(1.1.69/72)
Knowing that she would also get a third of the kingdom like her sister she declared that she hates all joys compared to the pleasure that she has in loving her father:
“ … That I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys”
(1.1.72/73)
On hearing this from Regan, Lear is more than pleased and rewards Regans greed also, with a third of his kingdom equal to the third that he gave to Gonerill. Edmund the bastard son of Gloucester introduces another instance of greed in the play. Edmund was both greedy and envious of his older, legitimate brother, Edgar. Edmunds envy was due to the fact that his older brother was the legitimate son of Gloucester and therefore entitled to inherit the whole of Gloucester's estate upon his fathers death, while he would inherit nothing, thus the greed. Edmund would do anything to inherit the wealth including betray his own brother:
" …Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund"
Cordelia in fear of appearing greedy in the way her sisters did stated that she loved her father according to her duty as a daughter and no more:
" … I love your majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less.”
(1.1.91/93)
“You have begot me, bred me, loved me.
I return those duties as are right fit,”
(1.1.96/97)
This proclamation of Cordelia’s introduces two more evils into the play, the madness that Lear displays being one of them. This madness made him unable to distinguish that Gonerill and Regan were not speaking the truth about their profound love for him and that Cordelia loved him the most of all. Therefore when Cordelia spoke the truth about her love and said that she did not love him above all else, Lear became enraged and subsequently disowned his most favoured daughter, sharing the last third of his kingdom, which would have been her dowry, between Gonerill and Regan:
“Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this forever.”
(1.1.113/116)
“With my two daughters’ dowers digest the third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.”
(1.1.128/129)
He also presented the Duke of Albany and the Duke of Cornwall with a `coronet` between them along with the power that it retained:
“Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm,
This coronet between you.”
(1.1.138/139)
Lears madness is also apparent when Kent, Lear's most loyal and trusted friend, tried to intervene and spoke up for Cordelia saying quite literally that Lear was mad and needed saving from himself and that Gonerill and Regan had empty hearts and did not love their father like they claimed.
“Be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?”
(1.1.145/146)
“Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sounds
Reverb no hollowness.”
(1.1.152/154)
Lear's anger grew and he turned on Kent showing us yet another evil, violence, threatening Kent's life if he said more:
“Kent, on thy life, no more!”
(1.1.155)
Continuing Kent explains that Lear’s threat means nothing because he would gladly give his life for that of his king and that he is only acting to ensure the kings own safety:
“My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thine enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being motive.”
(1.1.156/158)
Enraged all the more Lear chooses to `reward` Kent's audacity with banishment from the kingdom allowing him five days to prepare to leave, but, if he remained in the kingdom on the sixth day he would be killed:
"Take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from disasters of the world,
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom. If on the tenth day following
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions
The moment is thy death.”
(1.1.172/178)
Shakespeare uses various techniques to capture the attention of his Elizabethan
Audience and to keep them entertained, one of these is the expressive and imaginative language that he used especially in some of Lear's speeches. He uses a very powerful speech when Lear realises that Gonerill has deceived him and does not truly love him:
"Hear, nature, hear! Dear goddess, Hear!
Suspend thy purpose if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful.
Into her womb convey sterility,
Dry up her organs of increase,
And from her derogate body never spring
A babe to honour her. If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen,"
(1.4.272/278)
Shakespeare uses repetition:
"Hear, nature, hear! Dear goddess, hear!"
To get the audiences attention, this technique is used throughout the play, most often when Lear is angered and trying to make something known, Lear's speeches were among the most powerful and Shakespeare would have wanted their full attention during this time in the play.
Another of Lear's speeches used by Shakespeare depicts, well, the constant referral to the planets and gods by all of the characters in the play:
"For by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecat and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs
From who we do exist, and cease to be,"
(1.1.109/112)
This constant referral is another of the techniques used by Shakespeare to capture the attention of his audience. The Elizabethans would have had a general interest in the stars and planets as the telescope had been invented in the early 17th century and therefore it was now possible for them to be seen properly for the first time. Edmund also brings astronomy and astrology together during one of his speeches:
"…
Treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars,
And adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary
Influence."
(1.2.123/125)
"…My father compounded with my mother under the
Dragons tail, and my nativity was under Ursa Major,"
(1.2.128/129)
Shakespeare also used another topic of general interest to the Elizabethans; he makes a referral to disease. This was because during the Elizabethan era the bubonic plague was rife and as a result the playhouses often had to be shut down in order to stop the spread of the disease when someone with the plague had been there:
"Kill thy physician and thy fee bestow
Upon the foul disease."
(1.1.163/164)
Among the various evils illustrated in the play of King Lear I believe that greed is not only the most prominent but also the most important to the complete work. Without the evil of greed Lear would never have expressed such anger and hatred at his daughters, Cordelia would never have been disinherited and finally killed and Kent, Lear's most faithful friend would never have been banished. Thus many of the other evils in the play were introduced as a result of the greed, Lear's madness also played an important part in this as his infirmity caused him to be unable to notice the truth about his daughters feelings for him. In addition to this, the language that was used by Shakespeare brought Lear's speeches to life and to memade them all the more powerful.
