Parallels and Antitheists

In the play of King Lear, there seems to be many parallels with the characters. The biggest parallel would be of Edmund and Cordelia. Edmund is the only legitimate son of Gloucester, while Cordelia is one of three daughters of King Lear. While all three daughters are legitimate, Cordelia is the only truthful one, which adds a sense of true legitimacy to her character. When King Lear asks of his daughters so speak of how much they love him (which is solely only there to up his ego), Goneril and Regan are quick to lie. Lear buys every second of it, even though if he was a better king he probably should have been able to see right through every false word. Cordelia on the other hand openly states:

Good my lord,

You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I

Return those duties back as are right fit,

Obey you, love you, and most honour you.

Why have my sisters husbands, if they say

They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,

That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry

Half my love with him, half my care and duty:

Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,

To love my father all. (1.1.94-103)

This does not please her father and she is banished and is left with nothing by the end of the act. Her father splits the land between her two sisters and Cordelia is divested because of the fact she spoke the truth, unlike her sisters who lied and got everything. This all relates back to Edmund because Edgar convinces Gloucester that Edmund is trying to betray him, when in fact it is Edgar in actuality. Gloucester can be a parallel to Lear, because they both are betrayed by their “evil” children and don’t see that their good children are being manipulated as well.
Back to Edmund, just like Cordelia he is divested and stripped of everything but in a much less literal sense. He actually takes off his clothes and dirties himself up in order to pass as a random crazed man. Cordelia’s divestment isn’t this extreme; hers is more literal in the sense that she is losing her family and her property and her money.
Both Edmund and Cordelia have their antitheists in their own siblings. They are the complete opposite of Edgar, Regan, and Goneril. It was like difference between good and evil. Edmund and Cordelia were the angels, while Edgar, Regan, and Goneril are the demon children from Hell. But Edgar, Regan, and Goneril all similar to one another. Edgar wants to take down his own father and he lies to him and creates this whole story that Edmund is the one that wants to overthrow him. He even fakes a fight. Goneril and Regan don’t lie about Cordelia, but they obviously don’t care much for her. They both are trying to take down their father and they are the biggest liars just like Edmund.
Many of the characters in this play seem to have a double. I’m excited to see how this all turns out in the end.