Source: "Act One, Scene One, of Lear," in College English, Vol. 32, No.2, November, 1970, pp. 155-71.
[Lear desperately seeks reassurance that his daughters will allow him to carry out his plans for his final years, Lesser maintains, and so he stages a "play" in the opening scene that will draw out this response. The critic notes that the king looks chiefly to his favorite, Cordelia, for love and praise. The extraordinary intensity and possessiveness of his love for her makes Lear more vulnerable to disappointment, Lesser argues. In the critic's judgment, Lear's possessiveness has itS source in an unconscious sexual desire, which Cordelia is aware of-even as she guards herself against expressing her own excessive, incestuous feelings toward him. Lesser contends that Cordelia resents the hypocrisy of the love-test, is overwhelmed hy hatred of her.....
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