Representation of women in King Lear
King Lear, one of the most magnificent exhibitions of the intellect of Shakespeare and the playhouse of all time, revises an old concern of British legends, that the former king was startled by both sly and ungrateful daughters, Regan and Goneril; and in vain for liberation from the third, the sweet Cordelia is mistakenly rejected. A calamity over misinterpretation between sons and fathers, ingratitude and devotion, but not only with unmatched accents dramatic and poetic staging, Shakespeare in King Lear bitterly reflects a man, his incapacity to comprehend the tricks of the world, and the fine line that separates madness and reason. When reading the play, we can argue that what we are reading is a kind of feminist writing. Shakespeare was writing in the Jacobean period, where women were supposed to be obedient and subservient to men. Although working at the height of the Renaissance, he did not portray the Renaissance viewpoint of women. The Renaissance described women as seductively responsible for man’s iniquity (Burgess). Instead, Shakespeare chose not to emphasize women in his dramas, to make them appear dangerous with their sensual presence or naive with their innocence.
The play opens with the resolution of King Lear, weary and late in life, to renounce the throne and split the kingdom among his three daughters by requesting them to participate in a “love test” to find the daughter who will demonstrate to love him more (Fraser). The winner would get the best portion of the Kingdom. Wife to the Duke of Cornwall, Regan, and Goneril to the Duke of Albany, is the first to take part with words full of their love to the father. Lear is happy and allocates each of them a portion of the kingdom. The presentation of women in ‘King Lear,’ stresses Shakespeare’s aim of making the audience to judge characters according to their actions and not their gender. At the start of ‘King Lear’ the three central women in the play, Cordelia, Reagan, and Goneril are put to a ‘love test,’ “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” (Shakespeare, 53) By their father King Lear, where they have to confess their love for their father, in exchange for money and land. It is this test of love where Shakespeare’s audience see the different characters of the three daughters. Through Regan and Goneril’s hyperbolic fawning in their speeches, “I am made of that self-mettle as my sister, and prize me at her worth,” (Shakespeare, 65). The words ‘worth’ and ‘prize’ shows Shakespeare’s audience Reagan and Goneril’s self-interest and highlights Lear’s ethical blindness due to his arrogance.
This arrogance and moral blindness of Lear is further emphasized by Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, the portrayal of love. When Lear requests Cordelia to ‘speak’ her love to Lear, she only replies ‘nothing.’ It is in this one name reply of ‘nothing’ that Shakespeare lets his audience questions his demonstration of the character Cordelia. For the audience, the action of Cordelia can be viewed in two different ways. The first being that Cordelia is genuine in her love for Lear although she does not use hyperbolic terms like her sisters, ‘I cannot heave my heart into my mouth’ (Shakespeare, 90). When Cordelia says ‘nothing’ can also be understood differently, in which Shakespeare presents Cordelia as a challenging person to the patriarchy in society and Chain of Being. Women were expected to be subject to men by the laws of nature and therefore Cordelia refusing to please her father can be understood as a resistance to authority, as she does not want to be ruled by patriarchy. By Cordelia saying ‘nothing’ she could conflict with her father, with the way of silence as that was the only approach women could object in the Jacobean time.
This contest to patriarchy affirms that this play reflects a male-controlled world view that seems frightened of women and what they signify.’ Goneril is presented as the sternest out of the sisters, and she turns out to be more dangerous, as her worth in the eyes of the Patriarchy is detached when Lear curses Goneril to be barren. In the Male-controlled Jacobean period, the values of women came from having children, as they had no responsibility in the public sphere. Not only does Shakespeare represent a male-controlled world view that appears terrified of women and what they represent, but he also demonstrates through the character of King Lear how patriarchy reacts illogically when challenged. This is seen when Cordelia rejects Lear’s demands and therefore becomes a non-entity. “When she was dear to us, we did hold her so, But now her price is fallen” (Shakespeare, 195). This use of third-person pronouns builds a distance and releases Cordelia from her ownership and name. It is this rejection to conform to male domination that ensures. This is emphasized when France sees the true nature in Cordelia a dowry herself. Essentially Shakespeare has presented the women in King Lear to be independent, strong, and manipulative.
Nevertheless, when looking at how Shakespeare portrays women in King Lear, we have to take into account the absenteeism of one specific main female. That is the wife of King Lear and the mother of his three daughters Cordelia, Goneril, and Reagan. It can be argued that the broken relationship between King Lear and his daughters is accentuated by the lack of a maternal figure in the play. In Jacobean England, the job of a mother was to bear and rear kids as well as take care of domestic matters. The absenteeism of a mother for both Lear’s and Gloucester’s families is what results in the collapse of all family relationships in King Lear. The three sisters have had no one to teach them wrong and right, neither do the two brothers, Edgar and Edmund. Shakespeare reinforces the male domination of the time through the nonappearance of a mother, showing how anarchy is inevitable if women do not adhere to their gender roles. Shakespeare makes Lear describe his daughters by using animal imagery, ‘serpent-like’ and ‘detested kite,’ and by this, he is suggesting that Lear feel unusual in his secondary role to them.
So, therefore, in ‘King Lear,’ we are presented with a scenario where the women in the play who we have met, are represented as objects to be sold off as a ‘dowry’ and exchanged for land and power. Nevertheless, Shakespeare instead of portraying the husbands as the dominant partners, in control of the property their wives have provided, they are quiet witnesses to their wives newfound sovereignty. The women, therefore, are presented as people with power that terrify a patriarchal society.
Work cited
Burgess, Elizabeth. “Think Again: The Decision Making Process in King Lear and Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres.” (2015).
Fraser, Nancy. “Feminism, capitalism, and the cunning of history.” (2012).
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies. Ed. Greenblatt, Cohen, Howard, Maus. W.W Norton and Company, 1997. 707–781.