Comparing King Lear And The Lais Of Marie De France

King Lear has always been looked at as a case of the clueless dad; however, when one delves deeper into the script we can see this is a story about the differences of good and evil and the battle between family and power. The Lais of Marie de France was on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to the take home message of selflessness and love always prosper in a world of chaos. However, there is one thing these stories had in common and that is the ability to compare each character to one another. The characters that seem to have the most the most in common are Cordelia, Guilliadun, and Guildeluec vs. Regan and Goneril. Although there were many more differences that could be pointed out between the five women than comparisons, each story shows there is a clear line between the noble and the evil. While each of the characters cannot be matched in the same way, each of these women has something in common with the other. For illustration, one commonality that these characters share is the fact each of these ladies is from a high born family.

In The Lais of Marie de France the main characters involved were ultimately good people who cared about the feelings of others over their own. They each just wanted each other to be completely happy throughout the rest of their life while in King Lear it was a completely different agenda. Even with the chance to do what is right; the wicked sister, Goneril, decided to take the easy way out by stabbing herself and poisoning her sister. There is also the idea that there was no justice in King Lear being that multiple deaths happened, the good of Cordelia did not prevail because for her the messenger came too late, (Shakespeare, King Lear , 5.3.325-330). I think although society wants to believe good will always prosper sometimes the chaos of the world interferes and everyone gets swept away in evils