Discuss how in King Lear Cordelia plays a very important role.Support answer with reference to the text.

Cordelia is particularly striking, as she is on her own. She does seem to hold a different position, from the very start of the play, a position that is created by her father.

Lear sets up a game of manipulation; his daughters have to make a public gesture to show how much they love him. Cordelia observes the actions of her sisters, and says " if for I want that glib and oily art to speak and purpose not, since what I well intend, I’ll do ‘t before I speak". This implies that those who speak are using their words as art, but they do not necessarily match their deeds with these words. Cordelia says that she can say nothing because love cannot be spoken about. When she leaves she tells her sisters, ‘I know what you are, and like a sister am most loth to call your faults as they are named.’

I have tried to look at the dynamics between the initial scenes and Cordelia's return. Maybe because Cordelia is absent for so long, she feels she has to justify her return. She says that she has come back for her father, not just to gain land. Her return is not for political reasons. She seems to need to say that, to make it very clear.