Goneril

“ Lear had three children, all of them daughters, and all very beautiful. The eldest was named Goneril; the second, Regan; and the youngest, Cordelia. Goneril and Regan were proud and haughty beauties. They trod the halls of their father’s palace as if they were already queens. When any story of suffering or complaint of wrong arose from the people, they always took the part of the oppressor, Their radiant black eyes glistened with hatred or sparkled with anger, but they never softened with pity or tenderness. ”

“ As if willing to outdo her sister in unfilial behaviour, she declared that she thought fifty knights too many to wait upon him: that five-and-twenty were enough. Then Lear, nigh heart-broken, turned to Goneril and said that he would go back with her, for her fifty doubled five-and-twenty, and so her love was twice as much as Regan's. But Goneril excused herself, and said, what need of so many as five-and-twenty? or even ten? or five? when he might be waited upon by her servants, or her sister's servants? ”

“ Then she watched Angiolino cutting the corn, and learned how to tie the swathes together. She was occupied in this useful employment when the noise of wheels made them both stop and look over the wall.
"Here's the padrone!" cried the boy.
"Oh, he is old!" said Goneril; "he is old and brown, like a coffee-bean."
"To be old and good is better than youth with malice," suggested Angiolino, by way of consolation.
"I suppose so," acquiesced Goneril.
Nevertheless she went in to dinner a little disappointed.
The signorino was not in the house; he had gone up to the villa. ”

“ Where are you? O, where are you? ... Where are you?
She tries to raise herself to look about the room, but sinks back helplessly. The curtains of the door at the back are parted, and GONERIL appears in hunting dress, — her kirtle caught up in her girdle, a light spear over her shoulder — stands there a moment, then enters noiselessly and, approaches the bed. She is a girl just turning to woman-hood, proud in her poise, swift and cold, an almost gleaming presence, a virgin huntress.
Goneril:
Mother, were you calling? ”

“ When he tried to reply, his tears almost stopped him. Goneril stood gazing unmoved on her aged father’s wounded feeling, and at length he told her that he would leave her inhospitable roof, for he had yet another daughter who would not treat him thus. ”

“ Merryn, hither, hither.... Mother, O mother!
She goes to Hygd. Merryn enters.
Merryn.
Princess, what has she done? Who has left her?
She must have been alone.
Goneril. Where is Gormflaith?
Merryn.
Mercy o' mercies, everybody asks me
For Gormflaith, then for Gormflaith, then for Gormflaith,
And I ask everybody else for her;
But she is nowhere, and the King will foam.
Send me no more; I am old with running about
After a bodiless name.
Goneril. She has been here,
And she has left the Queen. This is her deed.
Merryn.
Ah, cruel, cruel! The shame, the pity—
Goneril. ”

“ Goneril is a kite: her ingratitude has a serpent's tooth: she has struck her father most serpent-like upon the very heart: her visage is wolvish: she has tied sharp-toothed unkindness like a vulture on her father's breast: for her husband she is a gilded serpent: to Gloster her cruelty seems to have the fangs of a boar. She and Regan are dog-hearted: they are tigers, not daughters: each is an adder to the other: the flesh of each is covered with the fell of a beast. ”

“ No doubt those days seemed near and dear to her; she did not see the dust on those faded triumphs.
"That's all stale news!" cried Miss Prunty, jumping up. "And Gon'ril (since I'll have to call her so) must be tired of waiting in the garden."
They walked out on the terrace. The girl was not there; but by the gate into the olive-yard, where there was a lean-to shed for tools, they found her sitting on a cask, whittling a piece of wood and talking to a curly-headed little contadino.
Hearing steps, Goneril turned round. "He was asleep," she said. "Fancy, in such beautiful weather!" ”

“ Seeing that Regan was about to treat him worse, if anything, than Goneril, King Lear said he would return to his eldest daughter with the fifty knights to which she had reduced him. But now Goneril began to draw back. Why did he need five-and-twenty, ten, or even five followers, in a house where twice as many had orders to attend on him?
“What need of one?” added Regan.
“O, reason not the need,” exclaimed Lear, justly indignant at this sordid argument from those to whom he had given his entire possessions. “Our basest beggars are in the poorest thing superfluous. ”

