Lear's Daughters

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedie of King Lear. Woodcuts by Claire Van Vliet. Bangor, Maine, 1986.

Vermont artist Claire Van Vliet’s woodcuts for King Lear capture a remarkable range of human expression, eloquently conveying the characters and emotions in Shakespeare’s tragedy. Her woodcuts show the many faces of Lear’s three daughters, revealing the devious nature of elder daughters Goneril and Regan and the innocence of Cordelia.

Goneril, Lear's eldest daughter: Goneril is the first to tell her father how much she loves him in order to inherit her share of his kingdom.

Regan, Lear's second daughter, also declares her great love for her father in effusive terms.

Cordelia, Lear's youngest daughter: Although she truly loves her father, Cordelia refuses to use the extravagant language of her sisters, and Lear disinherits her.

Goneril and Regan: After he has divided his kingdom between his two elder daughters, they show no respect for him.

Goneril denies her father his retinue ih her home. He leaves in anger and goes to the home of Regan.

Regan also denies Lear his due as her father and king when he comes to stay with her. He rushes out into the forest, followed by his Fool.

Having been treated with contempt by Goneril and Regan, Lear goes into the forest. He seems to go mad.

When Cordelia learns of her father's plight, she returns from France to find him.

Cordelia finds Lear and they are reconciled.

Cordelia and Lear: In the final scene, Lear, his sanity restored, enters carrying Cordelia’s corpse, killed because of her sister's plot. The tragedy of all that has happened overwhelms him and he dies.

King Lear: A Tragic Plot

As the play opens, King Lear has decided to retire from the throne, dividing his realm among his three daughters. The largest share will go to the one who loves him the most -- determined by how eloquently each declares her love for him. Elder daughters Goneril and Regan flatter him excessively. When his youngest, Cordelia, says she cannot express in words the love she has for her father, Lear becomes enraged, casts her out, and divides her share between her sisters.

Naturally this division of the realm has political ramifications which complicate the plot, but here we will focus on family issues. Lear plans to divide his time between the homes of Goneril and Regan, but it becomes clear that they don’t love or respect him. He leaves each of their homes in a rage, and ultimately rushes out into the stormy forest, followed by his mocking Fool, where he descends into madness.

The elder sisters, though already married, both become infatuated with the same man. Goneril eventually poisons Regan, who dies. But when her scheming is to no avail, Goneril commits suicide. One of her plots is successful, and Cordelia is killed.

In the final scene, Lear, his sanity restored, enters carrying Cordelia’s corpse. The tragedy of all that has happened overwhelms him and he dies.