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Caleb Tracy

Dr. Herndon

Masterpieces of Literature

February 24th, 2015

“Love’s Not Love:” A look at the competition for love in King Lear

I cannot stress it better that the King of France does in the first scene of

Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear:

Is it no more but this –a tardiness in nature

Which often leaves the history unspoke

That it intends to do? –My lord of Burgundy,

What say you to the lady? Love’s not love

When it is mingled with regards that stands

Aloof from th' entire point. Will you have her?

She is herself a dowry. (1.1.242-248)

“Love’s not love.” Love in this play isn’t really the “love” that is should be. For the

majority of the play we see tainted and conditional love. For the greater part of it, it has

to be won. We see the error in that, as it brings the downfall and ultimately the death of

Lear, Edmund, Gonerill, and Regan; the very people who competed for love. Love

cannot be won. There seems to be no example that it can be. It comes duty free at the

best examples. Edgar’s love and care for his father, Cordelia’s forgiveness, and the

King of France’s devotion to Cordelia as his wife all show that real love must be given

unconditionally. Love is not a prize. It shouldn’t be divided. It shouldn’t be competed for.

In the end, it is the unconditional love that wins. This essay will further the exploration of

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the different types of love in King Lear. A further analysis of the symbolism that plagues

both fathers’ actions, the battle for love between the two older sisters, and a final look at

the outsider’s opinion, King Aganippus of France, should help clear things up about the

forms of love.

A strong symbol lies in the “double paradox” that is written in so cleverly. Both

paradoxes lie in the play’s father characters, Lear and Gloucester. Lear does not see

the reason in Cordelia’s honest answer. He does not gain proper reasoning until he has

gone insane. That is when he sees his two daughters for what they are, liars and

whores. Therefore, it is safe to say that his love competition was clouded by his poor

reasoning. This poignant lucidity Lear has during his insanity puts any action he made,

during his sanity, to shame. The dramatic irony is also very interesting. The tables turn

on Lear as he experiences the same treatment he bestowed upon his children, from his

children. Once he gives up his throne, he becomes a player in his children’s love

competition. He has to win their love in order to maintain his well-being and a place to

stay. He gets cast out of both Goneril and Regan’s houses. Thus the paradox and the

dramatic irony give us a better picture of why he was wrong in making his children

compete for his love. It only turned the tables on him. It’s not until he finds Cordelia that

he realizes he was wrong about her. (Cavell, 70-71) This text from the play fully

encapsulates the utter grief King Lear when he finally realizes he was wrong about

rejecting Cordelia:

Be your tears wet? Yes, 'faith. I pray, weep not:

If you have poison for me, I will drink it.

I know you do not love me; for your sisters

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Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:

You have some cause, they have not.

...You must bear with me.

Pray you now, forget and forgive.

I am old and foolish. (4.7.70-74;84-86)

He admits that Cordelia has every reason to hate him. He even says he wouldn’t

mind if she were to poison him. In the end of the passage he asks for his daughter’s

forgiveness. She does. This amazing, unconditional love is mirrored in Edgar’s love for

Gloucester.

The paradox that plagues Gloucester lies within the symbol in his character’s

figurative and literal blindness. Much like Lear’s poor reasoning, Gloucester’s blindness

to his sons’ actions are his downfall. Figuratively, he doesn’t see further into Edmund’s

claims about his other son, Edgar. He believes only in what he physically sees,

Edmund’s falsified letter. He puts too much faith in his sight, so that the unseen truth of

Edgar’s loyalty remains hidden. Regan, although a liar, eventually reveals the truth

about Edgar’s devotion and Gloucester has his shocking revelation:

O my follies! Then Edgar was abused.

Kind Gods, forgive me that, and prosper him! (3.6.90-91)

Gloucester lacks good judgment because of his blindness to the predicament he

puts his children in. His choice of favoring Edgar over his bastard, Edmund, can be to

blame as well. That starts the unspoken love competition that Edgar and Edmund face.

