oh, Shakespeare...

As I was reading Act 1 and 2 of King Lear yesterday, they have these nifty little notations, I guess you could call them, at the bottom of the page that kind of translate all the fancy-pants Shakespearean speak used. And I thought, Now why can't they just say that. But then it wouldn't be Shakespeare. And to add to the stress of barely understanding what's going on, Mr. Rosinski gave a nice little pop quiz on the reading. Thank you for that...
But one thing that was clear was Cordelia's genuine statement when King Lear asked his three daughters how much they loved them. Cordelia was the only one who was honest yet all she received was her father's disapproval. Her other sisters, who showered the king with hollow statements of love, however, won his approval and part of his kingdom. I can see the vanity displayed by King Lear's may be a theme throughout the book. He was too vain to see the genuineness of Cordelia's love, compared to her two sisters false flattery.
Another instance of vanity I picked up on, and I may have interpreted wrong, was the relationship between Edmund and his brother, Edgar. Edmund attempted to make Edgar out to be evil to get all of their father's approval, love, and inheritance. I'm really not sure if that was what happened, but if so Edmund's vanity, like King Lear's, made someone who was good and honest out to be inauspicious.
So far, I can definitely tell that King Lear is no Aesop's Fable. Good doesn't always triumph over evil, everything doesn't always work out in the end, and being fair and honest won't win your father's love or any of part of his kingdom.

~MR