cue the reader or audience to the confusion that is evident in the love between theparent and the child and the breakdown of the social bonds in which the play begins. In the play Lear seems to forget the love that he has always had for his favorite daughter, Cordelia, whose name itself in Latin means heart. When Lear offered one-third of the kingdom to his daughter Cordelia she does not know what to say and cannot explain her feelings when she says:Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth: I love yourmajestyAccording to my bond; no more nor less.(1.1.91-93)In this we see that Cordelia cannot take the appreciative path that her sister's took in order to make their father happy and confident to leave the kingdom to his daughters. The whole time all Lear wanted was to be comfortable that the kingdom was going to beleft in good hands. We see a better use of the veracity of he word (heart) when Lear goes to visit Regan and she will not come out to greet him.Lear: O, me, my heart, my rising heart!but down!(4.4.56-58)I am wondering if in this passage Lear is talking of his brokenheart released from the clutches of his daughter or if it represents his blood pressure that could be raising because of his anger in his daughter, either way the use of the heart in this instance has adramatic foreshadowing affect on the rest of the play. King Lear is a man who is portrayed as a very compassionate man who lives on the fact that his trust in his daughters will never be abaded. The betrayal by his loved ones sets up the impact of the play which in turn shows how dramatic the use of the heart and all of its imagery components is for King Lear. At the end of the play when Lear loses his last daughter Shakespeare leads us to understand that he had lead a life of war and turmoil and has transformed himself from being a bitter, crusty, old man into becoming a caring and complete human being. Somecritics say that Lear might have died...
