Opening Two Acts Of King Lear

4 Pages 882 Words

The opening two acts of William Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, contain numerous displays of true duty as well as false duty. The characters demonstrating false duty are: Edmund, Goneril and her sister Regan. True duty is best exemplified through the actions of Kent, Cordelia and the Fool.
Shakespeare expresses his understanding of right and wrong best through King Lear’s eldest two children, Goneril and Regan. Both of these individuals undoubtedly show how ungrateful and disrespectful they truly are. This is shown through their lack of decency and hospitality when Lear is a guest at their estates. Initially, Goneril is rude to her father when she is a host to him at her estate. She treats Lear with very little respect, is constantly wining and she complains about every little thing pertaining to Lear’s stay at her home. An example of this, in specific, would be the rowdiness of Lear’s entourage of one-hundred knights. After being tremendously saddened by his daughter Goneril, he is almost in disbelief due to the fact that he has been treated so improperly. Due to Lear’s discontent with Goneril and her lack of hospitality, he vacates the premises. In the hopes that his other daughter Regan will show him an increased level of respect and warmness, Lear travels to her home and stays with her. Despite all hope King Lear had, Regan turns out to be just as miserable as her sister and she denies him the very bare essentials or slightest kindness that would be expected of any host. The attitude and resentment radiating from Regan is even more despicable than that of her sister Goneril. Both of Lear’s daughters have turned their backs on their father and the moral duty that they should be performing under any circumstances. The attainment of power by Goneril and Regan makes them forget about all of the gifts and treasures bestowed on them by Lear and they feel as if he has no future use to them now. Goneril and Regan are two dir...