Ha! Goneril with a white beard? They flattered me like a dog and told me I had the white hairs in my beard ere the black ones were there. To say "ay" and "no" to everything that I said "ay" and "no" to was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once and the wind to make me chatter, when the thunder would not peace at my bidding, there I found ’em, there I smelt ’em out. Go to. They are not men o’ their words; they told me I was everything. ‘Tis a lie. I am not ague-proof.
– William Shakespeare
King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6. The mad Lear believes Gloucester to be Goneril with a beard. In this revealing soliloquy, Lear realizes that his two daughters Goneril and Regan are liars, who "flattered him like a dog" (simile) and told him that he had wisdom before his time, but in reality they care nothing about him. He takes responsibility for not seeing this when he wore the crown and occupied the throne as ruler of Britain. His moment of enlightment came during the storm when he was subjected to the forces of nature. He only appeared to see his own stupidity and susceptibility to his daughters’ false flattery, when he stood powerless in the face of something greater than himself. There is irony here, since when Lear was sane he could not see his daughters’ deception, but now mad and wearing a crown of flowers and weeds he sees them for what they truly are and that he is not "ague-proof."