Mojo, The Bard, & Me

O my dear father! Restoration hang

Thy medicine on my lips;

 -Cordelia

King Lear             Act IV, scene vii Line 26

I consider this a beautiful line. I believe there is no truer love expressed in all of Shakespeare’s works than the love shared between Cordelia and her father. And maybe that’s just the father of two Cordelias talking, I’m not sure.

In any event, Lear wakes up after this line and he and Cordelia have a reconciliation as only Shakespeare would paint it. Yes, they both end up dying a few scenes further down the road, but for now they are still both alive and together. If you have a daughter, or perhaps if you are a daughter, you might want to read the scene. It’s pretty short.

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/lear/lear.4.7.html

Remember, long story short, Lear gave his kingdom to the two daughters who falsely told him how much he loved them. Meantime he very foolishly rejected the third daughter Cordelia, the one who truly loved him, because she would not give him false flattery. The other two daughters ended up turning him out of house and home, and he wandered the heath in a storm going quite nearly mad. Now Cordelia is back, she’s found him and is looking after him.

I’ve got no more to add today.

Two Cordelias