Characters Of King Lear

Characters of the play King Lear 

King Lear:

Lear is King of England. Old and tired of the duties of kingship, he decides to retire, and to split his kingdom between his three daughters and their husbands. 

He is irascible, hot-tempered, full of self-regard, and lacks self-awareness; though he allows his Fool to tell him the truth, he also threatens him with whipping for coming too close to the mark. He is fond of his daughters, especially his youngest, Cordelia, and expects the same in return from them. He sets great store by the fact that he has never broken his word, even when given in anger. Infuriated by Cordelia’s refusal to play his game of ‘Who Loves Daddy Best,’ he disowns her and splits the kingdom between only the two older daughters, Goneril and Regan. He is so angry that he banishes his oldest and best friend, Kent, when the latter speaks up in Cordelia’s favor. Unaware that the older daughters’ flattering replies were nothing but flattery, and that they do not in fact care for him, he does not realize that he has left himself without a safe home. Hoping to spend his last days in all the enjoyable parts of being a king without having to bother with the boring bits, he does not understand that by giving up all lands and all money from them, he has left himself completely dependent on his daughters, and he refuses to act in the subordinate manner that ought to come with no longer having any real power. His bad treatment at the hands of Goneril and Regan enrages him, and he feels himself slipping towards madness, a fate he fears. When he realizes the extent to which his daughters intend to have him subservient, he rushes out into a storm, where he begins to truly lose his mind. At the same time he begins to start realizing that other humans are also real people, and to feel for them. Sheltering in a hovel with his disguised godson Edgar, he finds himself one of three madmen on the stage, the pretend, the professional, and the real (himself). He loses touch with reality, reliving his wrongs and considering the wrongs of the earth while having little or no awareness of what is going on around him. He slowly comes back to himself when he meets Gloucester, and more so after a long sleep. Once his mind is restored, he is a changed man, humble, pitying, and remorseful. He no longer cares about anything but spending time with Cordelia, whom he realizes he has wronged. Even losing a battle has no effect on him, and he looks forward to simply talking with his favorite child for the rest of his days. When a captain comes to hang Cordelia, he has a burst of strength and is able to kill the man, but too late. His madness returns, and he dies desperately hoping that Cordelia is not in fact dead.

Goneril : 

Goneril is Lear’s eldest daughter, and the wife of the Duke of Albany. 

She knows how to play the court games and speak as her father requires when he asks for avowals of love, and is rewarded for this ability with a third of the kingdom, which becomes half when her youngest sister Cordelia fails the test. Though she advises Cordelia to obey her husband in all things, she despises her own husband as a weakling, and is not shy about reminding him that hers is the royal blood, not his, and that all of his authority was acquired by marrying her. She has always recognized that her little sister Cordelia was their father’s favorite, and has little regard for Lear. Exasperated by Lear and his train’s continued presence and wild behavior in her house, by his unwillingness to recognize that he has given up his powers, and by what she considers his senility, she insults him into leaving in a rage. When her husband asks what’s going on, she tells him to mind his own business. She plans with her sister Regan to make their father more manageable, and callously leaves him to himself when he rushes out into the storm. She is a cruel woman, quick to think of blinding a traitor. Sent by Cornwall to raise her husband Albany and his army, she is accompanied by Edmund, with whom she falls quite in love, finding him a real man compared to Albany. Hearing that Cornwall is dead, she is worried that Regan, being now free, will be able to snare Edmund. She sends the bastard a letter, requesting that he kill Albany for her, Edmund now being her only aim in life. To be absolutely sure of catching him, she poisons her sister. Faced with the fact that Albany has her letter to Edmund, she tries to claim her royal status, but finds she has no way out but stabbing herself.

Regan :

Regan is Lear’s second daughter, and the wife of the Duke of Cornwall. 

She knows how to play the court games and speak as her father requires when he asks for avowals of love, and is rewarded for this ability with a third of the kingdom, which becomes half when her younger sister Cordelia fails the test. Despite her flattery, she does not have any great opinion of her father. She likes Gloucester—or perhaps she only pretends to, as she is quick to join in his interrogation and torture. She is well-matched to her cold-hearted husband Cornwall, though she is even crueler than he is, intensifying the punishment he orders on the disguised Kent and encouraging Cornwall to pull out Gloucester’s second eye. She is quick to point out to Lear that he is old, and sees no reason to go out of her way to serve him, using cold logic to prove that he needs no followers. Her first instinct is to hang Gloucester when he betrays them, but she eagerly joins in tormenting him, treating him with no respect and informing him that his beloved Edmund was the one who betrayed him. She has the backbone to kill a servant who attacks her husband. She regrets having let Gloucester go, and arranges to have him killed, while at the same time planning to marry Edmund now that Cornwall is dead. She does her best to keep Edmund and Goneril away from each other by insisting that her sister stay with her, with the unfortunate effect of giving Goneril an opportunity of poisoning her. She openly claims Edmund for her husband on the field of victory, but too late, and discovers that he has been double-crossing her with her sister.

