King Lear
CHARACTERS:
KING LEAR: king of Britain.
He's 80 years old and he's three daughters:
_GONERIL, the eldest, wife to the duke of Albany;
_REGAN, wife to the duke of Cornwall;
_CORDELIA, a young maid. The king of France and the duke of Burgundy love her.
EARL of KENT:
counsellor of the king, he has always honoured and loved him as a father. He
defends Cordelia when the king is furious with her.
CAIUS: is the name of the earl of Kent when he returned to the court.
King Lear doesn't know that this Caius is his once great favourite earl of Kent.
EDMUND: the natural son of the earl of Gloucester, loved by Goneril and Regan. He
disinherits his brother Edgar, the real herit. He's bad.
SUMMARY:
Lear, king of Britain,
had three daughters; Goneril, wife to the duke of Albany,
Regan, wife to the duke of Cornwall,
and Cordelia, a young maid. Both the king of France
and the duke of Burgundy
wanted to marry Cordelia, and were staying in the court of Lear. The old king
was tired and felt that the time had come to hand over his power to younger
people. He called his three daughters to him and asked them to tell him how
much they loved him, so that he would know which of his daughters loved him the
most. He had decided to divide his kingdom among the three of them according to
how much each one loved him. Goneril, the eldest, said that she loved her
father more than she could express, that he was dearer to her than the light of
her own eyes, dearer than life or liberty. The king was delighted to hear this
and he believed everything she said. He gave her and her husband one third of
his kingdom. Regan, his second daughter, told him that she loved her father
even more than her sister Goneril, and that the love she felt for him was
stronger that any of her other feelings. King Lear was delighted with his
daughter's answer and so he gave her and her husband a third of his kingdom. He
then turned to Cordelia. She had always been his favourite child and he
expected that she would answer as her sisters had answered. Cordelia, however,
was disgusted by the flattery of her sisters, because she knew that they were
insincere. Her answer was that she loved her father according to her duty,
neither more nor less. The king was shocked and begged Cordelia to reconsider
her words. Cordelia explained that she loved her father and that he had given
her life, that she loved, obeyed and honoured him, but
that she could not speak as her sisters had done. She also said that if she
were to get married, she would love her husband as much as she loved her
father.
The king didn't give Cordelia any part of his kingdom, but he divided
this third part of kingdom in two, and gave them to
Goneril and Regan.
The only person who tried to speak a good word for Cordelia was the earl
of Kent,
but the king got furious because of these words, and exiled him. The king gave
him five days to go away. If the earl was there the sixth day, he would be
killed. When he left, he recommended Cordelia to the protection of the gods.
Then the king called the king of France
and the duke of Burgundy
to know whether they would persist in their courtship to Cordelia, now that she
had offended her father. The duke of Burgundy
refused the marriage, but the king of France
took her with him in France
to be queen of that beautiful country. She cried, because she knew that her
father wasn't in good hands alone with her sisters, then
she left.
The king spent his time with his eldest daughter, Goneril, and he discovered the real
behaviour of her: she was so evil and unkind, so different from how she showed
before, that the king wouldn't believe it. She wanted him to banish his hundred
knights! But the earl of Kent,
knowing what the situation of his dear king was, returned to the court using a
new name: Caius. He couldn't use his true name because he would have been
killed. The king didn't recognise him and took him into his service. Caius
began to defend in many ways his king; in so doing, the king became more and
more attached to him. Caius was the only friend the king had. Lear cursed his
eldest daughter for what she did: he prayed that she might never have a child
or that, in the case she have, it might dead suddenly.
He ordered to her husband to go away from there. The king understood how small
the fault of Cordelia was in ison with her sisters'. He sent letters to
Regan, but at the same time Goneril did that: so, Caius and the messenger of
Goneril (a Caius enemy), met at Regan's house and began to ht (just because
Caius hate this messenger, he was his old enemy). Regan discovered the two
hting and sent Caius away. The king wanted to speak with her but
Goneril set her against her father! Then Lear asked Goneril to go back with
her, but she refused. It began to rain, and the king was alone with his fool
under the thunder and
the wind. But fortunately
Caius arrived and persuaded him to enter a little house. Lear became
lunatic because of the unkindness of his daughters. The morning he embarked for
France to meet Cordelia,
although the earl of Kent
had put over him some guardians to take care of him in his lunacy. The king met
Cordelia, she kissed him, and helped him to cure from
his illness.
At the same time, Goneril and Regan felt in love with a man, Edmund, son
of the earl of Gloucester,
because they grew tired of giving the appearance of duty. In this period
Regan's husband died, so she declared her intention of wedding to Edmund, but
in so doing she
provoked the jealousy of her sister.
In fact, Goneril poisoned Regan, but, discovered by her husband, the
duke of Albany,
she was imprisoned. At the end, she killed herself.
The earl of Gloucester
unfortunately sent Cordelia to prison, because he didn't want anyone to stand
between him and the throne. So king Lear died. But
before his death the earl of Kent
made him understand that that Caius was himself, but the old mind of the king
didn't understand. Edmund , earl of Gloucester,
died in a combat with his brother; the duke of Albany,
Goneril's husband, ascended the throne of Britain after the death of Lear.
