In King Lear, Shakespeare shows that being loyal is harder than being treacherous. Cordelia and Kent are the most notably loyal characters.
Kent is loyal to the king and sees it as his duty to question the king's judgement in disowning Cordelia. Lear feels Kent has betrayed him by challenging him in this way and banishes him. Kent returns to serve the king loyally, disguised as a servant 'Caius'. Kent remains loyal to the king to the very end of the play.
Instead, he tries to make the beggar go away (check out Act 3, Scene 4). Despite all this, Edgar is kind to his father when Gloucester is blinded. He guides him, cares for him, and even kills a man who tries to capture his father. But Edgar doesn't tell Gloucester his identity.
She remains loyal to Lear despite his cruelty toward her, forgives him, and displays a mild and forbearing temperament even toward her evil sisters, Goneril and Regan.
Oswald is the loyal servant to Goneril, eldest daughter of King Lear. The juxtaposition of Oswald and Kent (who serves Lear), truly gives the audience a front row seat between what makes a loyal servant truly "good" or "bad".
Edmund betrays his father and wins Cornwall's approval by releasing the details of France's plan to aid the king. As reward, Edmund gains Gloucester's title and lands. In this scene, both Edmund and Cornwall pretend to be virtuous, as each attempts to justify his disloyalty.
After King Lear disowns her, Cordelia remains loyal to him, which further demonstrates the strength of her character and the degree to which she embodies such values as honesty and loyalty.
Lear runs off when some of Cordelia's search party come upon him. When Oswald appears and tries to kill Gloucester, Edgar kills Oswald and finds on his body a letter from Goneril to Edmund plotting Albany's death.
By refusing to take part in Lear's love test at the beginning of the play, Cordelia establishes herself as a repository of virtue, and the obvious authenticity of her love for Lear makes clear the extent of the king's error in banishing her.
King Lear is the main character of the play. He is an aging king who wants to retire from his royal duties, and plans to hand on his power to his three daughters.
King Lear is a tragic hero. He behaves rashly and irresponsibly at the start of the play. He is blind and unfair as a father and as a ruler. He desires all the trappings of power without the responsibility which is why the passive and forgiving Cordelia is the perfect choice for a successor.
Finally, Edgar's status as the ultimate hero of the play shows a deeply moral and just character. He cares for his father while blind, defeats Edmund and restores the natural order.
His two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, offer poetic speeches but his youngest and favourite daughter Cordelia refuses, declaring 'I love your majesty / According to my bond, no more nor less'. Lear is angry and disowns Cordelia, giving her share of the kingdom to her sisters' husbands to divide between them.
He divides his kingdom between his daughters and their husbands. Cordelia is Lear's youngest daughter. He disowns her and she marries the King of France. Goneril is Lear's eldest daughter.
Cordelia is King Lear's favorite daughter, which is why he expected her to give him the most praise.
As Jonathan Pryce plays the King there's no question that that's what's being hinted about his past relationship with his two oldest daughters. After Lear has cursed Goneril he seizes her and plants a kiss directly on her lips, an aggressive gesture of sexual possession.
Summary: Act 4, scene 7
He only partially recognizes her. He says that he knows now that he is senile and not in his right mind, and he assumes that Cordelia hates him and wants to kill him, just as her sisters do. Cordelia tells him that she forgives him for banishing her.
Because of primogeniture, Edmund will inherit nothing from his father. That, combined with Gloucester's poor treatment of Edmund in the opening lines of the play, gives Edmund motivation to betray his brother Edgar and manipulate his way into relationships with both Goneril and Regan.
King Lear, 3.7.67-84
Intent on acquiring his father's fortune, however, Edmund betrays his father to Cornwall, who makes Edmund the new Earl of Gloucester and arrests the old Earl. Cornwall stomps out one of Gloucester's eyes with his heel and then digs out the other with his bare hands.
As he mourns the death of his daughter, Lear also learns that Gloucester has died and that the Fool has been hanged. The agony of loss upon loss breaks Lear's heart and he too dies. As the loyal Kent leaves to commit suicide, it is left to Edgar to speak the moving lines that end this great tragedy.
Perhaps fittingly, it is the sisters' rivalry over Edmund that brings about their eventual deaths. Edmund swears his love to both, and says, in a soliloquy, that 'Neither can be enjoyed / If both remain alive' (4.7. 58–59). The envious Goneril poisons Regan, and then stabs herself.
His eldest daughters, Regan and Goneril, exaggerate their love for him in flowery detail; his youngest daughter Cordelia, who is honest and kind, refuses to do so. Lear then divides his entire kingdom between Regan and Goneril and disinherits and banishes Cordelia.
Meaning of “How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child” This quote is spoken by King Lear about his daughter, Goneril. He's comparing the pain he feels having her—a thankless daughter—to a snake bite. He says that the pain she causes him is “sharper” or more painful than any snake bite.
But Cordelia, the youngest, says nothing because she cannot voice her deep love for Lear. Misunderstanding his daughter, Lear disowns and banishes her from the kingdom.