Richer Versus Ponderous: Shaping Cordelia’s Image
After Regan finishes her speech declaring how much she loves Lear, Cordelia makes a comment before Lear gives Regan her third of the kingdom and turns to ask Cordelia for her speech. Cordelia comments in between, “Then poor Cordelia! / And yet not so, since I am sure my love’s / More richer than my tongue” (I.i.69-71)1 in the Quarto and “Then poor Cordelia, / And yet not so, since I am sure my love’s / More ponderous than my tongue” (I.i.76-78) in the Folio. The variant between the word ‘richer’ and ‘ponderous’ creates two very different images of Cordelia—a youngest daughter certain of her inheritance being largest versus the only sincere daughter whose love is greatest and true.
Choosing the word ‘richer’ carries with it a connotation of material riches, which also resonates in other character’s choice of words. Goneril in her answer to Lear says, “Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare” (I.i.55) and Lear refers to the divided kingdoms as “bounty” and labels the last piece of it the “third more opulent” (I.i.85). With other characters’ references to material wealth, Cordelia’s use of the word ‘richer’ is also hard to escape the connection. Moreover, ‘richer’ could imply Cordelia’s insight into the situation. She calls herself, “poor Cordelia,” which can be read in connection to material wealth. Goneril and Regan have done such a splendid job of ostentatiously declaring their loves that Cordelia sees no way to top their speeches. Consequently, she laments, “poor Cordelia.” However, Cordelia quickly contradicts herself saying, “And yet not so” because she is “sure” that her love is “more richer than my tongue.” Cordelia recognizes Goneril and Regan’s answers as mere flattery; at the same time, she also seems to be certain that her love will make her richer than her sisters’ tongues have made them rich. Cordelia knows that she is the most loved and is confident that that love will win her the more “opulent” third. Furthermore, in both the Quarto and Folio, Cordelia uses the word ‘richer’ moments later when she says, “But even for want of that for which I am richer,” directly referring to land wealth (I.i.229). Since ‘richer’ had been previously used to describe her love, confusion can be created regarding Cordelia’s own word choices and consistency of their meanings.
In the Folio, on the other hand, Cordelia uses the word, ‘ponderous’ to describe her love, which leads to another reading. The OED defines ‘ponderous’ as “Having great weight; heavy, weighty; massive; clumsy, unwieldy” (1A). In this sense, Cordelia is saying that her love carries more weight and substance and therefore more true than the love her sisters have declared with their tongues. More interestingly, the second part of the definition means “clumsy, unwieldy” and points at a slightly different direction. Cordelia defends her position later in the scene after Burgundy and France have entered explaining that she lacks the “glib and oily art” (I.i.229). In this light, her “more ponderous” love seems to refer to her clumsy ability to describe her love as elaborately as her sisters have done. The word also reflects that though Cordelia’s love is the sincerest and the deepest among the three daughters’ loves, the side effect of it is being unwieldy.
The two different words Cordelia uses to compare her love of Lear carries importance in characterizing her. ‘Richer’ illustrates Cordelia as the youngest daughter who is conscious that she is the most loved and displays her as being snobby or spoiled and expectant. The connection it creates with material wealth diminishes her sincerity of love and equates it with her two sisters to whom their love for Lear is a vehicle for gaining land. The other word, ‘ponderous,’ gives weight to her love separating it from her two sisters’ loves that are as light as their words. Though her acknowledgment of her lack of “glib and oily art” may make it seem as if Cordelia would use it if she did possess it, she dismisses any desire for them. Her love is sincere. For a word that shapes Cordelia’s image from the first scene, ‘ponderous’ seems to be the more appropriate one.