Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.

These lines are spoken by King Lear in Shakespeare’s tragedy *King Lear*. Lear is recalling (and idealizing) the qualities of Cordelia, the daughter who refused to flatter him in the opening “love test” and was consequently disowned and banished. The remark comes late in the play, after Lear has been broken by betrayal, madness, and suffering, and after Cordelia has returned with an army to rescue him. In this chastened state, Lear contrasts Cordelia’s quiet sincerity with the loud, performative declarations that earlier deceived him, turning his memory of her “soft” voice into a moral emblem of truth and gentleness.

Lear’s praise treats softness and restraint as virtues, suggesting that genuine feeling does not need theatrical display. On one level, the line reflects early modern gender ideals that prized female modesty and quietness; “an excellent thing in woman” frames gentleness as a specifically feminine excellence. Yet the dramatic irony is that Lear’s earlier demand for public protestations of love helped destroy his family and kingdom. The line therefore also reads as self-indictment: only after catastrophe does Lear recognize the value of Cordelia’s plain speech and measured tone. The sentiment is tender, but it is also haunted by regret and by the play’s critique of appearances.