Tell Me Lies

The first aspect of the play I noticed as I read the first act is the negative reception received from King Lear at being confronted with honesty.  The first instance in which this is demonstrated is when King Lear is partitioning his land to his three daughters.  He has each daughter express the immensity of her love for him, and makes a game out that can rightly be called “Who loves me most?”  When his two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, flatter their father with such profound pronouncements of love, which we can tell are superficial in nature, he receives them well and marks their land inheritances on the map.  When Coredelia’s turn arrives the king expects her to try to surpass her elder sisters in her love for him as her father, but instead she states “I love your majesty / According to my bond [filial duty]; nor more nor less” (1.1.91-92).  He insists that she speak more lovingly to him, but she refuses to sweet-talk him and remains honest and sincere:          

                              Good my lord,

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

                              Return those duties back as they are right fit,

                              Obey you, love you, and most honor you.  (1.1.94-97)

She explains to her father that it seems questionable for her sisters to have husbands if they love him above all else, which hints at their insincerity.  Cordelia tells him that when she marries, half of her love will go to her husband, as it should, while the other half shall stay with him.  Her honesty is not received well, as he denies her any inheritance and disowns her as his daughter.  King Lear demonstrates here that flattery is what appeals to him.  This relates to his insistence on keeping his one hundred knights.  By having them around him, King Lear remains powerful and noble looking.  Superficial and shallow is the king, who cares very much about appearance and frivolous things.  He wants the title of king and the splendor that comes from being king, but he does not want to be burdened with the stress and woes of the position.  This truly reveals how phony he is, and how skewed his priorities are.

               We see another instance in which honesty and truthfulness are not acknowledged in a positive light when Kent stands up for the disowned Cordelia.  Kent, having served King Lear many years, truly honors him, but feels that he has stepped out of line in his reaction to Cordelia’s response (excuse the improper structureof inset quotation - certain lines did not fit well and needed to be moved down to maintain the clean "block-like" appearance, else they would be jutting out):

                              Think’st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,

                              When power to flattery bows?  To plainness [plain speaking] 

                               honor’s bound,                                   

                              When majesty stoops to folly.  Reverse thy 

                              doom [revoke your sentence],

                              And, in thy best consideration, check [halt]

                              This hideous rashness.  (1.1.147-151)

Kent insists that Cordelia loves does not love King any less than his other two daughters, and that her words contain no insincerity within them.  Lear becomes infuriated with Kent’s questioning of his decision to disown Cordelia and his defending of her behavior.  The disgruntled king lays his hand on his sword, ready to attack Kent!  This seems pretty drastic to me, especially considering how much Kent has done for him.  He banishes Kent and threatens to have him killed if he sets foot within kingdom.  King Lear’s admonishment of Cordelia’s and Kent’s honesty is ridiculous.  It is as if King Lear is saying “Tell me lies” because those sweet words of falsehood provide him with a sense of security.