There are many duos in the play King Lear: the sisters Regan and Goneril, the brothers Edmund and Edgar, the father-son duo of Edgar and Gloucester, and many more. My favorite duo, however, is that of Lear and Cordelia, especially because of the progression and redemption of the relationship by the end of the play. At the beginning, Lear and Cordelia start out very loving each other: they walk in together during the second scene where Lear splits the land and where Lear had planned to give the best portion of land to Cordelia. However, Cordelia states the truth when Lear plays his game of “who loves him most.” She states that she loves him only according to her status as a daughter and that her sisters are lying about their love for him. Lear then gets angry: Cordelia was his favorite child, but after this perceived betrayal, Lear disowns her.

The reason that this relationship is my favorite is because of its redemption. Lear, as he progresses through his character arc, seems to become more humane, humble, and caring. He begins to realize, especially after the actual betrayals of his daughters Goneril and Regan, that Cordelia is the only daughter that truly loves him. That, in my opinion, is redemption of their relationship. I think it’s poetic that at the end of the play (spoilers), they meet again, Cordelia never doubting her love for her father, and her father finding his love for his daughter again, and that during the very last scene, they die together (at least in space, even though not in time). It made for a less tragic tragedy…sort of a triumph, now that I think about it, a redemption of their relationship.