How Does King Lear Love Cordelia

In Act 1, scene 1 of King Lear, Cordelia and her sisters are asked to proclaim their love for the father, King Lear, for the sole purpose of deciding on who will get what part of the kingdome. Naturally, one would expect that they would say whatever necessary in order to get the nicest part of the kingdome, and that’s what two of the three sisters did; Goneril, the oldest, and Regan, the second oldest, essentially said that they loved their father more than anything else. When it comes time for Cordelia to speak, however, she gives a much different story; instead of going along with the rest of the sisters, and telling him what he wants to hear, she refuses to give an answer, and for that, she is disowned and her third of the kingdom divided
Why? Well unlike her sisters who were simply looking out for their own self-interest, Cordelia knows that love can’t be bought, and she doesn’t want to lessen her love for her father by telling him lies. If she were to go along with the rest of her sisters, she would be lessening the love that she has for her father, because it would be disingenuous; loving someone simply for their possessions isn’t love. It’s for this reason that she ends up giving the only genuine response “ Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/ My heart into my mouth. I love your majesty/ According to my bond, no more nor less” (1.1. 91-93). Cordelia knows that if her father really knows how much she loves him, there wouldn’t be any need for words to describe the extent of her love. Unfortunately, her being honest with her father and not telling him what he wanted to hear, gets her disowned and kicked out of the kingdom; this is ironic, because of the three sisters, she is the only one that truly loved her