First Paragraph

Question 1

First sentence

Answer 1

Lear and Cordelias relationship first becomes broken in scene one, during the division of lands

Question 2

Lawsuit

Answer 2

A lawsuit which occurred not long before Lear was written involved a father with three daughters, the eldest of the three tried to have her elderly father, Sir Brian Annesly declared insane so she could take control of his property. Annesley’s youngest daughter Cordell successfully defended her father against her sister- this narrative is comparable to the plot of Lear and, draws the audiences attention to the well intentions of Cordelia in her honesty and explicitness

Question 3

After lawsuit section ‘Cordelia unlike her sisters’

Answer 3

Is reluctant to profess her love for her father in terms of flattery, while Goneril and Regan use the oily art of rhetoric to good effect

Question 4

[aside]

Answer 4

Cordelia contemplates what do do when Lear asks for her expression of love, she says ‘love and be silent’

Question 5

In this scene,

Answer 5

Cordelia upholds social order by performing her position as a woman, while Lear, ironically, undermines natural order by allowing his feelings to direct him.

Question 6

Through trusting the

Answer 6

Authenticity of her love and saying no more than the simple truth, Cordelia answers with a monosyllabic ‘nothing’ in response to Lear’s demand to profess her love for him; reluctant to flatter her father as she loves him ‘according to [her] bind, no more nor less’

Question 7

This juxtaposes

Answer 7

Greatly with Goneril and Regan’s flowery language, presenting the difference in appearance versus reality

Question 8

However,

Answer 8

To a Jacobean audience her ‘nothing’ may have been regarded as obstinate and self-willed in contrast to the proper way a Princess should address her King

Question 9

This scene becomes the downfall of their relationships

Answer 9

As their contrasting views to life conflict. Lear presents obdurate reality while Cordelia embodies modernist ideal and, through confusing the truth for the artificial brilliance lent by the arts of persuasion, he makes the mistake of vanishing his favourite daughter

Question 10

After banishing Cordelia,

Answer 10

Lear says ‘avoid my sight’ refusing Cordelia to justify

Question 11

This way

Answer 11

He feels better about the expulsion as it allows him to avoid metaphorical sight in seeing she is right

Question 12

After casting Cordelia away, (what does Lear remark)

Answer 12

Lear remarks ‘I loved her most’ which serves to emphasise his outrageous action while also making explicable the extremity of his behaviour

Question 13

The love test

Answer 13

Was created as a result of Lears blind love for Cordelia in that he was overconfident she would declare her love for him

Question 14

In flattering terms,

Answer 14

She was blind sighted by her refusal - showing her conspicuous indifference for her sisters’ competing for their father’s approval

Question 15

Metaphorical and literal blindness

Answer 15

Within Lear becomes a significance theme within the play as, Lear’s in capability to see his youngest daughter as good and honest shows him to be lacking in judgement - a common occurrence throughout the text

Question 16

Moreover,

Answer 16

His inability to see truth is paralleled within the subplot of the play - shown through the relationship between Gloucester and his son Edgar, whom, alike Cordelia has well intentions

Question 17

‘Nothing’ relates to

Answer 17

Two pivotal moments in Lear, Cordelia’s banishment and Edgar’s persecution - both parents listen to the Machiavellian children, which, ultimately lead to their downfall, this acting as a motivation for the remainder of the text