The figurative blindness he has towards Edmund’s reactions to his conversation with

Kent about his bastardization is the final straw. This starts Edmunds upward climb to be

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one of Shakespeare’s most powerful villains. He wouldn’t have risen to so much power

if it had not been for his father’s blindness. The dramatic irony strikes again when

Edmund physically blinds his father. This outward blindness provides the only way for

Edgar to exonerate his father. As he is banished, Edgar cannot ever see his father

again. Due to Gloucester’s blindness and Edgar’s wit, he can save his father once his

father has been cast out of Edmund’s place by disguising himself. All of Edgar’s great

extents he goes through to ensure his father’s well-being prove his unconditional love.

He should have never had to prove it that way. Due to the figurative and physical

blindness of his father, he has to. Therefore Lear and Gloucester are subjects to their

tragic flaws; Lear to his inability to see reason and Gloucester to his blindness. Both

would have never suffered if it hadn’t been for their competitive spirit that they instilled

themselves in their children. (Danby, 52-54)

The competition for love doesn’t end for Goneril and Regan when they have ill

thoughts about their spouses. They refocus their desires, and they both vie after

Edmund’s love. Their thirst for power does not end with their rejection of their father.

Shakespeare takes it a step further. He uses their competitive spirit to bring about this

new “Edmund conflict” between the two sisters, as if furthering the proof of Lear’s poor

decision to pit his children against each other in his Act 1 proposal. Shakespeare makes

this point shine by pitting the two evils against each other, furthering the competition for

love in a completely new way. (Harisson)

King Aganippus of France is the outsider of all this conflict. He juxtaposes

everything about the main plot with his minor subplot. He comes to Cordelia’s aide

when her father rejects her. He loves her before he even sees her. This sets up one of

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the biggest contrasts in the story. His willingness to wed Cordelia without a dowry really

makes him better than Lear at loving and understanding love. He goes on to chide

Lear’s act of his daughters competing for their father’s love:

This is most strange,

That she, that even but now was your best object,

The argument of your praise, balm of your age,

Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time

Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle

So many folds of favour. Sure, her offence

Must be of such unnatural degree,

That monsters it, or your fore-vouch'd affection

Fall'n into taint: which to believe of her,

Must be a faith that reason without miracle

Could never plant in me. (1.1.219-229)

This text calls Lear on his mistake for giving up his daughter. He chides the

competitive aspect of Lear’s love. Aganippus points out that Lear’s previous love for his

daughter should not have changed because of her answer to him. He plays the “better

man” in this argument by ending it with the allusion to himself not seeing wrong in her

for her answer. Everyone else is so concerned with power, revenge, and greed that they

lose sight of true love. This is the exact opposite for Aganippus. His unabashed

devotion to Cordelia juxtaposes the conditional affection that Lear has for her. It is a

very interesting plot twist, and one that paints a bigger picture for Lear’s ultimate fallacy.

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In conclusion, it’s all laid out in the outsider’s opinion of the story. The blindness

and irrationality of both fathers cloud their judgment. They make brash decisions when it

comes to their choices of love. Their children are proof of their poor judgment. Gonerill,

Regan, an Edmund provide no testimony in their actions that tells us that their fathers’

love competition was a good tactic. Great consequences are faced in the end. Lives are

given because of the ill love. This play defines love in the worst and best ways. In the

end, the only people that win are those who can see the bigger picture: love cannot be

won. It has to be give unconditionally, or “love’s not love.”

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Work Cited

Cavell, Stanley. "The Avoidance of Love." Twentieth Century Interpretations of King

Lear (1978): 1-134. Print.

Danby, John F. "Edmund and the Two Natures." Twentieth Century Interpretations of

King Lear (1978): 1-134. Print.

Harrison, Byrony. "The Relationship Between Goneril and Regan in King Lear." - Comfy

Chair. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Shakespeare, William, and R. A. Foakes. King Lear. London: Thomas Nelson and

Sons, 1997. Print.