. Lear responds by saying “struck me with her tongue, most serpent-like, upon the very heart. (II. iv. 159-160). Lear here again is relating Regan to a serpent, which is a large poisonous snake. Both daughters seem to him now like unusually cruel animals. They show this when they shut him out into the stormy night. In the storm scene, Lear’s hurt from his daughters affect his attitude to the mad Tom of Bedlam (Edgar). He thinks that his daughters must have abused Poor Tom. Nothing else could have brought him to such a pathetic state. This reminds Lear of his own “pelican daughters” (III. iv. 75). This is an allusion to the medieval belief that pelican young fed on the blood of the parent bird. This analogy compares to how Lear’s daughters are feeding on him giving them the control of the kingdom. Shakespeare uses these animal images throughout his play to describe Goneril and Regan. It will be noticed that most of the animals used in these comparisons are unpleasant (kite, serpent, tigers, pelicans, foxes, and even monsters). Shakespeare is showing that the sisters are sinking from the level of man, who stood between the angels and the animals, to the level of the animals. They have become like some of the most unpleasant birds and animals of prey. In their cruelty and unnaturalness they are less than human....
