Cordelia appears only in the beginning and the end of the play. She is silent most of the time, as she professed in the first act: ” What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent” (1.1.59). Although she is absent from most of the play, she seems to be present throughout, characterized by others’ words about her. The Fool pines away when she goes to France and he cannot tell why, only that he was happy when she was by, and he is miserable now; the gentleman, sent by Kent with letters to her, returns mad with admiration at her eloquence, although he has heard nothing but sighs, and he speaks in broken sentences. The sisters are glad to be rid of the restraint which her presence puts upon them. Thus, Shakespeare makes Cordelia’s influence palpable, although she is absent.
Cordelia is not only Lear’s youngest daughter but, technically speaking, his only child left. At the beginning of the play, she is not yet married, like her two sisters, Goneril and Regan. She still lives with him in his household. Lear confesses she is the most beloved child and, without trying to go into a Freudian analysis, one can assume he feels that way because he is still the only male figure in her life, her heart has not been taken by another man, therefore he expects her fully loyalty and love. Ironically, Cordelia assures Lear he will always be her father and she will always love him ” according to my bond” ( 1.2.90-91) the natural bond that unites them, according to her filial duty and debt of piety. She also tries to open Lear’s eyes in respect to Goneril and Regan’s flattery, but fails. She fails to humour him, like the respectful daughter she maintains to be. Cordelia is the daughter who wants to prove her love and her worth by how she lives her life, by artificial declarations of love: ” I cannot heave/ My heart into my mouth” (1.1.89-90), she tells Lear.
Shakespeare presents Cordelia not only as a loving, virtuous daughter, but also as a person who refuses to compromise in any situation and who chooses to stay true to whom she thinks she is. Still, she is not the innocent, saintly figure she is made out to be. It is obvious to the characters that Lear is an old, sentimental man, quick tempered, proud and with an inclination for flattery. But Shakespeare also makes clear that Cordelia shares her father’s defects. Her refusal to humour Lear and to satisfy his appetite for flattery, contributes to their tragedy. Although Lear insists that she ” mend her speech a little” (1.1.92). Cordelia refuses to comply, thus igniting Lear’s wrath. Therefore, not only is Lear responsible for the catastrophe, but also Cordelia, who has already agitated her father’s emotions and caused him to deprive her of inheritance and to decide what determines their inevitable end.
Cordelia’s refusal to humour her father in the court may be considered a crime according to the standards of royalty, which are related to paying respect and homage to authority. Not to obey the wish of royalty in certain situations brings about anger and subsequent decisions on the part of the sovereign, who will inevitably consider it an abuse. Lear, who throughout the play, clings on to his authority as the king, has no choice but to send her away. But there is more to Cordelia than meets the eye. She knows he will receive evil practices from those who has already favoured. Consequently, it has been made obvious, then, that all sisters know that their father despises truthfulness and favours falsehood, and above all, Cordelia guesses that the foolish practice made by Lear is made only to destroy him. Cordelia knows Lear will not be treated well by her sisters. but she is willing to let him find out for himself, since she knows very well that she cannot convince him otherwise.
After the war between France and England has started, Cordelia returns to take care of her father, as she promised, ” according to her bond” ( 1.2.90-91). She is distressed to find him in such a state and ponders upon her own guilt.” O, look upon me, sir,/And hold your hand in benediction o’er me”. ( 4.6.50-51), says Cordelia to her father, thus recognizing the bond between them and the rightful order of things in the cosmos, the natural law which states the authority a father must have over his children by blessing or curse. But her father admits his guilt in sending her away and starting the tragedy that fell upon his family. Cordelia admits he own fault in the tragedy, ” no cause, no cause” (4.6.68), thus assuring her father he is not the guilty one. She is now a woman, married to the king of France, running her own household and pondering on having her own children, thus, soon to find herself in the same position as Lear, and she has a better understanding of filial-parental bonds.
Cordelia’s final conclusion is that families have different internal mechanisms. They cannot be subject to the same judgement by which one analyses power structures and hierarchical rapports. Authority is natural in a family, for it needs to mirror the structure of the cosmos. But love and affection cannot be rationalized, cannot be subjected to a certain cannon of understanding, for love and affection do not have a hierarchical structure; they flow freely from individual to individual. Cordelia reminds Lear why she chose to remain silent when he demanded her to speak: because words only cloud understanding, making the best feelings sound worse when they are spoken. Language should be used to explain one’s thoughts, as Miranda tells Caliban in „The Tempest”, not to disguise them.
The parents-children relationships in Shakespeare’s ” King Lear” are deeply complex and deeply troubled because they are continuously permeated by the artificial laws that dominate the Elizabethan world. Love always comes at a cost. It must be either won through hardship and pain, as in Edgar and Cordelia’s case; or it is tainted by lust, jealousy or earthly desires. With all their desires and aspirations to mimic the perfection of the Cosmos and that of the divine creation, humans will always be driven by earthly impulses. The faultlessness of the divine order of the cosmos can only be mimed in the human society. Artifice is an absolute necessity in this game of imitation, but the artifice loses its defining characteristic, as Lear ends up doing when he starts believing that the theatricality of monarchy is the natural order that must govern the relationship between members of the family. The demolition of the simulacrum – in King Lear’s case, the ravaging storm that drives Lear insane – is inevitable and must take place in order for the humans to be able to rebuild reality on more sincere and truthful grounds.