Cordelia :

Cordelia is Lear’s youngest daughter, and something of a goody-goody. She has always been her father’s favorite, a quiet and obedient girl. 

She is being wooed by two powerful political rivals, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. She is rigorously honest, unable to flatter even as part of a ceremonial game, a fact that cuts her off from her father’s love. Despite Kent’s speaking on her behalf, she is publicly humiliated by the King. She is conscious enough of her honor to still be willing to speak up to demand that the reason she is disowned be known to her suitors. She neither likes nor trusts her sisters, as it turns out for good reason. Becoming Queen of France, she hears of what how Lear is being treated, partly from Kent’s messages, and convinces her husband to invade England to restore Lear. Left to command the French army with the Marshal of France, she concentrates on finding her father and restoring him to sanity. She defers to both the Doctor and Kent, and is full of pity for her father. Losing the battle, she is hanged on Edmund’s orders.

Earl of Gloucester:

 Gloucester is an old, white-bearded courtier of Lear’s. Loyal but somewhat spineless, he is credulous, superstitious, loving, and not overly intelligent. He also has a fair claim to being the most embarrassing father in the history of creation, telling stag tales about what a great time he had engendering his illegitimate son Edmund while said son is standing right next to him. Though he has kept Edmund away from court for nine years and intends to send him away again, he cares for the boy, though not so much as for his legitimate heir Edgar (who is Lear’s godson). He is however easily convinced that Edgar is plotting against his life, and never considers the possibility that the bastard might be making trouble. Instead he organizes a manhunt for Edgar while promising to help Edmund get ahead in life. He is troubled and confused at all that is going on, and at first no longer knows where his proper allegiance lies—to the King, or to Regan and the Duke of Cornwall, in whose share of the kingdom his lands lie. He is scared of the Duke, and when he tries to speak on Lear’s behalf in his presence he finds himself stripped of his responsibilities. In contact with the French invading forces, he attempts to help Lear in secret, sneaking out of his house to bring him some comfort. Returning to his home to find himself bound to a chair and interrogated, he attempts to say nothing, but in the end bursts out his true opinion of Regan, with the result of having his eyes pulled out, just as he learns of Edmund’s treachery. Blinded just as his has his eyes opened to Edgar’s innocence, he can think of nothing else to do but commit suicide, and asks the madman into whose care he is put to bring him to a cliff from which he can jump. Convinced that he has made his attempt and survived, he still has no great desire to live but decides that it is not up to him to end his life. When Lear loses his final battle, and the man guiding him reveals himself to be Edgar, he cannot take it anymore, and dies.

Earl of Kent :

The Earl of Kent is an old man who has served Lear faithfully for years, and is one of his most loyal subjects and friends. 

He knows the royal family well and has the measure of all its members. His loyalty is of the bravest kind: where others might think blind obedience to be the definition of faithfulness, Kent speaks up whenever he sees Lear acting in a way that will do him no good. He is horrified at the King’s treatment of Cordelia, and tells Lear what he thinks to the King’s face, despite all threats. When he is banished for this, he again shows the measure of his loyalty, preferring to risk death by disguising himself and continuing to serve his master rather than obey the order to live in exile. Under the name Caius, speaking in a different accent from his normal one, he becomes Lear’s servant, as whom he continually provokes the servants of Lear’s daughters, thereby pushing things so far that Lear cannot help but see what how far he has fallen. Losing sight of Lear when the latter rushes out into the storm, Kent sends news to Cordelia of the state of things, and goes to seek the King. He soon realizes that Lear has completely lost his mind and goes to the French camp to inform them of this and help them find him. He comes across Gloucester and Edgar just as his blinded fellow Earl dies, and is overcome with grief at the combination of this and Lear’s tragedy, to the extent that Edgar fears for his life. His loyalty and pity for Lear lead him to beg the others to not attempt to save the King’s life, though the deaths of Lear and Cordelia leave him so stricken that he is convinced it is time for him to die, as ever following and serving his King.

Edgar :

Edgar is the Earl of Gloucester’s legitimate son and heir, and Lear’s godson. 

He is an honest man, incapable of seeing that others might not be, and is fond of his younger half-brother Edmund, whose advice he takes. He does not habitually carry weapons on him. Forced to flee and hearing himself branded as an outlaw, he disguises himself as a mad beggar, convinced that this is the only way he will escape capture and death. In his mad rants when he pretends to be possessed he accuses himself of every vice under the sun. Helping to keep Lear out of the storm, he finds himself one of three madmen in his hovel, the true, the pretend, and the professional. When his blinded father is put into his care, and reveals that he now knows that Edgar is innocent, Edgar decides to cure Gloucester of his suicidal tendencies by convincing him through trickery that it is divine will that he lives. By painting a view of the cliffs of Dover with his words, he manages to convince Gloucester that he is at the top of them and that he has thrown himself over and survived. Killing Oswald and discovering the letters the steward was carrying, he forms a plot to have his revenge on Edmund, though he lets the battle between English and French take place before he challenges Edmund to single combat. At the last moment before he goes off to fight his brother, he asks for his father’s blessing, revealing his identity, and thereby killing the old man. He is a good enough fighter to best Edmund. He takes over the rule of the kingdom at the end of the play, and will enter history as the man who rid England of wolves. He is a convincing actor, and has a low opinion of sex, thinking that the harms Edmund’s actions caused Gloucester were a reasonable payback for his adultery.

