This essay examines the interplay between love and power in William Shakespeare's King Lear and Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale." Drawing on characters such as Cordelia, Edgar, Gloucester, and Chaucer's unnamed knight, the paper argues that unchecked desire for power leads to destruction, while the willingness to surrender power opens the path to genuine love. Through close reading and supporting scholarship from critics including Harold Bloom, Edward Dowden, Diane Dreher, and Joseph Roppolo, the essay demonstrates that both texts function as cautionary tales: one in which love and power ultimately fail to coexist, and one in which their reconciliation produces transformation and redemption.
Love and power are two of the most compelling of human desires. People are driven to do sometimes remarkable things in the name of love and in the conquest for power, many of which do more harm than good. Regardless of the consequences, the human drive to achieve love and power becomes an interesting subject to study. Two works that illustrate the human emotions connected to love and power are William Shakespeare's King Lear and Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale." Both stories revolve around love and power. In one, love and power never actually have the opportunity to coexist. In the other, love and power come together to create a positive outcome. These stories show how love and power are forces that are nearly beyond human control. Love and power shape our desires, and desires shape our behavior. Together, these texts illustrate how love and power can create or destroy.
In King Lear, Gloucester is a man who possesses power and seeks love. His central mistake in this quest — the banishment of Edgar — sets in motion a painful journey toward reconciliation. The two come together again when the son helps the father in his time of need. It takes an extreme turn of events to bring them to this point, but the end result is love. Gloucester is transformed by his ordeal. He tells his son, "Thy life's a miracle" (Shakespeare IV.vi.59). Edgar tries to console his father and encourages him to think "free and patient thoughts" (IV.vi.79).
Love is displayed here between two people who had much to overcome. Edgar sets aside his own pain in order to comfort his father. Edward Dowden agrees, writing that Edgar is the "champion of right, ever active in opposing evil and advancing the good cause, discovers that the gods are upon the side of right, are unceasingly at work in the vindication of truth and the execution of justice. His faith lives through trial and disaster, a flame which will not be quenched" (Dowden). J. Stamper maintains that Gloucester dies "between extremes of joy and grief, at the knowledge that his son was miraculously preserved, Lear between extremes of illusion and truth, ecstasy and the blackest despair, at the knowledge that his daughter was needlessly butchered" (Stamper 366). Edgar emerges as a strong and steadfast character, which only reinforces the idea that love can overcome.
Love is not always easy, and this is demonstrated in King Lear's relationship with Cordelia. Through remarkable courage, they accept their destiny. Dowden asserts that Cordelia is comprised of "unmingled tenderness and strength, a pure redeeming ardor" (Dowden). This is best displayed when she tells Lear that they are not the first who "with best meaning, have incurred the worst. / For thee, oppressed king, I am cast down; / Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown" (Shakespeare V.iii.17–22). Lear echoes these sentiments when he tells her that they will "sing like birds i' the cage: / . . . so we'll live, / and pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh / . . . And take upon the mystery of things" (V.iii.97–106). That they choose to walk down the dark path together illustrates the power of love.
Diane Dreher writes that "in the midst of civil upheaval, madness, and metaphysical confusion, the heroic choices made by Cordelia affirm ideals of love and truth that transcend logic and redeem her world from utter despair" (Dreher). This powerful realization affirms what we want to believe about the enduring force of love. Cordelia not only believes in this ideal but acts bravely on it. According to Dreher, she defies the "commodification of love that tore her father's kingdom apart," and "knowingly puts herself in danger in an attempt to rescue Lear, sacrificing her safety and material comfort as queen of France" (Dreher). Love makes sacrifices when it must. Harold Bloom maintains that "Shakespeare's intimation is that the only authentic love is between parents and children, yet the prime consequence of such love is only devastation" (Bloom 483). This observation captures the paradox at the heart of the play: the power of love is undeniable, yet it does not erase immediate problems. Life and fate carry on, and love only makes the journey a little more bearable.
Power makes its way into King Lear through characters who seem to be Cordelia's opposites. Goneril and Regan are mesmerized by all that power has to offer. Their resentment fuels their drive, and they do accomplish their goal. What we learn from them is that it is not only power itself that corrupts, but the consuming desire to possess it that destroys as well. Their terrible mistreatment of their father throws Cordelia's character into even sharper relief. Furthermore, the final scene suggests that love ultimately surpasses power — and perhaps always should.
Geoffrey Chaucer explores the power of love in a very different way in "The Wife of Bath's Tale." Here, we see the dynamics of love and power through the actions of a knight who is far from the chivalric ideal. He is, in fact, a rapist who places his earthly desires above his moral obligations as a knight. We read that he has a "lusty liver" (Chaucer 300), which makes his capacity for genuine transformation seem all the more uncertain at the outset. However, his journey fundamentally changes his outlook.
He learns that some women might want "wealth and treasure" (301), while others might want "fun in bed" (301). He comes to realize that those around him desire "freedom to do exactly as we please, / With no one to reprove our faults and lies, / Rather to have one call us good and wise" (301). He even tells the queen that a woman wants "the self-same sovereignty / Over her husband as over her lover, / and master him; he must not be above her" (304). Through these encounters, we can see that the value of romantic love — and the respect it demands — is central to the knight's journey and to his gradual change of heart.
The knight has more to learn about love from his wife. He discovers that love sometimes means doing things one would rather not do. When the knight submits to his wife, he is rewarded. Roppolo notes that the tale is about more than an ugly woman becoming beautiful; it is a story about the "change which occurs in a selfish, proud, and morally blind knight who is taught to find beauty and worth in wisdom and purity" (Roppolo 263). As a result, the knight "gains importance" (Roppolo 263). Roppolo further observes that "sovereignty becomes her principal point" (269), and that "true gentilesse comes from God alone and brings with it an awareness of moral worth and beauty" (269). Here we see that wisdom and the willingness to yield are equally valuable, and when they are mutually respected, love stands a chance.
It is worth noting that power drives both principal characters in this tale. The queen and the knight each desire control over their circumstances and their victims. The knight has no hesitation about using violence to satisfy his desires, and the queen likewise exerts her authority when she sees fit. Power and love ultimately come together in this story by learning to coexist. Rosalyn Rossignol maintains that "the loathly hag's physical transformation is actually triggered by the young knight's spiritual one" (Rossignol). "His own transformation is signaled by his willingness to leave the decision . . . up to her, indicating a profound change from the heedless desire to have his own way that led him to commit the crime of rape" (Rossignol). In surrendering his power within the relationship, the knight finally becomes capable of love.
"Goneril and Regan show how power corrupts"
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead Books, 1998.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Wife of Bath's Tale." The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill Coghill. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.
Dowden, Edward. "'Othello,' 'Macbeth,' 'Lear.'" Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art. 1881. Accessed April 4, 2009.
"Knight's submission to wife brings redemption"
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. New York: Washington Square Press, 1969.
Stamper, J. "The Catharsis of King Lear." Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
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