Pssst⦠we can write an original essay just for you. A heroine can be defined in two different ways: the first, as the principal female character in a novel; or in the second way, as a woman noted for a courageous action or significant accomplishment.
Cordelia, the good daughter and heroine in King Lear, refuses to insincerely flatter her father with fake professions of love and is consequentially disinherited.
Despite this rejection, she still unconditionally loves her father and ultimately returns to save her father from her wicked sisters. She is extremely religious but more devoted to her family. To support her impoverished family, she sacrifices her body as well as her purity by becoming a prostitute. Providing optimism, hope and reassurance to all those around her, Mrs. Each of these characters are comparable in that they all embody both meanings of the term heroine; as principal female characters in each work, they are self-sacrificial for the benefits of others around them whom they love, truly a significant accomplishment.
Shakespeare characterizes Cordelia as devoted, kind, beautiful, and honest. When Cordelia returns to rescue King Lear, he says,. He believes she cannot possibly love him anymore because of his immense wrongdoing. Although King Lear hopes to spend time with her to crystallize their reconciliation, she is hanged by Edmund before anyone can begin to help.
Thus, Cordelia ultimately gives her life to rescue her father, who unjustly treated her so cruelly, accordingly demonstrating her infinite self sacrifice for the sake of her father whom she dearly loved. Dostoevsky depicts his heroine, Sonya, as the personification of purity and innocence, despite the fact that she has had to corrupt herself physically by becoming a prostitute to support her destitute family.
