Cordelia, King Lear

 "Unhappy that I am, I cannot leave. My heart into my mouth."

Cordelia displays independences, obedience, love, immense integrity and sincerity during just the first scene of the play, King Lear ;when she along with her sisters is asked by their father, King Lear to profess how much they love him.
King Lear promises to give the biggest portion of his kingdom to the daughter that loves him the most. Cordelia’s older sisters Goneril and Regan give deep yet fake, superficial disingenuous answers, implying that they love their father more than anything in this world. Goneril refers to the love she has for her father as, “A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable (1.1.60)”. When Cordelia is asked to profess her love for her father she says, “Nothing (1.1.87)”. Surprising everyone present, after much persuasion from her father, Cordelia says, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth: I love your majesty, according to my bond; nor more nor less (1.1.92)”. This answer leaves the crowd shocked and the King embarrassed and humiliated. In the heat of the moment, Cordelia tries to explain to her father that if any woman loves their father as her sisters’ claim to do, then that woman should never get married. King Lear, who is now hurt and stubborn to this reasoning, publicly disowns Cordelia, the daughter he claims to be his favourite.

Cordelia who just couldn’t heave her heart in to her mouth quickly and painfully learns the unfortunately lesson that, no good deed goes unpunished. After Cordelia leaves for France with the King of France, the reader is stuck to with Regan and Goneril. The two sisters bond together and adopt a “sisters doing it for themselves” mentality (pun intended lol). After they become Queens of King Lear’s divided kingdom, they begin to maltreat, belittle and subject their father to cruel and abusing treatment. They eventually end up killing each other. This depiction of women by Shakespeare hints to the notion that women will do anything they have to, regardless of it been right or wrong to achieve their own selfish goal.

Shakespeare literally marginalizes the only female in the play who displays any form of applaudable and commendable attributes. After Cordelia is disowned in Scene 1 Act 1, she makes a brief appearance in Act4 Scene 4 then a final quick appearance in the last Act before she is hanged after been captured for trying to liberate England from her sisters’ rule.