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#goneril
aredhels · 8 months
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Tell me, my daughters,— Since now we will divest us both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state,— Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
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shakespearenews · 7 months
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King Lear Alotting His Kingdom to His Three Daughters, by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1872. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012.
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The Liddells never returned to be photographed by Carroll, but the sisters reappeared a decade later before Julia Cameron’s camera. Alice, Ina, and Edith posed for Cameron’s complicated tableaux vivants as Roman goddesses, literary heroines, and Shakespearean stories. In one photograph that typifies Cameron’s work, Alice and her sisters pose with her husband, Charles Hay Cameron, enacting a scene from King Lear. Charles plays the role of King Lear while the Liddells pose as his three ill-fated daughters, Ina’s index finger poignantly laid on his shoulder while Alice, hair down, fixes her gaze outside of the photograph’s frame, a look echoed by her younger sister Edith.
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gondorsfinest · 5 months
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cannot believe there are so few goneril posts on this unhinged women obsessed hellsite. where are my gonny stans. talk to me
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cutegirl920 · 25 days
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Basically, who can outsmart the others with their big brain moves, planning, and deception?
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niwow-s · 2 years
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Look at these villagers. They’re so golden. ToT
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pyomatic · 1 year
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shakespeare’s women my beloveds
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My (@therainbowwillow’s Shakespeare sideblog’s) barely half-formed thoughts about Lear in response to @callixton‘s post:
Disclaimer: this is like 25% of a thought. I’ve only read this play once. PLEASE add to this or contradict me in the tags, RBs, and replies!
The “kids” in King Lear (Cordelia, Regan, Goneril, Edmund, and Edgar) all parallel each other and so do the adults.
Before the play starts and for a brief instant after, Cordelia and Edgar are their father’s respective golden children. Edmund, Regan, and Goneril are overlooked (or so we’re told). Beyond ambition, I’d argue that a longing for parental favor and/or resentment for having been “ignored” drives all three of these “sidelined” children to do what they do in the course of the play, at least initially.
Goneril & Regan pull their schemes quite early in the narrative, so for a moment, Edmund and Cordelia are the out-of-favor children. They, interestingly, parallel their parents! Cordelia has “fallen from grace” as Lear does (from a king to a madman to a father who cannot save the only child he has left) whereas Edmund is right where he started (like Gloucester, who “falls from the cliffs” but in actuality, never leaves flat ground- there’s nowhere to fall from.) The methods they use to get (back- Cordelia) into their parents’ good graces are completely opposite, which sort of frames them as foils. Edmund lies and sabotages whereas Cordelia remains true.
Once Edmund becomes the new Gloucester-golden-child, Cordelia and Edgar take on some parallels. These two both fell from their parents’ favor through no fault of their own, but remain loyal. Edgar guides his blinded father away from the cliffs and Cordelia tries to help Lear recover his mental faculties despite the fact that both of their fathers wronged them.
Eventually, the kids’ relationships with their parents somewhat return to the status quo we saw as the play opened (if considerably more strained). Lear loves Cordelia, Edgar reveals his identity, Regan, Goneril, and Edmund’s plots have been found out.
What does this mean? I dunno, man. I’ve read the play once. It’s on my list…
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onyxedskies · 2 years
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thinking so much about the way how crests and relics shaped everyone
not even in just the obvious ways, either. i mean personality-wise.
the descendants of fraldarius wield the aegis shield. every one of them is a protector — glenn in duscur, rodrigue at gronder, and felix in every moment of the war.
the descendants of gautier wield the lance of ruin. one way or another, they’re all “ruiners” or “destroyers” — matthias with his family, miklan with the villages he and his thieves went through, and sylvain with his relationships.
the descendants of daphnel wield luín. luín of celtchair is what it was likely named after, the lance of irish literature that was dangerous for wielder and foe alike, could light aflame in an instant if not doused. fiery, unpredictable, and unyielding, just as ingrid and judith are.
the descendants of riegan wield failnaught. they cannot afford to fail — duke riegan in the round table conferences, and claude in hiding his identity and changing the minds of those in his care as far as the view of foreigners go.