“ GORMFLAITH, still crowned, enters by the garden doorway.
Gormflaith:
Come back! Help me and shield me!
She disappears through the curtains. GONERIL has sprung to her feet at the first sound of GORMFLAITH'S voice. LEAR enters through the garden doorway, leading GORMFLAITH by the hand.
Lear:
Goneril (advancing to meet them with a deep obeisance) :
O, Sir, the Queen is dead: long live the Queen,
You have been ready with the coronation.
Lear:
What do you mean? ”

“ Vorrei morir, e stare sulla scala, Vorrei veder chi mi porta la bara: Vorrei morir, e vorre’ alzar la voce, Vorrei veder chi mi porta la croce.”
“Very well chosen, my dear,” said Miss Prunty, when the song was finished.
“And very well sung, my Gonerilla!” cried the old lady.
But the signorino went up to the piano and shook hands with her.
“Little Mees Goneril,” he said, “you have the makings of an artist.”
The two old ladies stared, for, after all, Goneril’s performance had been very simple. You see, they were better versed in music than in human nature. ”

“ Signor Graziano is going to charm us with one of his delightful airs.”
“I hoped she would sing,” faltered the signorino.
“Who? Gonerilla? Nonsense, my friend. She winds silk much better than she sings.”
Goneril laughed; she was not at all offended. But Signor Graziano made several mistakes in his playing. At last he left the piano. “I cannot play to-night,” he cried. “I am not in the humour. Goneril, will you come and walk with me on the terrace?”
Before the girl could reply Miss Prunty had darted an angry glance at Signor Graziano. ”

“ It was a moment's work to despatch the man, who was helping haul up the boat, which half a man could have done. The brandy and the water soon arrived, but failed to produce any apparent effect. "You take that hand, rub it—don't be afraid—rub it hard," said Goneril, as Mr. Andrews, kneeling on the other side, set down the lantern. "I don't like this sort of thing. I've seen a dozen women faint in my life, but they came to as quick as wink, if you dashed water on 'em. I've heard people do die sometimes of their feelings—but I never believed it before. ”

“ Along with her sister Regan, Goneril is considered a villain, obsessed with power and overthrowing her elderly father as ruler of the kingdom of Britain. Her aggressiveness is a rare trait for a female character in Elizabethan literature. ”

“ And each man have enough."
Having pronounced these strange words, the blind Gloucester requests Edgar to lead him to a certain cliff overhanging the sea, and they depart.
The second scene of the fourth act takes place before the Duke of Albany's palace. Goneril is not only cruel, but also depraved. She despises her husband and discloses her love to the villain Edmund, who has inherited the title of his father Gloucester. Edmund leaves, and a conversation takes place between Goneril and her husband. ”

“ Goneril interrupted herself to say. "Melinda Larkins wouldn't think of taking a place, without going over to the island to see her folks about it. She has some self-respect, if she is obliged to live out."
"If she is obliged to go into service, you mean," said Miss Varian. "There won't be much difficulty about your getting her, Mr. Andrews, I am sure. All these people are very poor, and will do anything for money."
"Money isn't everything," began Goneril; but Mr. Andrews had got to the hall. ”

“ But when Goneril says that even twenty-five are too many, Lear pours forth a long argument about the superfluous and the needful being relative and says that if man is not allowed more than he needs, he is not to be distinguished from a beast. Lear, or rather the actor who plays Lear's part, adds that there is no need for a lady's finery, which does not keep her warm. ”

“ Gonerill, the eldest, declared that she loved her father more than words could give out, that he was dearer to her than the light of her own eyes, dearer than life and liberty, with a deal of such professing stuff, which is easy to counterfeit where there is no real love, only a few fine words delivered with confidence being wanted in that case. The king, delighted to hear from her own mouth this assurance of her love, and thinking truly that her heart went with it, in a fit of fatherly fondness bestowed upon her and her husband one third of his ample kingdom. ”

