cornwall quotes + key moments

‘fetch forth the stocks’ - act 2 scene 2

cornwall puts kent in the stocks

cornwall’s disregard for the chain of being, as he puts one of lear’s men in the stocks. it shows his greed and also how societal hierarchy beings to crumble after lear charters his kingdom

‘shut up your doors’ - act 2 scene 4

cornwall tells the servants to shut gloucester’s castle from lear

corrnwall is trying to win goneril and regan’s favour by joining their plot to take down lear, by trying to gain lear’s power in his disruption of the natural order

‘i will lay my trust upon thee, and thou shalt find a dearer father in my love’ - act 3 scene 5

cornwall tells edmund that he will be a better father to him than gloucester was following edmund sharing gloucter’s plans to help lear

• shows cornwall’s blindness, as he promises to be the father to a man who has just betrayed his father. power and greed as a blinding force

• endorses edmund treachery towards his father, which is tragic as cornwall symbolises greed breaking apart families

• demonstrates also that in a greedy society, family is built on power (such as a dowry, act 1 scene 1) rather than love, because edmund had to increase cornwall’s power to be accepted into his family. he earns his titles as earl of gloucester by earning cornwall’s favour

cornwall makes edmund earl of gloucester

cornwall believes he is of the status to grant titles - another act of bravado

'though well we may not pass upon his life’ - act 3 scene 7

cornwall cannot sentence gloucester to death without a trial, so he tortures him instead

shows that, despite cornwall’s bravado, he is not a leader and cannot take the intuitive, as he is still bound to the limits of his societal status and he knows it

cornwall plucks out gloucester’s eyes

while he takes the operative role in the torture, he still has no initiative as it is goneril who suggested taking out his eyes. this action is still an act of bravado

cornwall dies at the hands of one of his servants

lowers his status to a servant, which is all he is (a servant of the sisters) despite his bravado