Regan

Play

King Lear

Summary

Regan is Lear's middle daughter, who follows Goneril's lead in rejecting their father but surpasses her in open cruelty. It is Regan who cheers Cornwall on as he plucks out Gloucester's eyes and who personally kills the servant who defends Gloucester. After Cornwall's death she pursues Edmund for herself and becomes Goneril's deadly rival; she is poisoned by Goneril before Edmund's fate is decided.

Notable Quotations

"I pray you, father, being weak, seem so." *(II.4)*

"Put out his eyes." *(III.7)*

"Go thrust him out at gates, and let him smell / His way to Dover." *(III.7)*

Cross-references

• King Lear — the play
• Tragedies
• character_lear — her father whom she abandons
• character_goneril — her sister, ally, and poisoner
• character_cornwall — her husband
• character_edmund — her lover
• character_gloucester — the victim of her cruelty