The Evil Within the Question

I think we could debate for hours on end if Shakespeare's Cordelia is a saint or a sinner. Taking the scenes apart and questioning the motives behind the words has stimulated my desire to look deeper into the reason why King Lear is Shakespeare's "darkest play." But as I've been thinking about the reasons why Cordelia's response in the very beginning determines the rest of the work, I found myself looking less at Cordelia's answer and more and Lear's question. True, even though I think that Cordelia was taking a stand against the useless words of her sisters and possibly even against the question of her father, she probably could have worded her reply differently. However, I do not believe that the first wrong of the plot lies with the daugther; rather, I see the first sin in the question of Lear. He says in the first act, "Tell me, my daughters...which of you shall we say doth love us most?" If Lear knew Cordelia loved him, he was being selfish in making her repeat it. Love is not a competition or a thing that can be truly understood by mere words. And can love be measured? Can it be compared? Yes, there are different types of love, but who are we - the sinful beings that we are - to try to be the ones to judge how great or small a person's love is? Since we are fallen, only the Perfect One can truly know what true love and the extent of it is. I believe that if Lear loved Cordelia as he should have, he would have never asked her a question such as this, and definitely not in a manner such as this. Perhaps later, after the consequences of his questioning, when he holds his daughter's body in his arms, he truly understands what love is. I find it sadly ironic that Lear's last words are a question ("Do you see this?") and a statement ("Look on her...look there!"), both refering to his Cordelia. He draws attention to the one he exiled and focuses all of his attention on the lips that he once cursed. While Lear seems to have lost his sanity, perhaps he has lost his pride and desire to hear meaningless affirmations...now all he wants to do is to be with Cordelia, the one he loves and who loved him with more than just words.