CAPTAINS

King Lear deems it a good moment to marry off his three daughters: with his wife recently dead, they no longer have a mother to direct them. His plan is to retire and divide the kingdom between them as their dowries, and to marry them to neighbouring kings in order to forestall foreign aggression. Cordella, however, is determined to marry for love rather than for diplomatic convenience, so Lear plans to circumvent her by laying on a test: the daughters will make a public declaration of how much they love their father, and he will then ask Cordella to show that love by complying with his wishes over her marriage. Scaliger warns the other daughters, Goneril and Regan, of what Lear has in mind, and misleads them into believing that their shares of the kingdom will reflect the extent of their declared love. Jealous of their younger sister’s beauty and renown, they flatter Lear so that Cordella’s simple statement of due filial love pales in comparison. Lear gives the kingdom wholly to them, summons the Kings of Cornwall and Cambria to be their husbands, and assigns them their shares by lot. Against the advice of the good counsellor Perillus, Lear banishes Cordella from court, and she plans to make her living working as a seamstress. By chance, she meets the King of France, who has come to Britain disguised in search of a wife, and he takes her back to France as his Queen. Lear goes to live with Cornwall and Goneril, but annoys her with his criticisms of her extravagance. Scaliger advises her that halving his allowance will persuade him to take himself off to Regan, and so indeed it does. Cornwall sends a messenger to Regan asking for news of Lear, but Goneril bribes him to deliver instead a libellous letter about her father’s behaviour; she also encourages him to murder Lear. Regan has the same idea, and sets up an opportunity, but at the last moment the messenger is struck by conscience, admits the truth to his intended victim: and runs away. Realizing the true hatred of Goneril ===== PAGE 487 ===== 1589 and Regan, Perillus persuades Lear to join Cordella in France. Meanwhile, Cordélla pines for the memory of her father. The King sends an ambassador to effect a reconciliation. The Ambassador receives no welcome from Goneril, and moves on to seek Lear in Cambria. Regan too treats him discourteously, and insinuates that her father’s absence from court is the result of a murder plot instigated by Cordella. Lear and Perillus cross to France, but have to pay for…