Cordelia brings to the play heroism, compassion and judgement.

By considering the role and dramatic presentation of Cordelia in King Lear,

evaluate this view.
Plan:
Representation of Women/ Patriarchal society
Role in Religion/-links to Jesus and Mary- considered the model Christian woman
Family and Relationships with Lear and her Sisters

In one of Shakespeares most tragic tales of loss, hope and rejection, the small
shining light of hope and morality is portrayed through the character of Cordelia,
King Lears youngest daughter. Albeit Cordelia having the least spoken lines in
Shakespeares King Lear. Shakespeare uses her to embody several central
themes to the play; religion, gender and relationships. Throughout the play,
Cordelia is presented as a strong, confident and controlled women, most often
unseen in the strictly patriarchal society of Jacobean Britain. This thesis will
examine that Cordelia is represented as the key figure of confidence and female
empowerment in the play. However, it will also analysis how while she can be
seen as proto-feminist figure. She can also be examined as being solely the
embodiment of the model Christian woman; silent and submissive.

It can be considered that Cordelia is portrayed as a character of compassion,

heroism and strength in comparison to the representation of the other women in
the play; her sisters Regan and Cordelia. Shakespeare uses Cordelia to create a
positive and uplifting female representation in the play. Although in Jacobean
society, women were expected to remain silent and submissive. Cordelia rejects
this notion thus supporting and empowering herself. Therefore, it can be said
that she is the figure of female empowerment in the play. This is notable when
Cordelia rejects Lears advances of attention and approval seeking A third more
opulent than your sisters? Speak./ Nothing, my lord. The only character, apart
from the Fool, Cordelia refuses to indulge Lears own ego when he asks to prove
their love. The irony is that for the audience we are truly aware that while
Cordelia wishes to not indulge this, she is the only daughter to truly love him.
My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty/ According to my bond, no more no
less. Through the line Cordelia empowers herself and removes herself from the
submissive role which is subjugated to her through the patriarchal society. The
use of the word bond is both ironic and essential. While she talks of her bond
to her father she is rejected and disinherited. However, ultimately at the end of
the play her bond and protection for her father is essential in emphaisisng her
love for him. This eventually, leads to her death. Her greatest hamartia is her
own strength and compassion.

Critic Cathy Cupitt in their work Daughters of chaos, examines the fact that
Cordelia is not simply just an embodiment of female empowerment but also the
essential link within the politics of the play. Interestingly, for all of Cordelias
goodness, she too wields power in the political arena when she wages war
against Britain with Frances troops in attempts to gain back control from her
sisters tyrant rule. Therefore, Cordelia is also part of the anarchy which begins to
arise within the play from female empowerment. Be governed by your
knowledge, and proceed/ Ithsway of your own will. Cuppitt claims that
Cordelias struggle to attain her identity while poised between political necessity
in a patriarchal world and her own moral wisdom defines her tragic experience,
her simultaneous movement towards retribution and atonement. In order to
portray this, some adaptations including the National Theatre production in 2014
of the play have chosen to dress her once she re-enters in a military costume,
with a gun.
On the other hand, it should be considered through examination that Cordelia is
not actually confident or strong and is instead submissive and silent under the
patriarchal rule of Jacobean society. She doesnt in fact lead a revolution or
trigger a possible disruption to the gender norms of the society. However, instead
enforces that role of the model Christian woman. The role of Cordelia is
essential to examine when analysing the role of religion in the play. Cordelia is
used as a representation of Christian values and morality. The critic Anna
Jameson likens Cordelia to the early Italian images of Madonna and claimed If
Lear be the grandest of Shakespeares tragedies, Cordelia in herself , as a human
being governed by the purest and holiest of impulses and motives, the most
refined from all dross of selfishness and passion, approaches to near perfection,
and in her adaptation as a dramatic personage to a determinate plan of action,
may be pronounced altogether. Throughout the play, there are many references
also likening Cordelia to Jesus Christ especially in her death. After refusing to
endorce Lears vanity, this likeness can be linked to when Jesus appears to reject
his own mother and family Who is my mother, or my brethren? For whosover
shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister, and mother. In
fact, this biblical passage is directly ironic because it is Mary who most faithfully
does the will of God, just as it is Cordelia who faithfully serves her father through
the calamities that are about to engulf him. It is interesting to note, that because
so commonly Cordelia is linked to Christ that her similarities to Mary are often
much ignored but also clearly evident. So young and so untender... So young,
my lord, and true. Therefore, it can be said that Shakespeares use of the
character of Cordelia highlights the importance of religion and Christian values in
King Lear. As the only character who ultimately loses everything, resulting in her
loss of life. Cordelia is the epitome of Christianity, she gives up everything ,
forgives her father after his betrayal and still dies graciously.
The debate examining whether Cordelia is truly a proto-feminist heroine or the
stereotypical and model Jacobean woman is difficult to ultimately decipher. From
a feminist perspective, one could consider that Cordelia actually resorts to
following all those desires and expectiations of her within that society. When she
is banished by her father; she leaves. When she asks to choose her suitor; she

does so and gets married even though at first she appears uncertain and
unhappy Then poor Cordelia,/ And yet not so, since I am sure my loves/ More
ponderous than my tongue. Zang- Chang Liu suggests that King Lear portrays
womens eagerness and desires to have power in the androcentric society. In
comparison to Goneril and Regan, we can see and appreciate as a modern
audience the desire for power, authority and control. In Cordelia, however there
is never an air of desire and need for ambition instead following what shes
expected. From the audiences perspective, it appears that Cordelia loses her
ambition and voice as the play continues. This is notably evident in her death by
strangulation. While Lear cries my poor fool is hanged, this moment of pathos
and silence except for Lear holding the dead Cordelia highlights to the audience
that her gradual silence has led her to nothingness. She has been weakened by
the patriarchal society, her own submission leads to her own death. Is she truly a
character of strength? Or does she allow herself to be destroyed by the society
around her. Is that really a proto-feminist character? Or a warning by
Shakespeare to the audience of what occurs when one lets them lose themselves
in order to help others.

Overall, it can be examined that Cordelia is both a representation of heroism,

compassion and strength within in the play, as well, as being the embodiment of
lack of strength and the reduction of ones personality at the expense of others.
We can contend that Shakespeare uses the representation of Cordelia to cause
conflict for the audience; while others believe she is a turning point in the play.
Others feel she doesnt fulfil her role as a proto-feminist character. Through
examination, we can analyse that Cordelia is what the audience wishes her to be.
Shakespeare shows many versions of Cordelia to show the audience that one is
not simply a 2- dimensional figure. She can be that of hope or disappointment,
its all up to the audiences reading.