Shadowy forests and champains rich'd (1.1.63-69)

LEAR

Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd, With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads, We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter, Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.

Lear responds to Goneril’s hyperbolic speech by distributing a large amount of land. Why does Lear not wait until the others have spoken? It seems that he’s already decided who will get what, making Cordelia’s lack of speech completely surprising to him. He doesn’t even know his favourite, most loyal daughter, despite believing that he does. It also suggests that the test is a facade for an excuse to accumulate some public flattery from his daughters. Emphasised by anaphora, Lear describes the boundless, beautiful, and bountiful lands - that Goneril has won - with flowery descriptions of “shadowy forests”, “champains rich’d”, “plenteous rivers” and “wide-skirted meads”. The “rich’d” fields seem fertile for their richness; later in the play Lear berates Goneril, and, in the process, asks nature to make her infertile: “Into her womb convey sterility!”. The plea for nature to take away her fertility could be a plea for her land to be removed. It also makes Goneril an opposite to the heavenly fields; it makes her seem hellish. Lear juxtaposes his majestic plural pronouns with a new, more intimate “thee”. This implies that they are on the same level at this point with regards to their power. It puts Goneril in a queenly position. He asks for this to be “perpetual”, much like the “wide-skirted meads”. Lear sees himself as a master of nature, and therefore by comparing Goneril and “Albany’s issue” to nature, he exerts control over them. However, throughout the play, nature becomes harmful and violent e.g. “all-shaking thunder” in a similar way to Goneril (once she has power). The numerous references to animals in the play when describing Goneril reinforces this. Lear - content with Goneril - moves on to Regan who is noticeably “dear[er]” to him than Goneril. Perhaps this is foreshadowing how Lear treats Goneril in a worse manner to Regan despite both committing horrific acts. He mentions also that Regan is a wife, something that perhaps shows that she is more romantic and domestic than Goneril, whilst also showing the close relationship between Regan and Cornwall (especially when compared to Goneril’s with Albany). These descriptions - which increase with each daughter - also act as a build-up to Cordelia’s speech. Something which makes her saying “nothing” more shocking. His last word is the imperative “speak”, which shows authority whilst providing Regan with her chance to flatter for land.