King Lear Journal #1: The relationship between wealth and love

In Shakespeare's King Lear, the king wants to hear how much he is loved by all his daughters before they receive any of the land that has been divided up. "Know that we have divided In three our kingdom [...] Interest of territory, cares of state-] Which of you shall we say doth love us most" (Shakespeare 39-56). This shows how much more power is valued than love because it reveals King Lear's intentions of ensuring that he is loved before any wealth or power is distributed to his family members. It also shows that the oldest two daughters have the land they're about to receive in mind and are willing to tell their father what he wants to hear instead of truly speaking from their hearts and telling the truth like Cordelia does. When Cordelia explains to Lear that she cannot love him with all of her heart, like her sisters say they do, because she knows that someday she is expected to love her husband as well, her father removes her dowry, which is seen when he says, "With my two daughters' dowers digest the third" (Shakespeare 144). Because Lear does not receive the praise and love he wants to hear, he strips his youngest daughter of that estate, illuminating that to Lear, wealth is something that can be taken away and used as a consequence when he does not receive the love he is interested in hearing.