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Rightful Inheritance or Everyone Will Pay A Heavy Price

In Linda Boose’s critical essay, “The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare,” rituals are

prominent in the text. Lear’s refusal to give up his ties with Cordelia disrupts her marriage to her

husband. Cordelia must split her love between her father and her new husband, the King of

France. Boose argues that this breaks the marriage ritual. This paper will examine a different

ritual: the rituals and social conventions around inheritance. King Lear messes up his daughters’

lives by refusing to choose one heir. Gloucester makes the same mistake with his sons.

Shakespeare’s King Lear insists that father figures enforce social conventions, or everyone will

pay a heavy price.

Boose focuses primarily on the character of Cordelia and how Lear disrupts her marriage.

But Lear also disrupts the marriages of his other daughters, Goneril and Regan, by dividing his

land between the two of them rather than simply choosing one of their husbands as his heir.

King Lear opens with an exchange between Kent and Gloucester:

Kent: I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall.

Gloucester: It did always seem so to us, but now in the division of kingdom, it

appears not which of the dukes he values most, for qualities as so weighed that

curiosity in neither can make choice of either’s moiety. (I.I.1-6)

Right off the bat, we learn that Lear is already under pressure as to which of his

daughters’ husbands’, Cornwall or Albany, he should pick to fully inherit his land. As a king,

they should be able to make the important decisions without second guessing their choices; Lear

fails at this, therefore, causing a disruption between Goneril’s and Regan’s marriages.

At the end of Act 1, Scene 1, Cordelia fights with her sisters. She states that she wishes

Lear were in her care: “To your professed bosoms I commit him./But yet, alas, stood I in his
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grace/I would commend him to a better place” [172-174]. In this passage, Cordelia is saying that

Lear will now be taken care of by her sisters, but if Lear hadn’t rejected her so thoroughly, she’d

way rather have taken care of him herself.

Goneril and Regan take offense at this, and Regan accuses Cordelia of failing to be

obedient: “Be to content your lord, who hath received you./At fortune’s alms.You have

obedience scanted./And well are worth the want that you have wanted” [273-278]. Regan is

offended by Cordelia’s words, so Regan gives her some words of her own. Regan tells Cordelia

that she is to care for her lord and her lord only. Regan continues to say that the King of France

only took pity on Cordelia and the least she could do is obey him. So now we have the social

convention of sibling unity disrupted by sibling rivalry. This rivalry has been caused by Lear’s

refusal to do his kingly duty and enforce the social convention of inheritance.

In Boose’s article, she says “It is the willful action of the king and father, the lawgiver

and protector of both domain and family, that is fully responsible for this explosion of chaos.”

(203). This is an great observation, but it’s also important to acknowledge that Goneril, the eldest

sister and therefore the one that everyone looks up to, causes a divide between how Regan views

her father and younger sister. In Act 1 Scene 3, Goneril is approached by her steward, Oswald,

saying that Lear is wishing to speak with her. Goneril in response says:

By day and night, he wrongs me; every hour

He flashes into one gross crime or other

That sets us all at odds. I’ll not endure it. (Lear I.III.4-6)

In this scene, Goneril is fed up with Lear’s action and disappointed that he can’t make a

simple decision, such as picking one heir to inherit his land instead of all three. And if Lear

doesn’t like what Goneril has to say, she says:

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If he distaste it, let him to my sister,

Whose mind and mine I know in that are one,

Not to be overruled. Idle old man. (Lear I.III.15-17)

Although Lear is responsible for creating a rift between Cordelia and her sisters, Goneril

takes this opportunity to manipulate Regan into thinking that their minds are stronger together

rather than alone. Goneril is the first to say no to her father’s request of hospitality, leading to

Regan later saying no to taking Lear and his 50 soldiers into her living quarters. This leads to

Goneril and Regan making a deal with each other to not give in to their father’s elderly cries;

they are to hold their ground no matter what. When Regan requests Lear to maybe apologize to

Goneril for his actions, he is not willing to budge. Both sisters are unwilling to argue with their

father anymore, therefore, leaving him out in the cold.

Social convention dictates that the eldest daughter is supposed to hold the family

together. She is the person her younger siblings look up to. The eldest daughter is the first to

marry, and in the absence of a mother, she will help her sisters prepare for their own marriages.

Typically, if the mom is out of the picture, the eldest daughter will take on the mother’s role, and

will do the care work usually done by a mom. Compare this to Goneril, who seems to either have

refused this role, or to use it only to manipulate and tear apart her family. Goneril doesn’t live up

to the social conventions expected of an eldest daughter.

Lear doesn’t give Goneril the love she needs. He gives all his love to Cordelia. He also

refuses to obey the law of inheritance, by which Goneril and the Duke of Albany should inherit

everything. Finally, he explodes whenever anyone challenges him: “Dry up her organs of

increase/And from her derogate body never spring” (I.IV.262-263). How can Goneril be a
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mother-figure when any time she acts like a leader, her father screams at her? Imagine her trying

to protect her younger sisters from him. How would Lear have punished her for that?

Earlier in the scene to where Lear is throwing a fit, Goneril tells her father that his

soldiers are not here to work, but yet in the pursuit of pleasure, and she will not support it

anymore:

Men so disordered, so debached and bold,

That this our 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 palace” [223-226].

Goneril confronts her father that she does not support her father’s decisions as king and

will not put up with him anymore. So here we have a clear example of how King Lear fails to

keep his soldiers in line through kingly authority and therefore, leaving Goneril to do what she

thinks must be done for the sake of the kingdom.

