Shouldn't family come first?

As I’ve been reading King Lear, I really have come to despise the characters of Goneril and Regan. Not only do they take the power their father has prematurely given them and abuse it, but then they begin to turn their backs on each other. I have never read King Lear before, and even though it was listed as a tragedy, I still had a bit of hope. I really was hoping that Goneril and Regan would realize their abuse of power, and find their father and take care of him in his elderly age the right way. Maybe Lear’s request to house one hundred knights was a bit over the top, but he is still their father. Without him, they wouldn’t have any power at all, and therefore should be more grateful for him. When both of them kicked Lear out of their houses in the early acts in the play, I was a bit upset by their actions, but like I said before, still help hope that they would make a change.

I never would of thought that these two daughters would fight over a man like they did in the final scene of the play. I find act five, scene three to be the most puzzling. When they begin to argue about who gave Edmund his military power, and bicker back and forth, I found myself asking “are these two serious?” Edmund, the man they are fighting over, has just sent their father and sister off to be killed in prison and all they can think about is who they will be romantically involved with next? I just don’t understand what these two characters are thinking, and their attitudes about their father make my stomach turn. This may be because I have such a strong connection with my family, and no matter what they have done, I would never turn my backs on them.

I may be stewing over something very small, but I just feel like these daughters are portrayed to be evil, unlike their sister, Cordelia who appears to be more of a saint figure. Cordelia is the only one willing to take care of her father, as a child should do. Since women are often marginalized in Shakespeare’s plays, I guess it would be to much to have three women characters who are angels, but I believe that Goneril and Regan were by far the cruelest characters in the play. Even their deaths at were for an unjust reason. They died fighting over a man would wanted to do nothing but kill their father and sister and that is something that I can just not fathom.