“ Nothing could have been more advantageous to the king’s affairs than the prudent conduct of this wise officer, which left him at liberty to afford him his assistance; for in the mean time a conspiracy was formed at Gondar, which had taken deep root, and had a powerful faction, Elias, late Ras and Betwudet, Tensa Mammo, Guebra l’Oul, Matteos and Agnè, all principal men in Gondar, and possessed of great riches and dependencies throughout the whole kingdom. ”

“ But I overheard that villain telling his accomplice Grevin—another scoundrel like himself—that the Marquis and his brother were conspiring against the First Consul, that they were here in the neighborhood, and that he meant to give them up and get rid of them so as to keep Gondreville in peace. I myself saw the police spies; I laid aside my gun, and I have lost no time in coming here, thinking that you must be the one to know best how to warn the young men. That’s the whole of it.”
“You are worthy to be a noble,” said Laurence, offering her hand to Michu, who tried to kneel and kiss it. ”

“ All the people of consequence who had property in and about Gondar, who had fled to Fasil and to the provinces, from fear of Ras Michael when he returned from Tigrè, had gone back upon Gusho's word, each man to his house; Gondar was full of men in arms. In Gusho's and Ayabdar's army, and depending on them, was the property of all Gondar. Ras Woodage, Gusho's father, and brother to Ayabdar, had been Ras in Yasous' time, till he died, universally beloved and regretted; Ayto Engedan and Aylo, sons of Kasmati Eshté, (by a sister of king Yasous) had the property of near one half of the town. ”

“ Immediately after the assembly, the king ordered Tebedin to be put in irons, and sent to a mountainous prison. He then returned to Gondar.
This year, the 9th of Yasous reign, there appeared a comet, remarkable for its size and fiery brightness of its body, and for the prodigious length and distinctness of its tail. It was first taken notice of at Gondar, two days before the feast of St Michael, on which day the army takes the field. A fight so uncommon alarmed all sorts of people ”

“ He was without male issue, but had three daughters, whose names were Gonorilla, Regau, and Cordeilla, of whom he was dotingly fond, but especially of the youngest, Cordeilla. When he began to grow old, he had thoughts of dividing his kingdom among them, and of bestowing them on such husbands as were fit to be advanced to the government with them. But to make trial who was worthy to have the best part of his kingdom, he went to each of them to ask which of them loved him most. ”

“ The king of the Franks, having heard of Cordeilla's beauty, sent to demand her in marriage, and accepted her without any dowry. After a time the husbands of the two elder daughters rebelled and deprived Leir of his kingdom; the duke of Albania, who had married Gonorilla, agreeing to allow him a maintenance at his own house, with sixty soldiers who were to be kept for state. ”

“ All Gondar, and the neighbouring towns and villages, had poured out their inhabitants to meet the king upon his return. The fear of Ras Michael was the cause of all this; and every one trembled, lest, by being absent, he should be thought a favourer of Socinios. ”

“ On the 12th of November, all Gondar was struck with a panic at the news brought in by the peasants from the country, flying for refuge to the capital, destitute of every thing, and thankful only they had escaped with life. Fasil had marched with a considerable army from Ibaba, and advanced to Dingleber in peace, when he left the main body, under the conduct of Welleta Yasous, and all his baggage, considering that place as the limits of his government. ”

“ Ayto Engedan, who was to be considered as an advanced post of Fasil, was at Tsiemmera, in the way of the Agow and Maitsha, and Coque Abou Barea on the N. W. side, towards Kuara; so that Gondar was so completely invested, that several of the people died with hunger.
Ras Michael had ordered his own nephew, Tecla and Welleta Michael, the king's mailer of the household, to endeavour to force their way from Tigre to Woggora, and open that communication, if possible, with Gondar; and for that purpose had left him 4000 men in the province of Sire, on the other side of the Tacazze ”

“ In truth Germinie was not Mademoiselle de Varandeuil's maid; she was Devotion, waiting to close her eyes. The solitary old woman, overlooked by death, alone at the end of her life, dragging her affections from grave to grave, had found her last friend in her servant. She had rested her heart upon her as upon an adopted daughter, and she was especially unhappy because she was powerless to comfort her. Moreover, at intervals, Germinie returned to her from the depths of her brooding melancholy and her savage humor, and threw herself on her knees before her kind heart. ”