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King Lear: Not an Ungrateful-Daughters Story

The popular summary takes Lear's word for it. The play shows the map, the auction, and the daughter who would not bid.

Most readers arrive with the verdict already written: a good old king, two cruel daughters, and one loyal one. Ingratitude breaks his heart. That is the popular summary. It is Lear's summary too. It is not where William Shakespeare starts. The play was performed before King James at Whitehall on 26 December 1606. Its audience may have known the older story, in which Lear wins his throne back with Cordelia's help. Shakespeare keeps the old king and the three daughters. He takes the rescue away. Chapter 1 opens with a map. Lear has divided the kingdom in three. He plans to crawl toward death unburdened, and he keeps a hundred knights and the name of king. Then he asks which daughter loves him most, so the largest share can go to the best speech. Goneril loves him dearer than eyesight. Regan says her sister comes too short. Each gets a third. Cordelia says Nothing. Lear tells her nothing will come of nothing, and asks her to speak again. She loves him according to her bond, no more nor less. She will marry one day, and half her love will go with her husband. Lear disowns her on the spot. Kent tells him to see better and is banished. Burgundy will not take her without a dowry. France takes her anyway. Alone, the two sisters agree on one thing: their father has ever but slenderly known himself. This is the scene the popular summary skips. Nobody has been ungrateful yet. A father has turned love into a contest with land as the prize, and punished the one child who would not compete. The cruelty that follows is real. Goneril complains that his knights grow riotous and cuts his train. In chapter 4 he curses her and cries that a thankless child is sharper than a serpent's tooth. In chapter 8 the sisters bargain his hundred knights down to fifty, then twenty-five, then ten, then five. Regan asks, What need one? He answers, O, reason not the need, and walks into the storm. They shut the doors behind him. Later Regan helps blind Gloucester in his own house. So the daughters are not innocent. But the popular summary uses Lear's words as the whole case: filial ingratitude, a man more sinned against than sinning. Shakespeare gives him those lines. He also gives him the map. The Gloucester plot repeats the mistake in a second house. Gloucester believes a forged letter from Edmund, the son who flatters him. He hunts Edgar, the son who loves him. He loses his eyes before he sees which is which. Two fathers trust the child who performs and punish the child who does not. Lear does learn. On the heath he prays for poor naked wretches and says he has taken too little care of this. In chapter 22 he wakes in Cordelia's tent and calls himself a very foolish fond old man. He says she has cause to hate him. She answers, No cause, no cause. That is where the older story would end. Shakespeare keeps going. Edmund has already sent the order. Cordelia is hanged in prison. Lear carries her in and cries, Howl, howl, howl, howl. He asks for a looking glass. He thinks a feather stirs. Never, never, never, never, never. He dies looking at her lips. Kent asks if this is the promised end. The popular summary keeps the thankless daughters. The play keeps the map, the auction, and the daughter who would not bid. It does not excuse Goneril and Regan. It asks who set the price of love in the first place.