In King Lear Shakespeare presents us with examples of each. Edmund is killed in a duel by his brother, Edgar; Regan is poisoned by her sister, Goneril; Goneril commits suicide with a dagger; and Cordelia is hanged in prison.
Cordelia is hanged in King Lear because she supports her father against Edmund and her sisters. Edmund has both Lear and Cordelia imprisoned. He orders both of their executions as punishment for challenging his authority. He recognizes that the kingdom will never truly be his until Lear and Cordelia are dead.
Cordelia's death highlights the injustice and brutality of the world in which the play is set. Her death ends Lear's last hope of happiness, and exposes fully the foolishness of his efforts to force his daughters to express their love for him.
A messenger announces the deaths of Regan (who has been poisoned by Goneril) and Goneril (who has committed suicide). Kent, no longer in disguise, arrives in search of Lear. Edmund confesses that he has ordered the deaths of Lear and of Cordelia.
King Lear ends with a battle for the British throne. Edmund wins the battle for the throne, but is then killed by his brother Edgar. As Edmund dies, he admits that he has sent orders for Lear and Cordelia to be executed. The orders are reversed, but too late; Cordelia has already been killed.
By the time Lear finally regains his reason and realizes who Cordelia is, they have little time to talk and reconcile. Edmund arrives and sends them both to prison, where Cordelia is ultimately hanged.
Angel roughs up the demon guide Skip to find out why Cordelia has turned evil. Skip tells them a higher being has manipulated events over the past few years to cause itself to be reborn. Meanwhile, Cordelia convinces Connor to mystically expedite the birth using the blood of a virgin.
Lear says publicly that he loved Cordelia more than his other daughters and hoped to spend most of his retirement with her.
By refusing to take part in Lear's love test at the beginning of the play, Cordelia establishes herself as a repository of virtue, and the obvious authenticity of her love for Lear makes clear the extent of the king's error in banishing her.
Cordelia is arguably the only innocent character in this play, yet suffers as much as, if not more than, many of the antagonists. As a result of Lear's actions, he and Cordelia both suffer. Throughout the play, Cordelia is honest and loyal to her father. Yet, she dies in prison.
Burgundy rejects Cordelia when he discovers that she will bring him no dowry or inheritance. Burgundy, who cannot love Cordelia without her wealth, is guilty of selfish motivations.
Cordelia sacrificed herself so that Mallory could rise as Supreme, going back in time and killing Michael before he could come into his own as the ender of days. But unbeknownst to the witches, another Antichrist was born to take his place—to Timothy and Emily, the lovers seen in Outpost 3.
Cordelia had been taken over by the dark entity Jasmine (Gina Torres), which got pregnant so it could give birth to itself.
In season 4 Cordelia fell into a coma after giving birth to the entity Jasmine who possessed her. Cordelia's life-force having been drained into Jasmine.
The tragic ending of the play reflects a nihilistic viewpoint where there is no promised end outside of chaos and death. By dividing up his kingdom King Lear wishes to give up the responsibility of being king, but keep all of the benefits.
After moving to Los Angeles, Cordelia inherited visions that allowed her to feel the pain of others, which changed her future from being a famous actress to "helping the helpless." Cordelia was similar to Buffy, in that they both started as shallow and vapid but gradually became more dedicated to others and their own ...
In total, Cordelia is the victim of mystical pregnancy three times during the series: from a Haxil beast in this episode, as host of an unborn Skilosh demon in "Epiphany," and from Connor while possessed by Jasmine, as first revealed in "Salvage."
Cordelia is Lear's youngest daughter. He disowns her and she marries the King of France.
Later, in Angel's perfect-day dream sequence, Angel and Cordelia consummated their relationship, but Angel called out "Buffy!" as he lost his soul, just as he did in Sunnydale years earlier.
Jasmine's birth. Upon being born, Jasmine drained the life-force out of Cordelia, leaving her in a comatose state, one from which she would never wake up. At the birth, a glowing, tentacled form emerged, its light filling the room. But it quickly assumed the shape of a beautiful young woman.
When an all-powerful demon lord The Beast rises from the ground at the place he was born, Connor feels responsible. As The Beast causes fire to rain from the sky in an apparent apocalypse, Cordelia sleeps with Connor to give him some happiness before the end.
Lear, who has been sleeping, is brought in to Cordelia. He only partially recognizes her. He says that he knows now that he is senile and not in his right mind, and he assumes that Cordelia hates him and wants to kill him, just as her sisters do. Cordelia tells him that she forgives him for banishing her.
In Angel season 4 Cordelia is possessed by the ancient demon Jasmine, who slept with Connor in order to give birth to herself. After Cordelia gave birth to Jasmine, she was put in a coma and only returned in Angel season 5, episode 12, "You're Welcome" wherein she died as a result of the coma.
With Kent's aid, Lear is rescued and re-united with Cordelia. Gloucester, now reunited with Edgar, dies quietly alone.