Michelle A. Penn
ENG 208-001
Critical Essay
April 19, 2004
Shakespeare Sacrifices Daughters to Punish Fathers
In William Shakespeare’s plays, King Lear and Titus Andronicus, the daughters of the main characters suffer as a result of their father’s actions. Cordelia and Lavinia are both portrayed as innocent characters and they consistently show loyalty to their fathers. However, their fathers commit acts or a series of acts which eventually bring about their own downfall, as well as that of their daughters. I believe that Shakespeare chose to sacrifice the daughters in order to fully punish the fathers.
In King Lear, the action begins when Cordelia tells her father, "Nothing" (1.1.87). She refuses to imitate her sisters’ professions of love and their attempts to outdo each other. Clearly, she hasn’t done anything wrong and Shakespeare cleverly makes this evident through her speech. Because of her honesty, Lear disinherits her and she leaves the kingdom to live with her new husband. Cordelia is punished by this act because she sincerely loves her father. She says, "I am sure, my love’s More ponderous than my tongue" (1.1.76-77). She loves him so much that she is afraid that words will not even suffice to profess her love. Her father, though, is very cruel to her and says, "Better thou Hadst not been born than not to have pleased me better" (1.1.235-236). Cordelia is arguably the only innocent character in this play, yet suffers as much as, if not more than, many of the antagonists.
As a result of Lear’s actions, he and Cordelia both suffer. Throughout the play, Cordelia is honest and loyal to her father. Yet, she dies in prison. The disinheriting of Cordelia, however, does not just affect her life. It also has great consequences for Lear. If he had not treated Cordelia so rashly, Goneril and Regan would not have been able to be as tyrannical. If Cordelia had been given some of her father’s land, Lear could have lived with her and would not be subjected to the cruelty of his other daughters.
More importantly, however, although Lear is the reason for Cordelia’s death, her death functions as his greatest punishment. Goneril says of Lear, "he always loved [Cordelia] most" (1.2.291-292). Since Cordelia is Lear’s favorite daughter, it is logical to assume that her death would greatly upset him. In fact, Lear carries Cordelia’s body onto the stage and thinks that she may still be alive. He says, "If it be so, It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows That ever I have felt" (5.3.265-267). Basically, Lear feels that her restoration to life would atone for all of the sorrow he has experienced during his life. Out of all of the harm that comes to Lear during the play, Cordelia’s death is the most injurious blow. This theme of sacrificing Cordelia to punish Lear is suggested in the final act of the play. Lear says to Cordelia, "Upon such sacrifices" (5.3.20). This line shows that Lear realizes that Cordelia has had to suffer because of his actions.
Titus Andronicus is very similar to King Lear because it also displays this theme. In this play, Lavinia is an innocent daughter who is punished because of her father. Like Cordelia, Lavinia does not do anything to warrant her downfall. She is sweet, innocent, and loyal to her father throughout the play. Still, she is punished as a result of her father’s actions. Titus kills Tamora’s eldest son, but this is not enough to leave Lavinia vulnerable. Although Tamora was then determined to punish Titus and his family, she was not in a position to do so. Then, however, Titus refuses to be the emperor of Rome. Still, Lavinia is safe until Titus chose Saturninus over Bassianus to take his place. Once Saturninus decides to marry Tamora, thus placing her in a position of great power, the fate of the family is decided. The most obvious difference between Cordelia’s and Lavinia’s situations is that Cordelia is purposefully and directly punished by her father. Lavinia, on the other hand, is only indirectly punished by her father’s actions.
Because of Titus’s decisions, he and Lavinia are both forced to endure pain and their eventual deaths. Lavinia is raped and maimed, but her father is initially powerless to take any sort of revenge on the perpetrators. Even after she reveals the names of Chiron and Demetrius, very little can be done. Titus and the remaining members of his family are mostly relying on Lucius’s success in raising an army to invade Rome. Finally, Lavinia is killed by her father because her presence is painful for him. Titus, too, is punished for his foolish decisions. Since he kills Tamora’s son and makes Saturninus the emperor, he is killed at the end of the play. In addition, at the time of his death, he is missing one hand, has killed his own son, and has been powerless to stop the execution of Martius and Quintus. His entire family has been destroyed with the exception of one son, Lucius, and Marcus Andronicus. Even they, however, are left to "knit again This scatter’d corn into one mutual sheaf, These broken limbs again into one body" (5.3.71-73).
Titus’s greatest punishment, however, is dealing with Lavinia’s fate. In the first scene of the play, Titus says to her, "Lavinia, live; outlive thy father’s days" (1.1.167). This line is ironic because it is Titus who eventually kills her, but it also shows that he wants her to live a long and happy life. However, after trying to sway the tribunes to spare his sons’ lives, Marcus brings Lavinia to see her father. Titus says, "he that wounded her Hath hurt me more than had he killed me dead [...] This way to death my wretched sons are gone; Here stands my other son, a banished man, And here my brother, weeping at my woes. But that which gives my soul the greatest spurn Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul" (3.1.92-103). Lavinia’s fate is undeniably the worst thing that could have happened to Titus. Finally, Titus kills Lavinia because he can not look at her any longer. He says, "with thy shame, thy father’s sorrow die" (5.3.46). An interesting relationship between Titus’s meeting with Lavinia in the first act of the play and their final meeting can be seen. In the first act, he tells her to live, but says, "Die, die, Lavinia" (5.3.45) in the final act.
Clearly, William Shakespeare’s plays King Lear and Titus Andronicus are linked in their portrayals of innocent daughters who are undone by their fathers’ folly. The action in each of the plays is dependent on the main characters’ mistakes. Although neither Cordelia nor Lavinia did anything to deserve punishment, they are nonetheless sacrificed in order to more effectively harm their fathers.