Patriarchy controlling women in King Lear by Shakespeare

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Patriarchy controlling women in King Lear by Shakespeare
The tragic play of King Lear by Shakespeare showcases a patriarchal world through a family, the basic form of patriarchy. King Lear is portrayed as an arrogant and egotistical individual, a behavior that has at times been used to excuse the absence of his wife and mother of the three daughters. In this age, the role of mothers was bearing and rearing of children which is something that the three daughters did not experience. The lack of a maternal figure explains the broken relationship in the family and how the daughters eventually turn out. Therefore, this essay will examine women in the play to find out how patriarchy played a role in controlling them.
Goneril is one of the women characters in the play and the oldest among the three daughters of King Lear. She is portrayed as a villain along with her sisters, but the level of hate she receives compared to her sisters can be argued. The first instance where the readers can judge their characters is when the three daughters are put into the love test in a bid to prove their love to their patriarch father. She and Reagan use the hyperbolic approach to show their love for their father as she describes herself as self-mettle as my sister and worthy of the prize which is land and money. CITATION Sha06 \l 1033 (Shakespeare)
Her self-interest and egocentric traits seem to be inherited from her father. This drive subsequently leads her to start plotting getting rid of her father so that she cannot fail against their sisters. It can be argued that she had the least chance of winning the love of her father compared to her two sisters. This is because she was portrayed as the fiercest and strongest among the three sisters and the patriarchal world was terrified of such women. Also, she as cursed by Lear to become infertile as his way of maintaining dominance over the kingdom, and their house. The value of women was measured with their ability to reproduce, therefore the curse was meant to devalue her and send her down to the pecking order.
There are numerous ways to view the curse assume scholars have argued that by removing the obligation of fertility, Goneril was free to use her sexuality as an organ of pleasure. By being in control of her sexuality she was thus uncontrollable by the patriarchy. However, Shakespeare presents a world where people are terrified of women and what they represent. The world also tends to answer irrationally when their patriarchy is challenged.
According to the world that Shakespeare portrays, Cordelia had the best chance to win over her father’s love. She is the youngest daughter and she already has the love of her father as a result. Her approach to professing her love to the father is different from her two sisters. She does not depend on exaggerated flattery to win him over, rather when asked, she replies, ‘nothing’. By doing this, Shakespeare leaves the interpretation of Cordelia’s character open to the audience. One of the o...