"Men o' Their Words": The masculinity of Goneril and Regan in Shakespeare's King Lear

"Men o' Their Words"

The masculinity of Goneril and Regan in Shakespeare's King Lear

From left to right: Goneril (Domini Blythe), Regan (Lucy Peacock), and Lear (Christopher Plummer) in the Jonathan Miller-directed version of King Lear.  Photo Credit: Joan Marcus.  http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/03-2004/king-lear_4450.html.

At one point in the tragedy King Lear, by William Shakespeare, the title character declares that his two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, are “not men o’ their words,” (Shakespeare IV.vi.123).  The use of the word “men” to describe two female characters is certainly noteworthy, but may at first appear to be an error that Shakespeare overlooked.  However, it is more likely that this syntax reflects the fact that Goneril and Regan’s characters occupy roles typically reserved for male characters during Shakespeare’s lifetime (Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616).  Indeed, Goneril and Regan own land, eagerly wield power, “are very outspoken, and do not behave as the property of their father or their husbands,” (Jansen 24), all of which would have been highly unusual for women in Shakespeare’s time.  Their masculinity is also evident in their unmotivated villainy, which prevents them from redeeming themselves before their demises at the end of the play.

King Lear, set in pre-Christian Great Britain, follows the decline of the title character as a result of his decision to allocate control of his kingdom to Goneril and Regan while disinheriting Cordelia, his youngest daughter and the only one loyal to him.  Upon receiving control of Lear’s kingdom, Goneril and Regan seek to decimate Lear’s remaining authority for reasons that are never clarified.  While these events unfold, Edmund—the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, a nobleman loyal to Lear—betrays both his father and his legitimate half-brother, Edgar.  The fact that Goneril and Regan possess male attributes is first evident when Lear allocates control of his kingdom to them based on the extent to which they flatter him:

“…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,

That we our largest bounty may extend

Where nature doth with merit challenge,” (Shakespeare I.i.52-58).

Lear plans to entrust the most desirable portions of his kingdom to the daughters who flatter him most.  In distributing portions of his kingdom in this manner, he essentially gives each daughter the ability to determine her inheritance.  In addition, the manner in which he addresses Goneril and Regan indicates that they—and not their husbands, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall—will receive dominion over their inheritances in addition to the ability to determine which portions of their father’s kingdom they receive.  In her BA Thesis, titled “Shall I compare thee to modern day feminism?: A comparison between Shakespeare’s original plays and modern screen adaptations regarding feminist characters,” Liz Jansen emphasizes the uncommonness of Goneril and Regan’s acquisition of their father’s property: “…It was sometimes possible for lower class women to own property during the Renaissance.  However Goneril and Regan are of high social class,” (26) and as such would not typically have owned property. 

However, they are not only granted the opportunity to own property, but willingly seize this opportunity.  Both sisters exaggerate their love of their father; Goneril, demonstrating her self-assurance by speaking in blank verse, claims to “love you more than word can wield the / Matter,” (Shakespeare I.i.60-61) and Regan, also speaking in blank verse, asserts: “I find [Goneril] names my very deed of love; / Only she comes too short,” (Shakespeare I.i.78-79).  Their excessive flattery of Lear demonstrates a desire for property incongruous with their positions as women of the time, whether “the time” refers to the Renaissance, during which the play was written, or to the pre-Christian era in which the play is set.

In his essay “Some Remarks on the Suicide of King Lear’s Eldest Daughter,” M.D. Faber describes Goneril as “void of innocence, cruel, cunning, Machiavellian, murderous,” (qtd. in Cupitt).  These characteristics become evident when Lear resides in her palace in Act I, Scene iv.  During this scene, Goneril dominates her male counterparts, including Albany and Lear’s Fool:

“ALBANY

I cannot be so partial, Goneril,

To the great love I bear you—

GONERIL

Pray you, content.—What, Oswald, ho!—

You, sir, more knave than Fool, after your master,” (Shakespeare I.iv.329-332).

Goneril silences Albany after he proclaims his love for her, and proceeds to command the Fool (who, although inferior to her, is not under her control) to return to Lear.  As Jansen explains, women of the time “had to be faithful to their husbands always, even when their husbands were not,” (8).  Given this historical context, there appears to be an inversion in the gender roles of Goneril and Albany; in this case, the male is faithful to his wife, who does not reciprocate this loyalty.  Later in that scene, Goneril demands that Lear reduce the size of his retinue; her insubordination to her father—and the fact that she essentially wages a struggle for the power typically denied to women of the time—also demonstrate her masculinity.  Regan demonstrates a similar irreverence towards her father; when notified that Lear plans to reside in her castle, she and Cornwall relocate to that of the Earl of Gloucester, a nobleman loyal to Lear.  Then, when Lear follows her to Gloucester’s castle, she demands that he return to Goneril:

“REGAN O, sir, you are old.

Nature in you stands on the very verge

Of his confine.  You should be ruled and led

By some discretion that discerns your state

Better than you yourself.  Therefore, I pray you

That to our sister you do make return.

Say you have wronged her.

LEAR Ask her forgiveness?

Do you but mark how this becomes the house:

    He kneels.

‘Dear daughter, I confess that I am old.

Age is unnecessary.  On my knees I beg

That you’ll vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food,’” (Shakespeare II.iv.165-176).

