King Lear by William ShakespeareMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This hits different when you have two daughters who refuse to do what you tell them to do. When I was a teenager I found Lear unreasonable and the complaints of Goneril and Regan understandable. Reading it now brings out just how pointed and heartbreaking a portrayal of patriarchal love it is. Lear overbearing affection makes him myopic, and he largely brings his afflictions on his own head. Edmund’s cold attitude to his family, perhaps born of a lack of affection, provides the perfect counterpoint. He and Edgar are the co-plotters of this tragedy. The brothers are like Hamlet split in two – Edmund inheriting a ruthless intelligence and Edgar acting like a madman for the moral edification of failed fathers. In a bleak play he and Cordelia provide a grim sense of hope that a younger generation through their determination and suffering can redeem their parents.
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