Tuesday 7 April 2009

Act 2 King Lear Post 1

2. What is it—what could it conceivably be—that would make children turn against their parent as completely as Goneril and Regan have turned against Lear? They’ve gone beyond irritation and its consequent neglect to outright cruelty. You may consider this question either specifically in reference to the two women (imagine their backstory the way you did Edgar’s) or consider it in general. Where do the terrible resentments of children for their parents come from? What is so very powerful about that relationship?

I think that in Goneril and Regan’s specific case, Lear’s inability to process love the way he should has a lot to do with how they act towards him. If a parent and a child have a good relationship, they are honest with each other and see each other as more than just a means to an end. Neither of those two elements is present in Lear’s relationship with Goneril and Regan. Lear doesn’t want honesty from his daughters- he wants flattery- and so they probably learned emotional manipulation from him. We never see Lear as being openly power-hungry, apart from his refusal to actually give up his status in more than name, but he strikes me as the sort of person who would be power-hungry, or conscious of retaining his power. Goneril and Regan probably either learned or inherited that trait from him, and combined with his inability to actually have a normal relationship anyway (because he doesn’t understand love), they only see him as a path to power. Lear’s impulsive disowning of Cordelia shows he has the ability to be petty and unkind simply because he feels like it at some small offense. What happened to Cordelia probably wasn’t the first time Lear acted out like that. A lot of little slights like that over a long period of time probably would have contributed to Goneril and Regan’s resentment for Lear. Also, neither of them strikes me as a particularly ‘good’ and moral character on their own, so their own faults definitely contribute to this. This is especially true since Cordelia has a good relationship with Lear (sort of, anyway) and she turns out no to be petty and power-hungry and cruel, so it can’t be all Lear’s fault. So, in Goneril and Regan’s specific case, their lack of a good relationship with Lear is due to bad parenting, a lack of a good role model and Goneril and Regan’s own ambition and innate cruelty. Of course, that is just for Goneril and Regan. Other children have other differences with their parents. Just like in Lear and Goneril and Regan’s case, it is partly the fault of the parent and partly the fault of the child that drives parent and child apart. How much is each depends on the specific situation.

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