GONERILBy Jenny and Laura

Relationships• Eldest daughter of King Lear

• Immediate ally to her younger sister Regan against Cordelia and King Lear.

• However, later in the play she disputes with her sister Regan resulting in both of their deaths due to their competitive love for Edmond.

• Goneril is married to Cornwall, Regan tries to seduce Edmond which angers Goneril as she cannot due to the fact that she is married.

• Results in the death of Goneril and Regan. Regan poisons Goneril

Significant Quotes‘Pray you let us hit together. If our father carry authority with such disposition as

he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us’

This conveys their immediate plans to unite in the downfall of their father.

‘Put on what weary negligence you please, You and your fellows; I’d have it

come to question. If he distaste it, let him to my 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.’

This portrays her dismissal of her father now that she has gained the power she

needed and her fairly close relationship with her sister, Regan.

‘Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest and must needs taste his folly’

This portrays her distaste for her father and her power over him.

‘Pluck out his eyes.’

Reference to ‘blinding’ physically and mentally of Gloucester and her father.

‘The laws are mine, not thine. Who can arraign me for't?’

She is trapped in a downward spiral of power when Edmond is fatally wounded

and her husband Cornwall finds a letter in which she plots to kill him.

‘This judgement of the heavens, that make us tremble, touches us not with pity’

After Goneril and Regan’s dead bodies are uncovered, the other characters know

they deserve it.

‘Sir, I do love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty and honour. As much as child e’er lover, or father found, A love that makes breath poor and speech unable, Beyond all manner of so much I love you.’

CHARACTER DELEVOPEMENT

-Goneril starts in the play as the eldest and very powerful daughter of King Lear with a share of the kingdom and a positive and strong relationship with her father, her two sisters and her husband, Cornwall.

-Goneril and Regan turn their back on their father and she loses contact with her sister Cordelia as she has moved to France to live with the King Of France.

-As King Lear becomes weaker and less assertive, Goneril like her sister becomes much more powerful and aggressive.

-Goneril falls in love with Edmond, as does Regan and therefore there is a struggle of jealousy and anger between the sisters.

-Edmond is fatally wounded in a duel with his brother and her husband Cornwall finds a letter revealing her plots to kill him leaving her weak and submissive.

-Her sister Regan poisons Goneril and kills her before dying herself in one last battle for Edmond

Character Development Graph of Goneril

Goneril’sDevelopment of power

Both wealthy daughter of king

Trapped in a downward power spiral and then is murdered by her sister.

The development of the play, ‘King Lear’

Goneril’s power is threatened by her sister Regan’s love for Edmond and his inability to choose between them.

Inherits King’s power

She turns her back on Lear and as he gets weaker, she gets more power.

Goneril’s links to themes• Blindness/ sight ‘Sir, I do love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight’ This pre-empts the metaphorical blinding of King Lear and suggests that she is already ‘blinding’ him into believing that she loves him more than his more loyal daughter, Cordelia. ‘Pluck out his eyes.’ This portrays the metaphorical blinding of Lear through the physical blinding of Gloucester and hence conveys Goneril’s key role in the castration of her father.

• Feminine power‘Tis his own blame; hath put himself from rest and must needs taste his folly’ This portrays her power over Lear and castrates him as the fact that she has so much power over her father, a male conveys how weak he is and dehumanises him.

• Filial ingratitude ‘Not to be overruled. Idle old man, That still would manage those authorities that he

hath given away.’

This conveys her ingratitude to her father for receiving his fortune and power, it portrays

that she never loved her father and simply used him for his power.