King Lear Argumentative Essay

As Mencken once said, “Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another” this quote shows a brilliant representation of King Lear. In the play King Lear, Goneril and Regan despise each other as much as King Lear despises them. Firstly, Cordelia is presented as an idealistic female character that gradually loses her independence. Secondly, chaos is created throughout the kingdom when Goneril and Regan became power crazy. Thirdly Shakespeare gives Edmund a chance to redeem himself but leaves the sisters looking cold-hearted. King Lear by William Shakespeare can be considered a misogynist play because of the way Shakespeare develops the female characters. Women are portrayed as outrageously malevolent or idealistically perfect. Whereas the men are shown as flawless people, that everyone must look up to.

Cordelia is portrayed as an unrealistic character; she essentially represents a 17th century male’s fantasy of what a woman should be like. At the beginning of King Lear Cordelia emphasises her independent identity by standing up to her father. (Introduce this) “So young, my lord, and honest” (I: i: 107). She refuses to give all her love to her father because she must love her husband too. When Cordelia returns at the end of the play, she leads her French Army to defeat at the hands England’s army lead my Edmund. This signifies that women cannot rule a kingdom if they cannot even win a battle. After Cordelia is captured her independence disappears. Lear's initial dream of having his daughter's love all to himself is realized when Lear and Cordelia go to prison together. When King Lear says, “We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage” (V: iii: 9), he is implying that Cordelia should not worry about prison as they can spend time together and show their affection for each other. Even though Cordelia has just lead an army King Lear treats her as if she is still a baby. This represents how no matter what Cordelia does she will still be...