The most horrible moment occurs when it is Cordelia's turn to speak. Lear is shocked when Cordelia has not said what he expects from her as his most beloved and dearest child. She says that she loves him as any dutiful daughter should love her father:
"…I love your majesty According to my bond; nor more nor less… You have begot me, bred me; I Return those duties back as are right fit Obey you, love you, and most honor you."
She is very realistic in her expression which indirectly expose the exaggeration displayed by her sisters. But her father is too emotional and rash to get her point; he misunderstands her considering her ungrateful and cruel, and consequenly, punishes her.
The first sign of ingratitude is displayed immediately after the two sisters receive their share in the same session. Goneril and Regan have a private conversation in which they reveal their real identities. They begin to conspire against their father whom they regard as very rash and emotional. They plan to treat him in the way that they think he deserves. Goneril comments on her father state saying:
"You see how full of changes his age is; The observation we have made of it hath not been little: He always loved our sister most; And with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off."
The development of the action in the play shows that the two daughters prove to be ungrateful and Villain. The reality of Goneril is revealed to Lear when he visits her. She does not want him to behave as a king anymore because she thinks that if he still has his title (as a king) and the royal accompaniment (represented in the one hundred knights), he will remain the real king the eyes of the public. In this way, she with her husband will do their dirty work without much recognition. She wants to dismiss 50 knights and give orders to her steward to ignore her father and treat him badly:
"Put on what weary negligence you please, You and your fellows. I'd have it come to question. If he dislike it, let him to our sister, Whose mind and mine, I know, in that are one, Not to be overruled. Idle old man, That still would manage those authorities That he hath given away!"
These words reflect how bad and ungrateful this daughter is. She insults her father calling him an 'idle old man' who still wants to enjoy his lost glory. It seems that she accuses him of being fool when he willingly gives up his power. In addition, they indicate the two sisters' conspiracy against their father; Goneril is sure that when her father goes to Regan, she will treat him badly.
Lear is hurt by his evil daughters' ingratitude, which is made obvious by their great disrespect and intolerance toward him. Goneril's meanness towards him prompts him to say, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is/To have a thankless child!" Leaving Goneril's home in anger, Lear exclaimed, "Monster ingratitude!"
Therefore, he heads to Regan expecting her to take his side and criticize her sister. Unfortunately, the sign of ingratitude shown by the second daughter is worse than that shown by the first one; Lear is badly received by his daughter, Regan, who apologizes for not meeting him, claiming that she has been tired. He becomes angry and says:
"Deny to speak with me? They are sick?...Mere fetches. Fetch me a better answer."
Lear becomes furious as a result of this strange attitude of his daughter. He cannot believe what happens to him, and therefore, he asks the elements of nature to avenge his humiliation:
"We are not ourselves when nature, being oppress'd, commands the mind. To suffer with the body. I'll forbear."
He will "forbear" because he can no longer restore what he has lost as a result of his rashness and injustice.
Regan is crueler than her sister. In addition to sharing her sister in treating her father badly, she dismisses him from the palace making him face the outside storm alone. Devoid of love for him, the two sisters show that they are ungrateful, insulting, and threatening to the father who gave them both land and power. It is not proper on all scales of morality to dismiss a father in such bad whether. Therefore, Lear speaks to Kent expressing the internal storm which goes inside him. He states that Goneril's and Regan's villain actions leads him to madness:
" The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind Doth from my senses take all feeling else Save what beats there. Filial ingratitude! Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand For lifting food to't? But I will punish home: No, I will weep no more. In such a night To shut me out! Pour on; I will endure." In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril! Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all,-- O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that.
Following the other line of ingratitude (Edmund's ingratitude towards his father), we find that Gloucester does not choose to abdicate his role, as Lear has already done. Therefore, his ruthless son Edmund schemes and plots against him to replace Edger (Gloucester's legitimate son) as heir, and then seek an opportunity to depose his father. Edmund plans to make his father read a letter that contains a conspiracy against him by Edger. When he speaks to himself, we realize that he is, not only ungrateful son, but also a real devil. He displays his hatred of both his father and brother saying:
"I do serve you in this business. A credulous father, and a brother noble, Whose nature is so far from doing harms, That he suspects none; on his foolish honesty My practices ride easily! I see the business. Let me, if not by birth, have hands by wit: All with