the descendants of gloucester wield thyrsus. thyrsus was the staff of dionysus, greek god of fruitfulness. both erwin and lorenz take their duties as nobles incredibly seriously — they need to be the best to protect their citizens and be the most fruitful territory in leicester to prove that their territory is doing well.
the descendants of goneril wield freikugel. freikugel got its name from the german romantic opera der freischütz, translating approximately to the freeshooter. in the play, the main character must prove he is a brilliant marksman and makes a deal with the devil to ensure it — the devil will give him 6 magic bullets that are guaranteed to hit any target they’re shot at and 1 bullet controlled by the devil itself. the gonerils are similar — upstanding nobles and citizens, yes, but one is gripped and controlled by sin, as hilda often succumbs to sloth.
the descendants of dominic wield crusher. they crush the things in their way — gustave crushed his family as they were in the way of him repaying his sins, baron dominic crushed the loyalty he had for the kingdom to protect his people, and annette crushed the obstacles in her way of reuniting with her father, both school-wise and not.
the descendants of lamine use the rafail gem. rafail is another spelling of raphael, the name of an archangel meaning “god has healed”. the known ancestors exhibit different aspects of the name — mercedes is a healer, and jeritza was molded to be the best servant he could be for thales, a higher power, just as raphael was created to be gods servant.
the descendants of charon wield thunderbrand. just as the name suggests, the wielders are quick and sharp as thunder, with catherine being sharp, fast, and fiery.
the descendants of blaiddyd wield areadbhar. areadbhar directly translates to “slaughterer” and was a spear in irish mythology that needed to be submerged in water to prevent it from igniting. this is similar to the blaiddyds we’ve seen — their incredible strength, yes, but their personality as well. lambert was set on a cause — relations with duscur — and it “ignited” him, so to speak. it was his prime motivation, and he could not be talked down from it. dimitri’s “ignition” was edelgard — until gronder, he would stop at nothing but getting her head or dying himself. rufus was ignited to take over the kingdom, even if that had just been cornelia’s voice in his head telling him to do so.
they all represent their relics and ancestors, even if you have to think a little bit to see it.
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pixuou · 6 months
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Regan: So, with most of the head office still under construction, I hope you all don't mind having to hold this board meeting here in our home once again. Which brings me to the first point on the agenda... The reconstruction of the office has gone over budget, and with the bad financial year we had last year, I'm afraid it means we might have to rethink some of our investments.
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Ellen: If I may have a suggestion... I don't see why keeping the estate in Académie Le Tour is necessary.
Regan: Good thinking, Vice President.
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Goneril: But— I thought you had fond memories of your time spent in that house, Elena. Plus, Hal and Desdemona are going to college soon, am I supposed to send them to live in the dorms?!
Ellen: Look, it's simply not worth it to maintain that big house for a maximum of one of two students at a time to live in it. Sure, we could rent it to other students, but then what would be the point of the elite accommodation? We should simply sell it.
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Goneril: Regan, do you agree with this?
Regan: Well, I can see why you'd consider keeping the house a long term investment in our family's future, it's not that I don't want the best for my children for when they get to college, but the truth is, we need short term solutions now. So yes, putting it on the market after Miranda and Hermia graduate and sharing the profit among all eligible Capps would be the logical thing to do.
Goneril: But that estate is something our father was so proud to have built for his grandchildren. It was his dream to see it get a charter and become a Greek house one day. That dream is now going to be out of reach forever...
Regan: Goneril, please be reasonable here. It simply doesn't make sense to keep the house. We need the money, as bad as that sounds. And with all due respect, you're only a honorary board member... and it's not hard to see why. ... So, all in favour say 'aye'.
Ellen: Aye.
Cornwall: Aye.
Goneril: *sigh*
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Ellen: By the way, Regan, where is that lovely baby chair from?
Regan: Oh, it was a gift from a business partner if I recall. But I can just give it to you, Cosima has almost outgrown it now. ... Unless of course you have the misfortune of having a boy.
Goneril: You wouldn't want that, would you? To end up like Regan, with a male firstborn... As much as I love Constantin – oh, AND Clement –, I just wouldn't wish that on a Capp mother.