Edmund :

Edmund is Gloucester’s illegitimate son. Though presently at court, he has been away for nine years, and his father intends him to leave again soon. 

He is intelligent, highly attractive, and completely amoral, to not say a psychopath. He manages to convince everyone of his loyalty to them, beginning with his father, while in truth working for no one but himself and betraying without a wualm all who trust him when he needs to. Introduced by his father as his bastard on all occasions, and having to hear Gloucester discuss how much fun he had conceiving the lad, he does not consider his bastardy a good enough reason for him to have no land of his own and hence no money. He therefore plots to enrich himself, first by convincing Gloucester that his legitimate son Edgar is seeking his life, which allows Edmund to receive Edgar’s lands; then by betraying Gloucester to Cornwall, and thereby being named Earl of Gloucester in his father’s place; and then by marrying one of the daughters of the King, which will lead to his taking over first one half and then all the kingdom. Only this last part of the plan fails. He is a brilliant actor and an excellent fighter. When both Goneril and Regan fall for him, he has no particular opinion as to which one to go with. He commands Regan’s armies in the battle against Lear, Cornwall being dead, and orders the execution of Lear and Cordelia with Goneril’s prior agreement. He overreaches himself when he begins to act as though he is already of equal rank to Albany. He tries to brazen it out, but is faced with a mysterious opponent who beats him, and turns out to be his brother Edgar. He is willing to forgive his killer on condition that he is of noble blood, and as he lies dying some small spot of conscience awakens in him, first brought on by the story of his father’s death. When Goneril and Regan’s bodies are brought in, and he realizes that even he was loved, he decides to do one good deed in his life and spare Lear and Cordelia, but his repentance comes too late.

King of France:

The King of France has come to England to woo Lear’s remaining unwed daughter, Cordelia. 

When Lear suddenly disowns the latter, he decides to marry her all the same, even if she brings no dowry. Later, moved by her pleas to help her father, he invades England to restore the old man to his throne. However, he realizes that he left some problems unattended to in France, and goes back over the Channel to deal with them, leaving Cordelia to lead his armies against the British forces.

Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy has come to England to woo Lear’s remaining unwed daughter, Cordelia. When Lear suddenly disowns her, he refuses to marry her without a dowry, and allows his rival the King of France to wed her.

 Duke of Cornwall:

Cornwall is the husband of Lear’s second daughter, Regan, and becomes ruler of half of England when Lear passes on the government of the realm to his daughters and their husbands. 

He is a hard, hot-tempered man, who will not be pushed around and whom Lear does not overly like. He takes Edmund under his wing, and names him Earl of Gloucester in his father’s place the moment Edmund tells him of Gloucester’s hidden letter, without waiting to find out whether the letter’s contents are true or not. Though he attempts to restrain himself for some time when speaking to a servant of Lear’s, his patience has evident limits and he has no qualms about placing the man in the stocks. He mostly allows his wife to deal with the King, and supports her fully, ordering Gloucester to lock the doors of his house against Lear. When Gloucester attempts to plead for Lear, Cornwall officially takes over his house. Cornwall does not like his brother-in-law Albany, nor agree with him politically, though he requires his help to deal with the French invasion. An excellent interrogator, well in tune with his wife, he is quickly able with her help to force Gloucester to admit his feelings about their actions. He is cruel enough to take Goneril’s suggestion about Gloucester’s eyes, and plucks them out, though in the fight with the servant who objects he receives a mortal wound. He is well-matched to Regan.

Duke of Albany:

Albany is the husband of Lear’s eldest daughter, Goneril, and becomes ruler of half of England when Lear passes on the government of the realm to his daughters and their husbands. 

He is a fairly meek and kindly man, despised by his wife and willing to let her take the lead in most things. He has however unsuspected reserves of strength and a backbone that develops over the course of the play. He neither likes nor agrees with his brother-in-law Cornwall much. He is completely baffled as to why Lear enters in a rage and insists on leaving his house, but despite his wife’s assurances cannot think that the King is entirely to blame in the matter. Later events confirm his suspicions, and he makes his view of Goneril and her sister quite plain. His wife considers him an inveterate moaner rather than a man of action. Though he is on Lear’s side, he is patriot enough that he cannot accept having French forces conquering England, and joins his army with Regan’s to fight Cordelia’s French troops before continuing their dispute. He puts Edmund in his place, reminding him that he is not in fact one of the rulers of the kingdom, despite his commanding role in the battle. On being told of Edmund’s dealings with his wife and sister-in-law, Albany makes plans to be rid of him, letting all of Edmund’s soldiers go so that the bastard is isolated, and pledging to fight Edmund if the mysterious champion does not appear. He does not wish to rule the land, and proposes that Edgar and Kent rule once all is concluded.