Goneril’s ‘Love’ Revealed
Act I, Scene III
“By day and night he wrongs me. Every hour
He flashes into one gross crime or other
That sets us all at odds. I’ll not endure it.”
In this scene, Goneril speaks to her servant Oswald. She questions him about Lear’s altercation with a servant. She then tells him that she will not speak to Lear, while repeatedly commanding Oswald to be poor and neglectful in Lear’s service, so at to provoke a confrontation with Lear. She also plans to write to Regan to tell her of her intentions.
It is in this scene that we begin to see the true nature of Goneril and how the ‘love’ for her father has so quickly diminished. That she should so openly discuss it with her steward, Oswald, displays a new-found arrogance and cruelty that bodes ill for Lear in the coming scenes. Kent’s wise words in Act I, Scene I, questioning the depth of Goneril & Regan’s over-stated ‘love’, now seem to ring true.
