Ironically, in a play usually thought of as exemplifying cruelty and evil, there are characters who show an unremitting devotion to others even when they have been mistreated and seem to have nothing to gain by turning the other cheek. After his banishment, Kent goes out of his way to endanger himself in service of the king who has mistreated him. Cordelia forgives the father who has violently overreacted against her insufficient display of love to him. Edgar, as well, helps the father who has been gullible and irrational enough to believe the worst lies about his son. Shakespeare shows these examples of selflessness as both ultimately rewarded, for Kent and Edgar, and leading to death in Cordelia's case. She could have remained safe in France rather than intervene on behalf of Lear.

The Fool's loyalty to Lear is a double-edged sword, for even as he sticks by the king, his scraps of riddles and jokes are a devastating commentary on Lear's folly. The Fool disappears from the action, his fate apparently left a loose end by Shakespeare. One interpretation, however, is that at the conclusion when Lear cries, “My poor Fool is hanged!” he's referring not to Cordelia, as is generally accepted (since “fool” is a term of endearment) but to the actual Fool. It makes sense that in his mental state, Lear would possibly conflate his daughter's death with that of his jester, but in any event, the Fool's devotion to Lear probably has gone unrewarded, whatever his fate.