King Lear

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The plot summary of King Lear is he decides to give up his power and divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters, Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril. Cordelia is his favorite daughter, yet, when he tells his daughters whoever loves him the most will get his kingdom, he was already expecting to give it to Cordelia. He was taken aback when she did not give him the answer that he was expecting. She states that she loves him as much as she should love him, but she also loves her husband more. Once the kingdom is in the hands of his other two daughters power, is when the rise to the climax begins. The two evil sisters plan to kill Lear and once Cordelia finds out, she goes to stop them. Which then turns them to go and kill her. In the end, everybody ends up dying in a tragic way.

In this book review, the girl is a huge fan of “King Lear” and she summarizes how the story and the plot come together in the end to show the growth of the main characters, Lear and Cordelia. I agree with her summary and also agree with her statement that, although the story is tragic, the ending has the two main characters, King Lear and Cordelia, come together in reconciliation (before their deaths).

At first, Lear disowns Cordelia for stating how she truly feels and is honest with him. Instead, he chose to give all his land and riches to his other two daughters even though he knew they were lying and the only reason they changed their persona was because they just wanted the money. The sisters would do anything in order to get the money, even killing their own family. Even though her father disowned her, Cordelia still went back to protect her father. This shows her loyalty and true love that she had for her father. Her father ended up falling asleep doing the war between the three sisters and Cordelia ends up getting killed. She was killed defending her father and at the end of the story, I strongly believe that the father realizes he was selfish when he chose lies over honesty.

In the end, King Lear lost the most important thing to him and he realized that he made a big mistake. He ends up dying with Cordelia in his hands. The moral of the story is actions speak louder than words. Cordelia kept true to her word and she proved that by her actions and her love and loyalty to her father. Both King Lear and Cordelia have grown throughout the story in different ways. They both forgive each other in the end and he realized who Cordelia truly is and all is forgiven, although it is not enough to save their lives.