William Shakespeare Quotes

King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3. When Kent tries to comfort Lear, the distraught and confused King curses everybody, accusing them of being traitors and complicit in Cordelia’s death. He laments the fact that that he might have saved Cordelia but now he realizes that she is lost forever. He expresses fatherly tenderness and imagines that he hears her speaking, "Cordelia, Cordelia! Stay a little. Ha!" In his mind, he is listening to her soothing voice "ever soft, Gentle, and low." With the strong love Lear shows here for Cordelia and recognition of the injustice of her death, he somewhat redeems himself after the selfishness and egotism he displayed earlier in the play. The depth of his heartache is palpable and he has learned the value of true emotion. Cordelia’s death is the more tragic and inexplicable because she represented a symbol of hope. But in one of his last acts the grieving father has the satisfaction of exacting vengeance by killing the soldier who hanged Cordelia. In the midst of his madness and suffering, it can be said that Lear has grown in wisdom. But sadly it has come too late.