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longitudinalwaveme · 10 months
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King Lear vs King Leir
King Leir (written by an anonymous playwright in the 1590s) is one of the sources Shakespeare used for his King Lear, so I decided to track it down, read it for myself, and compare the two versions. Here are my thoughts:
-Let's get the most obvious difference out of the way first. Since Shakespeare added the Gloucester subplot, and the tragic ending, to the King Leir/Lear story himself, King Leir does not contain any characters who are analogous to Gloucester, Edgar, or Edmund, no one gets blinded, King Leir gets his throne back at the end, and no one dies. Seriously---even Goneril and Regan (or rather, Gonoril and Ragan) are alive at the end (though more on that later).
-Also, all of the shared names between the two plays are spelled slightly differently (though this is probably more down to non-standardized Renaissance spelling than to Shakespeare deliberately changing the names)--we have Leir, Gonoril, Ragan, and Cordella instead of Lear, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. This is convenient as a way for me to distinguish between, say, Shakespeare's Cordelia and the anonymous play's Cordella.
-Now for the more interesting differences.
-King Leir opens with so. Much. Exposition. In Shakespeare's King Lear, there's a brief conversation between Kent, Edgar, and Edmund, and then Lear comes onstage and immediately divides his kingdom. In King Leir, there are five straight pages of exposition before the love contest starts. Admittedly, we also get some interesting character dynamics, but it makes for a very different opening.
-In King Leir, all three daughters are unmarried at the start of the play, and their mother (Leir's wife) has apparently just died. Leir plans to marry them off, split his kingdom between them, and retire. Amusingly, he also informs us that "Although ourselves do dearly tender them, yet are we ignorant of their affairs; for fathers best do know to govern sons; but daughters’ steps the mother’s counsel turns", and that, surprise surprise, he really would rather have had a son instead of a bunch of girls. But since he has no sons, this is the next-best plan.
-Leir also has two advisors. One of them, Perillus, is basically a proto-Kent (and seems to be where Shakespeare got the character from, as the versions of the Lear story from Monmouth and Holinshed don't include a Kent equivalent); the other is named Skalligar and basically exists to be evil and drive the plot forward.
-Anyway, in this version, Leir comes up with the love test not because he wants to have his ego stoked, but rather because Cordella has sworn that she won't marry someone she doesn't love, and so has been ignoring her many suitors. Leir is essentially using the love test as a trap: he assumes that Cordella will swear that she loves him more than her sisters, and that once she does, he can say "then, daughter, grant me one request, to show thou lovest me as thy sisters do, accept a husband, whom myself will woo." I...actually can't decide if this is better or worse than Lear's motivation for the love contest. On the one hand, at least he has an actual political motivation for it. On the other hand, he's planning to use the love test to trap his daughter into a marriage she doesn't want (more specifically, he wants her to marry the King of Hibernia, which seems to be a stand-in for Ireland), which is really skeevy on his part.
-Leir also plans to marry Gonoril to the King of Cornwall (which doesn't have an exact equivalent) and Ragan to the King of Cambria (which is explicitly a stand-in for Wales). So yes, King Leir gives the Goneril-character Regan's husband and gives Regan an entirely new husband (in the earlier versions of the story, I'm pretty sure that it's made clear that Goneril marries the Duke/King of Albany and that Regan marries the Duke/King of Cornwall, so it's not just Shakespeare who has the opposite setup).
-Perillus doesn't seem crazy about this plan, but doesn't really say anything to Leir about it (like Kent probably would have). Skalliger, for some reason (I guess we can assume hope for political advancement?) decides to immediately tell the two older sisters about the love competition.
-Unlike in Shakespeare's version, where Goneril and Regan are not fond of Cordelia but seem to be more quietly bitter about her than actively jealous, King Leir's Gonoril and Ragan are openly, angrily, and explicitly jealous of Cordella, because she's more beautiful and accomplished than they are and they're afraid that she'll marry before (and better than) they do. So they're kind of the evil stepsisters from Cinderella. Interestingly, Leir doesn't seem to play favorites between his daughters like Lear does---he doesn't call Cordella his favorite, and Gonoril and Ragan likewise don't claim that he favors her over them.
-Skalliger the Sketchy Advisor then comes in, tells them that their father plans to marry them off to the King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria (the men to whom they are already apparently in love with, or at least fond of), and that he wants Cordella to marry the King of Hibernia, and informs them of their father's brilliant "entrap Cordella into marrying my choice of husband for her" plan.
