Another way that Cordelia is rebelling against her father is when she says, “why have my sisters husbands if they say they love you all?” Here she is saying if they love you like nothing else in the world, why do they have husbands they are lying. They just want the healthy part of your revenue. This is a rebellion because she again is speaking out of line to her father.
The last paragraph brings me onto the final point about Cordelias rebellion. When Cordelia says, “Why have my sisters husbands if they say they love you all?” this is a rebellion because Cordelia knows that there are many different types of love, the love (or supposed) love that Gonerill and Reegan have for their father, (parental love) and the type of love that you would have for your partner more of a sexual love. The fact that Cordelia knows this calls me to this conclusion that this statement is a rebellion because if she knew this why did she say it? It must have been mainly to irritate, disturb and unsettle her father.
Another character that is rebellious in the play is Kent. When Lear disowns Cordelia Kent steps in and says “Good my liege” which means “Lear please think about this”. Lear tells him to be quiet and not to “come between the dragon and his wrath”. Kent then calls him an “old man” and “foolish”. This again is a rebellion because he is inferior to the king and should not insult him. This is very brave and honest but is also terribly foolish because if he had kept quiet they would still be with the King. I believe that Kent did this because he is very much his own man and at times rather hot tempered.
Another point at which Kent rebels is when he comes back disguised, although he has been banished by the King after his provocative rant earlier on in the play. Kent is foolish but loyal to go back. The King is on his way down and Kent clings onto him and this therefore will bring Kent down with him. Kent is also noble and loyal again to go back to the king because he sacked him in a moment of madness and I believe that if they were sacked unjustly most people would be very resentful. I think that Kent feels compelled to help the king. Kent knows that the King is rather rash after what he did to him and Cordelia and he does not want the King getting into more trouble by making more rash decisions. This is a rebellion against the Kings order.
The next point at which someone rebels is with Gonerill and Reegan again at the scene where Lear asks them to say how much they love him, taking into account that their words determine who gets the larger slice of his revenue. They are wise because they know that if they say what they feel in their hearts they will get nothing. Gonerill says “Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter” which is quite sycophantic. Reegan then says the same thing when she says “I am made of the self- mettle as my sister”. This is a rebellion because they are lying to the king for their own benefit.
You could also say that Gonerill and Reegan are rebelling against their hearts. Because they know that they don’t really love their father, and with good reason because Cordelia has always been the golden child and they have always been in her shadow, so they are obviously going to be angry. When the chance crops up to revenge on their father then understandably they do so.
Edmond is also a rebellious character in the play, arguably the most .The first hint of rebellion that we get from Edmond is when he forges a letter from his brother Edgar. The letter contains the supposed truth of what Edgar actually thinks about his father. When his father Gloucester sees it he naturally thinks that it is from Edgar and is furious. Edmond is rebelling in this instance against society, tradition and his father. He is rebelling against society in that way that the illegitimate or bastard son is inferior to the legitimate son. He is rebelling against tradition because even now in the royal family that the first born son inherits practically everything that the family owns, rather than the second. He is rebelling Against his father in the sense that he is obviously lying to his father about who wrote the letter because he knows that this will provoke a reaction from his father and he will disown Edgar for writing those things and then he will get the family’s fortunes.
In conclusion I think that the play on the whole is about rebellion. Almost everyone in the play rebels in their own little way .I think that this was intentional for the play to have one of the main themes to be about rebellion.