Characters - Goneril and Regan

9 important questions on Characters - Goneril and Regan

What can be said about Goneril's speech to Lear at the beginning of the play?

- formal

- farfetched

- far from sincere = empty words

- masks a corrupt intention

"Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?" what does this tell you about the "unnatural hags"

They are not worthy of being named. It links to Edmund's categorisation of Goneril and Regan as "these sisters"

Who do critics compare Goneril to?

Lady Macbeth as she lays plans, adopts a dominant role and mocks her husband.

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How do we initially see Regan?

As more sympathetic than Goneril but she quickly reveals that her true disposition is more cruel than her sisters - she delights in torturing those who oppose her will e.g. she extends Kent's punishment in the stocks, unfeeling denies her father any followers ("What need one?"), orders the doors of Gloucester's castle to be shut against Lear, and when Cornwall puts out one of Gloucester's eyes she pitilessly urges, "One side will mock another: th'other, too."

What can be said about Goneril and Regan's lust

It destroys them - their desire for Edmund is where they clash - Goneril poisons Regan which highlights are similarity between her and Edmund = they manipulate situations to get what they want.

How does Albany feel about the death of Goneril?

He has no sorrow - his distance leaves no sympathy for the reader = death is just a mere dispatch of villains.

What animal images are used to describe G & R

"dog hearted"

"pelican daughters"

"wolvish fangs"

What does Goneril embody?

Lust = difficult to defend her as she is an adulteress 

For Lear, she embodies evil

Why can we sympathise with Goneril to an extent?

Lear's riotous knights - "Men so disordered, so debauched and bold" + "riotous inn" p. 205

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