 The betrayal of Goriot 's daughters is often compared to that of the characters in Shakespeare 's King Lear ; Balzac was even accused of plagiarism when the novel was first published . Discussing these similarities , critic George Saintsbury claims that Goriot 's daughters are " as surely murderesses of their father as [ Lear 's daughters ] Goneril and Regan " . As Herbert J. Hunt points out in Balzac 's Comédie humaine , however , Goriot 's tale is in some ways more tragic , since " he has a Regan and a Goneril , but no Cordelia " . 
