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"My poor fool is hanged..."
Cordelia and The Fool are never in the same scene, let alone in the same act. Which is interesting because The Fool and Cordelia are the only ones who really tell Lear how it is, holding nothing back when criticizing him. They also prove to be the two different sides of Lear's mind. Cordelia symbolizes the ideal Lear dreams about, his kids loving him, willing to wage war in his honor and fight for his freedom. She is what he wishes all of his kids were like. Once he banishes her though, the ideal goes away and turns into the awful reality of Goneril and Regan. This reality shows itself through The Fool.
The Fool tells Lear how it really is. His kids are trying to kill him, take his wealth and drive him mad, and the worst part is that it’s all Lear’s fault. It was his ignorance and selfishness that led to his current situation, and that’s exactly what The Fool tells him. The reality of Lear’s situation is almost completely opposite of his ideal life. Since the play ends with the reality and the ideal never colliding (a.k.a no happy ending), The Fool and Cordelia are never seen together. This emphasizes the idea of a tragedy, and is only magnified by the death of Cordelia, which symbolizes Lear’s hope for the future also dying.
When he says, “My poor fool is hanged”, he creates the connection between The Fool and Cordelia. He calls Cordelia his fool, because both The Fool and Cordelia showed Lear the error of his ways, and made an attempt to guide him.
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Another thing I'd like to point out is that Cordelia only appears in the beginning and the end of the play. Which are the only points that Lear feels content with his family/future. The middle is where the fool exercises his judgement, these also happen to be the acts where Lear has doubts, starts to see what's really going on around him, and goes insane.