-Gonoril and Ragan immediately decide to cheat on the love test. Since they know ahead of time that their father is going to marry them off to the men they like anyway, they can promise that they love their father so much that they'll willingly marry any man he wants them to, leaving Cordella, whom they know will not say anything of the sort, facing Leir's wrath alone. This is all a noticeable contrast to Shakespeare's play, where none of Lear's daughters seem to have known the love test was coming before he announced it.
-Things play out exactly as the two older sisters plan. They make their extravagant declarations of love, Cordella refuses to do so, and, egged on by Gonoril and Ragan (in another contrast to Shakespeare, where the two older sisters don't speak at all about Cordelia until after their father has already left the room), Leir disowns Cordella for not playing along with his devious plan to entrap her into a marriage she doesn't want.
-Perillus also doesn't speak up for Cordella at all. So far, he's zero for two as Proto-Kent, but he'll get better soon.
-We then cut to the King of Gallia (France), who is planning to pay suit to one of Leir's daughters. He's also bringing along his pal, Mumford, whose main defining character trait is that he wants to scope out all the British women. However, because the King of Gallia is a romantic, he decides that he and Mumford will disguise themselves as pilgrims, so that, presumably, he'll know if whichever girl he decides to court will love him for himself and not his title.
-The King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria (whose real name is Morgan, apparently), who are going to be married to Gonoril and Ragan, respectively (remember, the sisters' husbands got switched around in this version), run into one another on the way to Leir's palace. Both are eager to marry their new brides. We will also eventually learn that these two have the combined IQ of a turnip.
-The two of them are married off to Gonoril and Ragan, and then Leir promptly divides his lands between the two of them. Both married couples seem quite happy with the arrangement and will stay that way throughout the play (which parallels Regan and Cornwall's relationship in Shakespeare's Lear but is a noted contrast to the trainwreck of a marriage that Albany and Goneril have.)
-Perillus finally tries to speak up for Cordella here, but it has no effect--though Leir doesn't actually banish him for doing so, possibly because he, unlike Kent, does not say anything like "What wouldst thou do, old man" while arguing Cordella's case.
-Meanwhile, Cordella is trying to figure out what to do with her life now that she's been disowned when she runs into the disguised King of Gallia and Mumford, who are calling themselves "Will" and "Jack". A+ fake names, guys.
-Cordella and the King of Gallia have a chat, wherein Cordella explains what has happened to her and falls in love with the King, whom she thinks is a random pilgrim. She plans to marry him even without him having any title, and then is pleasantly surprised to learn that he's actually the King of Gallia. The two then leave to get married and go to France together.
-So, you know how in Shakespeare's version Goneril gets mad at Lear because his 100 knights are destroying her house and harassing her servants? In this version, Gonoril essentially gets mad at Leir because he keeps scolding her for buying expensive dresses and throwing a lot of parties. So she kind of comes across as a rebellious teenager, and as a lot less reasonable than Shakespeare's Goneril.
-Also, instead of telling her father that he'd better get his knights under control or she'll get rid of some of them, she's already dismissed half of his "portion" (not sure what this means, exactly, as Leir doesn't seem to have an entourage of knights) and is planning to get rid of the other half to "encourage" him to leave. Man, can you imagine how Shakespeare's Lear would've reacted to this Gonoril?
-Skalliger the Sketchy Adviser encourages Gonoril in all this. But don't get used to him, because after this he's going to cease being relevant to the plot.
-Leir is talking to the King of Cornwall (the Albany equivalent), and they seem to be getting along pretty well, when Gonoril suddenly storms in and accuses her father of trying to turn her husband against her. The King of Cornwall tries to calm her down, and Leir's all like "maybe she's moody because she's pregnant". Gonoril reacts to that about as well as you would expect, and then the King of Cornwall just sort of leaves to avoid the argument.
-As soon as the King of Cornwall's gone, Gonoril tells Leir to pack his bags and get out. Which Leir....does. And Perillus goes with him. No horrible curses of infertility or anything! He just goes off to Ragan's house and assumes everything will be fine.
