Goneril

Goneril

1. Idiolect

   • Lacks verbosity
     • Subverts our expectations of a female.
   • Sarcastic
     • Use of rhetoric devices: triplets
   • Declaratives
     • 'We Must'

2. Context

   • Power Hungry with Regan
   • The eldest of the daughters
     • Expectations are subverted as she doesn't automatically become the heir to the thrown
   • Married to Albany
     • Lust's after Edmund and his power

3. Key Scenes

   • Act 1 Scene 1
     • Establish character and relationship with - Lear, Regan and Cordelia
     • Plot plan
   • Act 1 Scene 3
     • Orders the guards to pay no respect to Lear
   • Act 1 Scene 4
     • Goneril makes Lear leave the house and this is their final interaction
   • Act 3 Scene 7
     • Goneril pays a limited role in plucking Gloucesters eyes out
     • Shows remorse when Albany is killed
   • Act 5 scene 3
     • Goneril commits suicide

4. Key Themes

   • Power Hungry
   • Womens role in society
   • Adultry
   • Status - no abiding to the class system

5. Interactions

   • Lear - Goneril shows no compliance towards the fact he is her father or the king
   • Regan - Goneril subverts the expectation with this relationship, showing a lower status in comparison to Regan
   • Edmund - The stage directions suggest that they are more than acquaintances
   • Albany - still takes the lead despite being a Jacobean woman.