” When a powerful storm blows through the kingdom, Goneril and Regan agree to lock Lear out in the raging storm as he “must needs taste his folly”. In my opinion, the fact that these two daughters have left their elderly father to wither in a storm truly demonstrates the very worst of human nature. They demonstrate cruelty and malice. The two share something else in common, they are both cold realists, they know what they want and they allow no obstacle to stand in their way. For example, when Gloucester becomes a threat to their desires, they respond in a malicious macabre fashion. “Pluck out his eyes!”
Their cruelty is clear in the blinding of Gloucester. Even though Cornwall is the one who blinds...

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