King Lear I.iv.274-289: Lear ‘s curse on Goneril.

The first full line is a tetrameter with a trochee and spondee in the first two feet. The beginning of the passage immediately indicates irregularity which mirrors the disorder in Lear’s kingdom. In this passage, exclamation points are also used repeatedly, illustrating the extent of Lear’s rage.
Several themes in this passage:
1.The place of women. Lear accuses Goneril of her “power to shake [his] manhood,” (i.iv.297) and curses “her womb [to] convey sterility.” (I.iv. 278) This passage underlines women’s power of reproduction, but instead of the idealized image of compassionate motherhood such as embodied by Cordelia, the lines focuses on the vicious women and their uncontrolled sexual desire. What biologically differentiates women and men is women’s ability to conceive. Goneril’s sterility implies the de-feminization of a woman’s body and a defiance of nature.
2.Nature vs. “Disnature.” Lear begins his curse by invoking the Mother Nature which thus emphasizes the unnaturalness of Goneril’s sterility. The image of nature itself runs throughout the play in the form of storm and tempest which reflect on the chaos in Lear’s kingdom as well as in his mind. At the same time the question of what is natural or unnatural is also applied to the relationship between Lear and his daughters and Gloucester and his sons. Lear expects his daughters to naturally obey him and instead realizes that he has misjudged Cordelia’s “unnatural” disobedience in the first scene of the play. Goneril’s “derogate body” and “child of spleen” further suggests the issue of unnaturalness where Goneril’s character is often described as monstrosity in the physical body.
3.Parent and Child. The tension between the older and the younger generations dominate the play which repeatedly questions the responsibility of each to the other. There is also a cycle of abuse in this relationship as Lear expects Goneril who abuses him to also be abused by her child if she has any.