At the end of the play, Lear is forced to reckon with his actions of failing his kingly duty,

as all three of his daughters lay dead in front of him. Lear was so focused on mending his

relaionship with his youngest daughter, Cordelia, that he didn’t care to check up on the rising

rivalry between his other daughters, Goneril and Regan. In the middle of the play, Regan loses

her husband, Cornwall, to a disobedient servant, leaving her a widow. Luckily for her, Edmund

has just inherited all of Gloucester’s land and money, making him the most eligible bachelor for

Regan’s interest. Goneril grows jealous of Regan because the man that her sister wants to marry,

is the one that she loves; “I had rather lose the battle than that sister should loosen him and me”

(Act 5, Scene 1, 18-19). Goneril would rather lose the battle to obtain her father’s inheritance,
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than to have her sister take the man she loves away from her. If Lear had just picked one rightful

heir, we wouldn’t see the unfortunate death of Cornwall or the rivarly between Goneril and

Regan fighting over a man.

Boose focuses primarily on how Lear disrupts the marriage of his daughter, Cordelia. But

Lear isn’t the only father figure who disrupts the social convention around inheritance;

Gloucester also disrupts the inheritance of Edgar, his eldest son, by favoring his bastard son,

Edmund, and bringing him to court. Edmund is the illegitimate son and Edgar is the legitimate

son. Edmund knows that he is not going to inherit anything from Gloucester due to him being the

bastard son, yet Edmund knows that his father loves him more than his brother, Edgar:

“Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land/Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund”

[I.II.16-17]. Edmund believes that his father’s love should mean more in terms of deciding

inheritance rather than the status of being a legitimate son.

The social convention around a bastard son is to be an outsider. Although the bastard sons

are supposed to be protected from discrimination within the kingdom, they’re supposed to feel

detached and have trouble trusting their own instincts. Act 1 Scene 1, Gloucester is already

making comments to Kent about Edmund’s mother and how he how is to blame for his

upbringing; “His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge/I have so blushed to acknowledge him,

that now I am brazed to it” [8-10]. Gloucester is ashamed to have a bastard son attached to his

name and even more ashamed that he was part of the cause. But the thought of having the word

“bastard” attached to Edmund doesn’t make him feel insecure or fearful, but rather intrigued, and

indulges in the acts of being a bastard; which is lying and doing whatever it takes to get what

they think are rightfully theirs, no matter the consequences. And that’s exactly what Edmund

does.
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Edmund hashes out a plan to get what he thinks is rightfully his. Edmund lies to his

father, Gloucester, claiming Edgar intends to kill him and inherit Gloucester’s property and title.

Edgar is forced to run away. Whether or not Gloucester acknowledges that it is his bastard son

who is making this outrageous accusation, doesn’t stop him from believing every word that

comes out of Edmund’s mouth.

Edmund’s monologue in Act 1 Scene 2, is him gloating on about how he is lucky to have

a father and brother who won’t suspect his treachery, simply because they wouldn’t think of such

a horrid thing, even from a bastard son.

A credulous father and a brother noble,

Whose nature is so far from doing harm

That he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty (I.II.166-168)

Edmund is making a huge assumption that his father won’t call him on his bluff. This

proves that Gloucester trusts Edmund more than his eldest son, Edgar. Edmund uses his gullible

father and brother as an advantage to hash out a plan that will inevitably lead him to costing his

own life.

Edmund declares he’s sure to get his father’s land, if not by rightful inheritance, then by

his own wits; “Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit.” (I.II.170). Edmund hopes that with his

brother fleeing the kingdom, he’ll be able to prove that as bastard son, his is just as capable of

inheriting his father’s land. This is another example of sibling unity disrupted by sibling rivalry.

This rivalry has been caused by Gloucester being gullible enough to believe that Edmund, his

illegitimate son, is telling the truth about his eldest son’s plan to kill him.

Within the play, both Lear and Gloucester have mentioned that one of their children is a

bastard; Gloucester says it about Edmund and Lear says it about Goneril. Why do you think
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Edmund and Goneril act the way they do? From the start, Edmund was instantly regarded as the

bastard son that Gloucester is having to care for; Edmund knew he wouldn’t get his father’s

inheritance, so in return he acted out as a bastard son should. Goneril, on the other hand, was just

simply undercut by her father’s kingly duty. As the oldest daughter, she was trying to care for her

sisters and think of the sake of the kingdom, but when Goneril refused to give Lear hospitality,

he called her a bastard; his exact words were “degenerate bastard” (Act 1, Scene 4, 235). Now

where would have Lear heard of such a word? At the beginning of the play, we learn that

Gloucester is already complaining about Edmund and that Lear has anxiety about which heir to

chose. With those observations, we see Lear starting to worry that maybe Goneril might not be

his child after all and instead his bastard daughter.

The play starts with sibling unity and ends with sibling rivalry. And that was greatly

caused by Lear and Gloucester. Lear failed to pick one rightful heir to inherit his land, and

Gloucester was gullible enough to believe that Edgar wanted to kill him, which in return made

his son flee scared. If Lear, instead of chosing a heir based on his daughter’s love for him,

followed his kingly duty to pick one heir or maybe the oldest to inherit all his land, then the

tragic deaths of his daughters would’ve not been from poison, suicide, or murder. And if

Gloucester realized that it was his bastard son, Edmund, who was making the accusation about

his brother’s intentions, then he wouldn’t have to worry about the later betrayal from Edmund

and the loss of his land going into the wrong hands. Sibling unity is something that starts from

birth, and losing that is far greater than any other betrayal in King Lear.

Works Cited

Boose, Lynda E. "The Father and The Bride in Shakespeare." King Lear. Grace Ioppolo.

Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. 194-209. Pages
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Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Grace Ioppolo. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W.

Norton & Company, 2008.