King Lear

Describe the significant tensions present in Shakespeare's King Lear.  Be sure to ground your insights with specific textual references.

The tensions in King Lear can be categorized into two broad types: tension between the impetuous youth and the (sometimes) wiser older generation, and sexual tension. In the course of the play, these tensions result in the breakdown of hierarchy and stability in the kingdom, and chaos ensues.

The tension between King Lear and his daughters forms the crux of the play. First the tension between the King and his daughter Cordelia is introduced: because she is unable to express her love for her father in words (“What shall Cordelia do? Love, and be silent…I am sure, my love's more richer than my tongue…I cannot heave my heart into my mouth”), he thinks she does not love him, and does not give her a share of his kingdom. Instead, he bequeaths it to his two other daughters, Goneril and Regan, who turn out to be scheming and ungrateful. Immediately after he so generously gives them his kingdom, they resolve to strip him of his remaining power (“let's hit together: if our father carry authority with such dispositions as he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us.”). Both Goneril and Regan blame his old age for his behavior, calling it the “infirmity of his age” and expecting more such “unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.” This description of the king (who as far as we know has always had a weakness for flattery, and therefore we cannot call it senility) shows the disrespect the youth in this play have for the older generation; later, even Edmund calls the king “old and miserable.”

Of course, Edmund being a villain, there is also tension between him and his father, the Earl of Gloucester. Edmund was born out of wedlock, and although Gloucester calls him his son, there is some awkwardness between them on this point: Gloucester calls him a “whoreson,” and says he has “so often blush'd to acknowledge him,“ making it seem like he does not care for Edmund as he does for Edgar. Moreover, Edmund is bitter that it is Edgar who is Gloucester’s heir.  He schemes to make Edgar appear a traitor in his father’s eyes so that he will inherit his land, telling him  Edgar has said “sons at perfect age, and fathers declining, the father should be as ward to the son, and the son manage his revenue,” and that he intends to kill him. The audience, however, knows that it is actually Edmund that feels this way about his father, and about the older generation in general.

The sexual tension between Edmund and the two sisters Goneril and Regan is introduced later in the play, after the primary familial disagreements have been established. The competition for Edmund and his love causes the sisters to turn against each other: Regan tells Edmund “I never shall endure her: dear my lord, be not familiar with her.” While Goneril resolves that she would “rather lose the battle than that sister should loosen him and me.” Ultimately, this tension causes Goneril to poison Regan and then kill herself in the final scene, leaving the kingdom in disorder.

Tensions between lesser characters reflect the major tensions in the play. For example, the tension between Kent and Oswald is a reflection of the tension between the King and his two older daughters.