-One similarity between the two plays is that in both cases, the confrontation with the oldest daughter makes Lear/Leir feel guilty about his treatment towards his youngest daughter. The noticeable difference, however, is that while in Shakespeare's play Goneril is being mostly rational and Lear's the one causing friction and shouting insults, in the older play Leir's maybe mildly embarrassing at worst and Gonoril comes across as a spoiled brat.
-Ragan then gets a soliloquy that conveys, in essence "I can do whatever I want, and it's great! I'm so glad my killjoy dad is with my sister and not me!"
-Meanwhile, the King of Cornwall asks Gonoril where her father disappeared to, to which Gonoril replies "Oh, he went off to see my sister with no warning. He's impetuous like that. Don't worry about a thing, honey." The King of Cornwall plans to send a messenger to Ragan's to make sure Leir arrives okay, but otherwise questions none of this. Remember how I said he had the IQ of a turnip?
-Gonoril intercepts the messenger and tells him, to, basically, deliver a letter full of lies to the tune that Leir has been causing problems at her house (she explicitly says she'll lie about her father in her letter). In other words, she wants Ragan to believe that Leir is behaving in the way that Shakespeare's Lear...actually did behave.
-The messenger, as it turns out, is a low-down scumbag (and proud of it), so he's all too eager to deliver a letter full of lies.
-Then Cordella gets a soliloquy about how, although she loves being Queen of France, she misses her father and wants to see him again.
-Leir and Perillus arrive at Ragan and the Prince of Cambria's house (Cambria being the Cornwall equivalent. If Cornwall wasn't an eye-gouging psychopath but did have the IQ of a turnip).
-Cambria is pleased to see Leir, and Ragan pretends to be glad to see him too (though obviously she wants nothing to do with him). This actually is a little reminiscent of the interactions between Lear and Regan in Act II, scene iv, although the fact that the Cornwall-equivalent isn't acting and no one's been put into the stocks are obviously differences between the two scenes.
-Ragan's opinion of her father is naturally only worsened when the Messenger gives her Gonoril's letter full of lies, and, when the Messenger guy casually offers to murder her husband or father for her if she wants him to, she eagerly takes him up on the offer and hires him to ax her father (and Perillus). She tells him that she'll ask her dad and Perillus to meet with her at a specified location tomorrow morning, and that he can kill them there.
-Well, that escalated quickly!
-Cordella and the King of Gallia have another conversation about how much she misses her father and hopes he's okay. The King of Gallia is understandably confused by the level of concern she's showing for her jerk of a dad but agrees to send a messenger to the King of Cornwall's place to check on the old man anyway (since they don't know Gonoril booted Leir out of the house).
-The King of Cornwall and Gonoril are having a conversation, during which the King is wondering what's taking that messenger he sent so long to return with news about the king, when the French messenger shows up and asks how Leir is doing.
-Gonoril and the King both tell the Messenger that Leir isn't at their castle right now, but that they think he'll be back soon (the King really believes this, Gonoril is of course lying), and the conversation then turns to Cordella. Gonoril not-so-subtlety hints that she hopes her sister's not doing too well, and the Messenger immediately picks up on the fact that she's all sorts of sketchy (The King of Cornwall doesn't pick up on this fact, but we've already established that he's got the IQ of a turnip, so that's not surprising.)
-Leir and Perillus are waiting outside for Ragan when the Messenger she hired to murder them shows up. He announces to them that he's going to murder them, and also tells them that Ragan was responsible for the whole thing (after Leir initially assumes that Cordella must have hired the murderer since she's got the best reason to want him dead). Interestingly, the Messenger also claims that Gonoril hired him to kill Leir even though we only saw Ragan doing so. He does have a letter from her with a commission to murder them, though, so maybe she wrote that alongside the letter she sent to Ragan.
-Leir takes the news...shockingly well, all things considered. What's even more shocking is that the two of them manage to talk the Messenger out of killing them. Seriously, he just gives up and leaves, never to be seen again in the play (though presumably richer thanks to still having money from Ragan for the hit he didn't carry out).
-Leir and Perillus then decided to set sail for France and the last remaining daughter. They exchange their fancy clothes with the clothing of some mariners to pay for the passage on the ship.
-The French Messenger, having determined Leir's not at Cornwall, decides to go look for him at Cambria.
