Love in King Lear.

Love is defined as a strong positive emotion of regard and affection; it can be extended to people, entities or even inanimate objects. It comes in many different forms and it is so common and prominent in our existence that it has managed to become part of various themes developed in literature and conventional stories. This is no different with King Lear, a tragic play by Williams Shakespeare based on the legend of King Leir, a king of pre-Roman Britain that dates back to the 1600’s. The play King Lear reveals different kinds of love through characters: self-love as expressed by King Lear, false-love expressed by Lear’s daughters Regan and Goneril and devotional love which is expressed by Oswald, which all add significantly to the outcome of the story.

King Lear himself is a prime example of self-love. First it is obvious Lear only cares about himself since he likes to be subjected to flattery. “Which of you shall say doth love us most, that our longest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge.” Lear is bribing his daughters, Goneril, Cordelia and Regan with wealth and land so he can see and hear who will express the most amount of affection. This leads to conflict within the family. Cordelia is the opposite of her sisters; she refuses to flatter her father because she is a realist and believes in genuine love, previously stating:” My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty

According to my bond; nor more nor less.” With the refusal to flatter her father, she is disowned, showing us that Lear is thinking about himself, since he can not get her to exaggerate her fondness and please him, he finds it more fitting to cast her away, Thus satisfying himself. Goneril and Regan are the opposite of Cordelia; they do not care about honesty. The duo easily falls pray to temptation and fulfil their father’s selfish test of love. Second, King Lear suffers from excessive pride which leads to self-love, stating “Therefore be gone/ without our grace, our love, our benison”. Lear finds flattery so appealing; he becomes distraught when Cordelia will not over praise him. He even tempts her with the most land but to still arrive at no result. It is clear that he is consumed by pride, and it is also influencing his judgement; he would rather be flattered then to have a daughter who admits that she truly, genuinely loves him. To save face, gladden himself and feed his pride he casts Cordelia off as a last ditch effort to achieve satisfaction. Third, Lear is naive and blind to the truth as a result of his self love. Lear is so self-centred and devoted to himself, he can not even tell when his two of his own daughters are clearly lying. Goneril claims to love Lear more then “eyesight, space, and liberty” and Regan claims to love Lear more then Goneril. Lear treats this flattery as gospel and does not even raise an eyebrow to what even Goneril has professed. Thus it can be concluded that Lear is a fitting character of self-love. A terrible folly that will lead him down a path of darkness and realization through out the whole play.

Oswald’s character is the embodiment of devotional love. To begin with, Oswald is clearly devoted to Lear’s daughter Goneril, seeing that he is her steward. The first example of his devotion can be seen when he is told by Goneril to annoy King Lear and does so. He mocks and taunts King Lear to the point of getting physically assaulted by an enraged Lear and the Kent. Second, Oswald has a great sense of obedience. In death Oswald recites a soliloquy to Edgar: “Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse: If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;And give the letters which thou find’st about me to Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out Upon the British party: O, untimely death!” Even after being mortally wounded by Edgar, Oswald still intends have the lady Goneril’s letter delivered seeing that he is on the brink of death and can no longer do so. Even in death, the servant still has his master’s intentions first, Quite a self-less act. Third, Oswald aids and alleviates Goneril with her conspiracies. For instance, the assistance in delivering the letter to Edmund that tells of Goneril’s plans