The tragic work of King Lear, by William Shakespeare follows a legendary King’s journey from ignorance to knowledge while also highlighting his fall from fortunate ruler to exiled citizen. One of the themes in the book deals with the relationship between parent and child. This is exemplified by Shakespeare with his portrayal of King Lear and his daughter Cordelia, and also Gloucester and his son, Edgar.

Though different, the reader can draw many similarities in the way both relationships are carried out during the play. The similarities between the two relationships are a false sense of betrayal felt by the parents, a true sense of betrayal by the children to the parents, and the struggling decline of the parents from which they ultimately find truth.

There is a false sense of betrayal between King Lear and Cordelia, and also between Gloucester and Edgar. In the opening of the play, King Lear is eager to show to everyone just how much each of his daughters loves him. He asks each daughter to publicly tell him how much they love him and why they deserved a greater portion of the kingdom.

Lear’s first two daughters Goneril and Regan overbearingly express how much they loved him. Though due to Cordelia’s asides, the reader gets the impression that the two older daughter’s speeches are not as sincere as Lear interprets them to be. When it comes time for Cordelia to express her love for her father, she claims that there is nothing she can say that would clearly express how much she loves her father. Shocked, Lear commands his daughter to speak again and gives her one more chance to profess her love for him.

She responds by saying, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond, no more nor less…You have begot me, bred me, loved me. I return those duties back as are right fit, obey you, love you, and most honor you. (Act I Scene I Lines 91-98)” Essentially Cordelia is saying that words cannot describe how much she loves her father and that it is an injustice to even attempt to.

Confused, embarrassed, and upset, King Lear feels betrayed by Cordelia’s statement and disowns her. He decides to split his kingdom two ways, between the daughters that he feels truly love him. Though King Lear thinks that he is being betrayed by his favorite younger daughter, it is a false sense of betrayal, because true love indeed cannot be described merely by words alone.

This is not the only example of a false sense of betrayal. In the next scene, the bastard son Edmund makes a fake letter in an effort to earn the trust of his father Gloucester. He writes on behalf of his brother Edgar which states that he is plotting to kill Gloucester. When Gloucester finds out about the plot, he is very upset at Edgar and feels he can no longer trust him.

This is exemplified when Gloucester states, “O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter. Abhorred villain, unnatural, detested, brutish villain; worse than brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him. I’ll apprehend him. Abominable villain! Where is he? (Act I Scene II Lines 76-80)”

Though in Gloucester’s mind it seems like his natural son Edgar has in fact betrayed him by plotting to kill him in order to take over his rule, it is obviously a false sense of betrayal. This is because the reader knows that Edmund was the one who lied and created the letter about Edgar wanting to kill Gloucester. None the less, Gloucester should have had a little more trust and faith in his eldest son and given Edgar a chance to explain the letter.

Because of the lack of faith and trust of the children that truly love them, King Lear and Gloucester then had to learn the hard lesson of true betrayal by the children they assume truly love them. After he splits the kingdom, Lear has plans to take turns every month visiting and living with his two daughters. Wanting to be a little more independent and actually start to have rule over the kingdom, neither of the sisters truly wants Lear to live with them.

Eventually, Lear travels to Goneril’s house with his personal soldiers. Almost immediately Goneril decides that she does not want Lear at her estate because he and his guests are being obnoxious. As a result, Goneril and her servants become rude to Lear. Although he has given up his rule of the kingdom, he still expects to be called and known as King.

Feeling down on his luck, Lear addresses Goneril’s Husband Oswald, “O, you, sir, you! Come you hither, sir. Who am I, sir? (Act I Scene IV Line 77)” Oswald responds to this question by answering, “My lady’s father (Act I Scene IV Line 77).” This upsets Lear to no avail because he expects to be known as King. He also feels like a fool because of how Goneril, Oswald, and her servants are treating him-this is justified because after all he is Goneril’s father and the former King of the kingdom.

Further more, Goneril then tries to take away as much remaining power that Lear has left. She states, “As you are old and reverend, should be wise. Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires, men so disordered, so debauched and bold that this out court, infected with their manners, shows like a riotous inn. Epicurism and lust makes it more like a tavern or a brothel than a graced place. The shame itself doth speak for instant remedy (Act I Scene IV Lines 234-241.)”

Essentially Goneril is saying that the soldiers and personal servants that he brings with him are disgraceful and she demands that they leave her property. King Lear sees this as an act of betrayal from the daughter that supposedly loved him the most-He also doubts that his other daughter Regan will act any differently.

Another representation of true betrayal is Edmund’s lies about his older brother Edgar. Though it is likely that Edgar is really the only one of Gloucester’s two sons that truly loves him, Edmund lies and tells Gloucester that Edgar has a plot to kill him. Edmund also stages a fight with Edgar and tells Gloucester that he had tried to enact his plot that night and he tried to defend his honor. He claimed that Edgar had cut his arm and then fled into the darkness.

This is a blatant example of betrayal because it seems Edmund does not really love his father. Edmund is more in love with his father’s rule, which if he continues his path of betrayal will eventually be bestowed upon him. It is a shame that Gloucester has put all his trust in his bastard son Edmund-while all his trust should be with his oldest, legitimate son Edgar.

While the reader knows of the mistakes of Gloucester and King Lear all along, it takes almost half the play for them to even have a hint of the truth about their children. Unfortunately, because of their poor decisions, this lack of truth leads to their respective decline in society. Learning from those mistakes and finally realizing the truth makes them learn what it means to be human.

When Lear finally realizes that his daughter Goneril does not love him, and now finally in control of his power, just wants him to go away, he goes to address his other daughter Regan about Goneril. He states, “Beloved Regan, thy sister’s naught. O Regan, she hath tied sharp-toothed unkindness, like a vulture, here. I can scarce speak to thee. Thou’lt not believe with how depraved a quality-O Regan! (Act II Scene IV Line 131-135)”

He tells of how bad Goneril treated him and how she is doing the opposite of what she was supposed to do when she assumed power, which was to take care of him. The only response Regan provides is that she feels that perhaps Goneril is correct and that Lear should try to be more cooperative. She then tells her father he cannot stay with her, instead she tells him to go back to Goneril’s house and live with her.

At this point in the story King Lear feels as if none of his children truly love him, but by the end of the play he finds the truth about his three daughters, just as Gloucester found the truth about his two sons. Though it is a shame both Lear and Gloucester fell from their positions of power, the lessons learned through their feelings of a false sense of betrayal, the true sense of betrayal by their children, and their struggling decline, was worth more than anything they had for the first part of their lives.

It is often said that knowledge is power. Even though King Lear and Gloucester only had that true power for a brief period of time, it was most likely the most rewarding time of their lives because they found the true answer to ultimate question they both sought after-which of their children truly loved them.