Throughout the play animal imagery is used, not only to characterise the evil sisters, but to draw attention to any behaviour that is driven by the self-centred physical appetites which human beings share with animals. In Act I Scene 4, Lear compares Goneril to a sea monster (line 260), a bird of prey (261), a snake (287) and a wolf (307). In this scene, in contrast,
Cordelia is praised for her self-control (lines 13–4) and her tears are called ‘holy water’ (line 30), suggesting that she rises above mere animal desires and sees life from a more developed moral perspective.