-In France, meanwhile, Cordella, the King of Gallia, and Mumford decide to go for a walk on the beach together...in disguise! Apparently the King of Gallia just loves disguising himself as a common person. It's actually kind of an endearing character trait.
-Mumford also gets his second fake name in the play. For their beach walk, he's going to be called Roger.
-The Prince of Cambria, who has noticed that his father-in-law has gone missing, is getting kind of worried about where he might have gone. Ragan replies by telling him that it was probably her evil sister Cordella who was responsible for his disappearance. She puts on a bravura performance of mourning her father's fate, and Cambria, who has the IQ of a turnip, immediately buys it.
-Then the French Messenger comes in and asks them where Leir is. Ragan replies by basically accusing Cordella of murdering Leir. The Messenger is not impressed, but Cambria seems to think his wife's story is true (because, again, he's got the IQ of a turnip).
-The French Messenger makes it clear that he thinks Ragan is responsible for Leir's disappearance, which prompts her to slap him. The Ambassador wisely chooses to get out of dodge, and, as soon as he leaves, Ragan starts fake-crying and claims that Cordella is probably trying to steal their land now that she's totally murdered their father. Her husband, who, bless him, totally believes her, promises that he'll punish Cordella for what she (allegedly) did to their father. He may have the IQ of a turnip, but at least he means well.
-Leir and Perillus, upon their arrival in France, are close to starving for want of food (probably because they couldn't pay for food on the boat). By sheer coincidence, they run into the disguised Cordella, King of Gallia, and Mumford, who are having a picnic on the beach.
-Cordella and the King of Gallia immediately recognize her father and invite him and Perillus to eat with them (which is a good thing, because Perillus was trying to convince Leir to cannibalize him rather than starve! There's the proto-Kent we all know and love!)
-After they eat, Cordella reveals her true identity to him and they reconcile. Leir having also told her and her husband about Gonoril and Ragan's plot to murder him, she and the King of Gallia immediately promise to invade England and restore him to the throne.
-The invasion is a complete success, in part because the two soliders on watch decide to abandon their post and get drunk rather than actually doing their jobs. It also helps that most of England is still in support of Leir.
-That being said, Cambria and the King of Cornwall do manage to raise armies against the King of Gallia's army, and they and their wives confront King Leir, Cordella, and the King of Gallia.
-Gallia accuses the two daughters of plotting to murder their father. They of course deny this and claim that he's just using that as an excuse to justify the invasion. Cambria and the King of Cornwall still back their wives up, which is nice and all, but you'd think they'd be getting at least a little suspicious by now (especially Cambria!). IQs of turnips, the both of them.
-Leir even has the letters that they wrote to have him murdered! Sure, Ragan tears them up (in a scene reminiscent of Goneril trying to tear up her letter to Edmund in the end of Shakespeare's King Lear), but still neither of them get suspicious. Nor do they seem to be suspicious of the fact that Leir is with Cordella in spite of the fact that presumably at least Cambria should believe that she tried to murder him! Seriously, how are they possibly that stupid?
-Anyway, the two sides fight, and the King of Cornwall and the King of Cambria both run away (presumably with Gonoril and Ragan) when they lose. Leir is restored to the throne, and he gets to be happy with Cordella and the King of Gallia.
-Except that his daughters, who tried to murder him, are still alive. And so are their idiot husbands, who are still presumably in total support of them and would be on board to fight against Cordella and Gallia again as soon as they manage to regroup and gather up new men for their armies. And no one seems intent on doing anything about that!
-And then the play just ends, as if we're operating under the assumption that Gonoril and Ragan are just going to go "Oh, well. Our plan to kill our dad and take his crown failed. Guess we're just going to do something else with our lives now." or something.
-Seriously, Gonoril and Ragan's husbands are unbelievably stupid. Albany and Cornwall aren't geniuses, but they're a million times smarter than the King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria from King Leir!
TL; DR: Shakespeare's play is obviously more complex and better-written, but there's something very entertaining about reading this earlier play that tells the same story in such a wildly different fashion.
I honestly think the three daughter's husbands may be the best part of King Leir. They all clearly love their wives, the King of Gallia's passion for disguising himself is great, and I can't help but kind of smile at how stupid the King of Cornwall and the Prince of Cambria are. They may have the combined IQ of a turnip, but they mean well.
