Re: Cordelia -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 14:42:28 01/29/08 Tue
Author: CS Holden
Subject: Re: Cordelia
In reply to: Shannon 's message, "Cordelia" on 13:33:38 01/29/08 Tue

You see the same thing happening with Kent and Gloucester, and perhaps most obviously with the Fool. They all seem to be in constant meditation on proper boundaries and obligations. Here are just a few examples I found...

With Kent: "Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers,--" (1.1)

But I thought it was particularly interesting that it is by using the rhetoric of Cordelia (familial obligation, proper social obligations) that Edmund dupes his father. Notice in 1.2:

EDMUND
I beseech you, sir, pardon me: it is a letter
from my brother, that I have not all o'er-read;
and for so much as I have perused, I find it not
fit for your o'er-looking.

GLOUCESTER
Give me the letter, sir.

EDMUND
I shall offend, either to detain or give it. The
contents, as in part I understand them, are to blame.

GLOUCESTER
Let's see, let's see.

"I shall offend, either to detain or give it," Edmund says, complaining that he is caught between obligations. Interesting that he does this to suggest Edgar is breaking the social code:

EDMUND
Never, my lord: but I have heard him [Edgar] oft
maintain it to be fit, that, sons at perfect age,
and fathers declining, the father should be as
ward to the son, and the son manage his revenue.

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Replies:

Re: Cordelia -- Jfish, 19:42:45 02/03/08 Sun