King Lear: Family Reunion

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     Madness, family discord, reconciliation. They're familiar themes. One of my favorite parts of King Lear is at the end Act IV Scene 7 when the king reunites with his banished daughter Cordelia, after being betrayed by his other daughters and romping around the countryside losing his mind. It must be really emotional played out on stage. Here are lines 65-76, 83-85):

LEAR Methinks I should know you, and know this man;

Yet I am doubtful; for I am mainly ignorant

What place this is; and all the skill I have

Remembers not these garments; nor I know not

Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;

For, as I am a man, I think this lady

To be my child Cordelia.

CORDELIA                    And so I am, I am.

LEAR Be your tears wet? Yes, faith. I pray, weep not.

If you have poison for me, I will drink it.

I know you do not love me; for your sisters

Have, as I do remember, done me wrong.

You have some cause, they have not.

CORDELIA                                       No cause, no cause.

...

CORDELIA Will't please your highness walk?

LEAR                                                                You must bear with me;

Pray you now, forget and forgive. I am old and foolish.

        This is the kind of family dynamic I want between King Durim and Princess Lili. I have a huge plot revision in mind for that story, but I have hardly touched it since my revisions a few months ago. I'm a bit nervous, so I've been putting it off. I know, that's bad. I keep on telling myself sternly that there's not enough time in the world to waste being afraid of messing up, but myself doesn't always listen.