Regan

Regan

1. Regan is innately evil and capable of savage cruelty

   • The evil sisters are fundamentally alike in that their actions are never influenced either by conscience or by normal human feelings
     • tends to be dominated by Goneril
       • Her hypocrisy is evident in the opening scene.
         • irony in Regan's suggestion that she is made of the "self made metal" as her sister because both are equally false and evil

2. We see Regan's vindictiveness when she countermands her husband's order and lengthens Ken't punishment in the stocks

   • When Gloucester still possesses one eye, she cruelly says "the other too"
     • The servant who goes to Gloucester's help is stabbed in the back by her
     • She takes cruel delight in telling Gloucester that it was Edmund who betrayed him
   • Critic Quote
     • "Goneril and Regan are like hyenas in lipsticks"
       • Winterson

3. Regan's rivalry with and jealousy of Goneril is such that she is willing to open a private letter from her sister to Edmund.

   • While Goneril and Regan are united in evil and display a number of similar characteristics they are not entirely alike.
     • Regan is weaker than Goneril tending, initially to live in her sister's shadow.
       • They turn out to be each other's greatest enemy as their partnership is destroyed by their intense jealousy of each other over Edmund.

4. KEY CHARACTERISTICS

   • amoral
   • evil, malevolent, malicious
     • contemptible, despicable
     • ruthless, callous, unfeeling, unscrupulous
   • false, deceptive, hypocritical