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cryingprussian · 1 year
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found something and thought it was them
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mwezina · 11 months
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Wheel of Fortune & FE3H
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The Wheel of Fortune is meant to show the ever-changing nature of life as it goes through ups and downs. Our own position in life relative to others can evolve and flip as fate brings us to dizzying heights or the darkest lows. The Wheel of Fortune seems to be telling us, nothing is permanent, and we should cherish each and every moment. 
Some things I notice are the blue sphynx sitting atop the wheel, appearing to adjudicate the spin with her vast knowledge and wisdom. Anubis in devil form slips alongside the bottom, representing death, and the serpent slithers close by, representing both evil and the forces of life. What I find most interesting are the four living creatures sitting in the clouds with books in their hands (perhaps another reference to the Torah?). They are believed to hold up the throne of God in Jewish and Christian mythology, so perhaps the wheel itself is a throne? Also, the animals being man, ox, lion, and eagle are very close to the three (really, four) houses of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Man being perhaps the church as they look like angels, and ox being a deer, transformed from humble work animal to mythical wild game. 
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The crest associated with the Wheel of Fortune is the Crest of Goneril. The name itself harkens to the oldest daughter of King Lear. She is arguably the most evil of the antagonists in the play due to her backstabbing nature. Every alliance she forms in the play is dissolved by her hand, including the ones with her sister and her husband. In the end, she takes her own life when Edmund rejects her. 
The dragon associated with this crest is the Kalpa Dragon. This one is probably the most oddly specific of the dragon names. A kalpa is a very long period of time in Buddhism, similar to an aeon, though probably longer. Considering the strong themes of Buddhism in the rest of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, this is not a surprise. It is believed that at the end of each kalpa, the world is annihilated and reborn. 
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My personal opinion is that the Kalpa Dragon, just like the Wheel of Fortune itself, has no definite form. It may sometimes be shaped like a wheel, but from a different angle, it appears to be a different shape altogether. That’s what made the Kalpa Dragon so terrifying, because it seemed to embrace multiple contradicting forms. It must have been a mysterious dragon, with the relic only making use of one part (perhaps fins?) of its massive being. 
The character I choose to connect to all these things is Hilda Valentine Goneril. She appears to have a carefree nature, happy to take her spin on the Wheel of Fortune, but she’s actually terrified of how people view her. While she appears to embrace the motto of the Wheel of Fortune, she truly hasn’t yet. All the same, she encourages others in her life to let go of preconceived notions and go with the flow more. 
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As with the rest of the Golden Deer who are named after King Lear characters, Hilda also seems to embody the reversal of the character she’s named after. While Goneril breaks alliances and backstabs at every opportunity, Hilda is able to form many alliances with the Golden Deer and those in other houses. She is also loyal to Claude to the end, much to his surprise. 
For the Kalpa Dragon… I’ve got nothing. I can only see a loose connection between a kalpa and the Wheel of Fortune. Over the course of existence, anything can happen, and in the end, it didn’t matter anyway.
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Next: Justice
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shakespearenews · 4 months
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GONERIL: “I’m Cordelia, I don’t understand figurative speech”
REGAN: “What’s hyperbole, I’ve never heard of it, even though I live in a royal court where pretty much everyone deploys over-the-top language to demarcate rank, status, and power pretty much every second of the day”
GONERIL: “I’m Cordelia, I only speak shepherdess”
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gondorsfinest · 7 months
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oh goneril is so power hungry ohhh she's a bad daughter yada yada. who cares? what makes her irredeemable to me is when she says she'd rather lose the war than lose edmund to her sister. bestie WHAT? you were so fun and evil! now you're gonna risk it all for some dick? some two timing bastard who's cheating on you? what happened to torturing your dad? what happened to girlboss gaslight gatekeep? this is why we cant have nice things
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mjuno99 · 2 years
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Duke Goneril awoken by his beloved children Imperial Year 1166
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Goneril: If you had to choose between Edgar and all the money I have in my wallet, which would you choose?
Edmund: That depends, how much money are we taking about?
Edgar: Edmund!
Goneril: 63 cents.
Edmund: I'll take the money.
Edgar: EDMUND!!!
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