Regan advises Lear to return to Goneril’s castle and apologize for leaving.  Her refusal to accommodate Lear—and her attempt to justify this refusal on the basis of his advancing age—stands in contrast to the archetype of the hospitable, devoted female.  In addition, the manner in which she compels Lear to kneel in front of her demonstrates her insubordination to and authority over her father.  In these ways, the manner in which Regan addresses Lear demonstrates the masculinity of her character.

At the end of King Lear, both Goneril and Regan perish as a result of their shared lust for Edmund.  Goneril poisons Regan, presumably with the intention of furthering her quest to win Edmund’s attentions.  She subsequently commits suicide after Albany questions her about a paper—presumably the one containing Edmund’s order to kill Cordelia—preferring to die rather than implicate Edmund.  Unlike Edmund, who while dying attempts to rescind his order commanding Cordelia’s assassination, neither Goneril nor Regan manages to redeem herself before dying.  This discrepancy can best be explained by the motives—or lack thereof, in the case of Goneril and Regan—of each antagonist.  Edmund reveals his motives in his soliloquy at the beginning of Act I, Scene ii, in which he expresses anger with the inferior social status associated with his illegitimacy:

“…Why ‘bastard’?  Wherefore ‘base,’

When my dimensions as well compact,

My mind as generous and my shape as true

As honest madam’s issue?” (Shakespeare I.ii.6-9).

Edmund feels that his illegitimacy has unfairly deprived him of the respect that he would otherwise enjoy.  He questions the rationale behind his inferior social status, asserting that the circumstances of his conception have rendered him neither physically nor mentally handicapped.  In these ways, his soliloquy establishes his longing for the appreciation that he has been denied due to his illegitimacy.  At the end of the play, as he lies dying, Edmund realizes that he has received this high regard in the form of Goneril and Regan’s lust for him and the actions that each took to seduce him: “Yet Edmund was beloved. / The one the other poisoned for my sake, / And after slew herself,” (Shakespeare V.iii.287-289).  Edmund’s realization that Goneril killed both Regan and herself in order to seduce him fulfills his desire for admiration.  As this desire, which had prompted his previous villainous actions, is assuaged, Edmund no longer has any reason to commit such actions, and as such attempts to rescind the order commanding Cordelia’s assassination.

Unlike Edmund, Goneril and Regan lack any real motivation for their villainous actions, and for this reason fail to redeem themselves.  In fact, it could be argued that their lack of complexity is a manifestation of their masculinity.  Cathy Cupitt discusses the superficial nature of Goneril and Regan’s characters in her essay “Daughters of Chaos: An examination of the women in King Lear and Ran.”  She cites the essay “Partite, Mutuality, and Forgiveness in King Lear,” by Marianne Novy, who writes: “Goneril and Regan are much less psychologically complex than most Shakespearean characters of comparable importance.  Few of their lines carry hints of motivations other than cruelty, lust or ambition, characteristics of the archetypal fantasy image of woman as enemy,” (qtd. in Cupitt)  Novy contends that Goneril and Regan are one-dimensional, purely evil characters, attributing this portrayal of them to the negative manner in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries viewed women.  However, Cupitt contradicts the argument that she raises by citing Novy when she references the essay “The Symbolic Role of Cordelia in King Lear,” by J. Satin, who asserts that Cordelia exemplifies “the religion of beauty in women,” (qtd. in Cupitt).  Since Cordelia, whose actions stand in stark contrast to those of Goneril and Regan, exemplifies the literary trope of feminine purity, Goneril and Regan’s unadulterated villainy is due not to their status as women but to their functions as men.  Therefore, it could be argued that Goneril and Regan’s masculinity prevents them from redeeming themselves.

The implications of the roles of Goneril and Regan have served as the subject of intense scholarly debate over the years.  Some scholars, such as Cathy Cupitt, argue that the portrayal of Goneril and Regan as villains reflects Shakespeare’s misogynistic attitude towards women.  Others, such as Liz Jansen, contend that Shakespeare was not a misogynist but was rather “more of a modern day feminist or female-friendly than some modern day filmmakers,” (Jansen 32).  Interestingly, the general consensus among these scholars is that Goneril and Regan are extraordinarily atypical female characters, such that it could be argued that they occupy roles usually reserved for male characters.  Indeed, their desire for power and demonstrations of irreverence towards their male counterparts were highly unusual for women of their time period and social standing.  In addition, their evil actions stand in stark contrast to the goodness of Cordelia, who exemplifies the literary trope of feminine goodness.  For these reasons, all of the scholarly debate regarding the implications of this phenomenon cannot change the fact that Goneril and Regan are female characters who occupy male roles.

Works Cited

Cupitt, Cathy.  “Daughters of Chaos: An examination of the women in King Lear and Ran.”  Cathy Cupitt.  N.p., 4 Oct. 2010.  Web.  25 Mar. 2015.  http://www.cathycupitt.com/.

Jansen, Liz.  “Shall I compare thee to modern day feminism?: A comparison between Shakespeare’s original plays and modern screen adaptations regarding feminist characters”.  BA Thesis.  University of Utrecht, 2014.  Print.

Shakespeare, William.  The Tragedy of King Lear.  Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine.  New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009.  Print.