King lear

            King Lear: Comparison and Contrast of Gloucester and Lear.
             The Shakespearian play, King Lear, is more than a simple story. King Lear is a combination of two smaller stories, which overlap and intertwine. The sub-plot, of Gloucester and his sons and the main plot of King Lear and his daughters, enriched the play by comparing and contrasting the two families. "The subplot simply repeats the theme of the main one story."" (Bradley 190-207) Goneril and Regan mirrored Edmund; in contrast, Cordelia and Edgar were both considered good; and King Lear and Gloucester was torn to disaster and related by similar relationships with their children.
             Lear's eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, were the mirror image of Gloucester's illegitimate son, Edmund, in that they were all considered to be villains. Goneril and Regan are both ruthless and support each other in their evil acts. Goneril and Regan played their father in the opening scene of this play by pretending to love him in order to inherit more of his kingdom. "Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter - (I, i, 56-7). Lear expects to live with them, along with his servants, but the daughters steadily reduce the number of servants he is allowed to nothing. "Return to her and fifty men dismissed?- (II, iv, 233), "What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five What need one?- (II, iv, 294-297) Edmund's acts are just as cruel. Edmund tries to discredit Edgar by forging a letter in which Edgar appears to plot the death of their father, Gloucester. Edmund stabs himself and blames his wounds on Edgar. "Some blood drawn on me would beget opinion of my more fierce endeavour. (Stabs his arm) I have seen drunkards do more than this in sport."" (II, i, 34-37) Gloucester responds by declaring Edgar an outlaw and Edmund his new heir. These deceitful acts of Edmund's to gain more from father magnify the evil acts performed by Goneril and Regan against Lear to gain and control his kingdom.