ce of power and how it is to be used responsibly as well as about judging the women he should know much better than he does. King Lear's first error is in thinking that he can abdicate his responsibilities and give away his realm while still retaining those aspects of his power that he prizes. In effect, Lear wants to be treated as king without having any of the responsibilities of king. He decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, and to help him decide how to make the division, he asks that each of them profess their love for him. The two older sisters give fulsome praise to their father, but the youngest, Cordelia, speaks quietly of her love and of her duty to her father. This enrages the old man, who refuses to give her any of his kingdom. She has failed to indulge in the excessive flattery of her sisters and is now rejected as a daughter because Lear is more affected by outward show than by true worth. The primary theme is responsibility, and King Lear abdicates his true responsibility when he tries to retain the trappings of power while having someone else do the work.
This attitude parallels his failure as a king. He is more enamored of the outward show of kingship, the power and the praise, and less by the substance, the responsibilities of leadership. He is willing to be treated as a king by his daughters and is deeply offended when they do not give him the respect he feels is his due. He is owed a level of respect as a father, and his older daughters fail miserably at giving him this degree of respect. He is not owed respect as a king any longer because he has abdicated his responsibilities. This is what Lear does not understand about Cordelia's answer to him when he asks that she profess her love for him:
You have begot me, bred me, loved me, I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honor you.
Why have my sisters husbands if they say
Cordel...