‘Sure I shall never marry like my sisters’: The Measure of Marriage in Shakespeare’s King Lear

Abstract

When Cordelia confounds her father’s desire for flattery in Act I, Scene 1 of King Lear, she her love “according to my bond” (1.1.102) and so defines the parameters of legitimate parent- child relationships for the play. These relationships are not all that Cordelia defines, though. Her response to Lear’s test, the momentous answer, “nothing” (1.1.96), affirms the legitimacy of natural law and primogeniture. It also allows her to stress a duty to her future husband, leading to a second test of love that bears out Cordelia’s position on the responsibilities of a wife. The Kings of France and Burgundy must consider whether they will marry Cordelia without the benefit of her dowry, reckoning her value solely on the basis of her character. Indeed, the immediate context of the first love test is the apparently quite aggressive courtship of Cordelia and the prospect of her marriage. This paper explores the representation of marriage in King Lear in this instance and in the relationships of the primary and secondary plots. It examines marriage as a central if often overlooked element within the broader tragedy, and as a means by which Shakespeare considers the broader legitimacy and illegitimacy of relationships.