Cordelia and The Fool

After my initial fascination borne from a high school performance of the play, I have read King Lear a few time and each time I find something new or at least a new way of looking at the same words.  I am particularly interested in the characters of Cordelia and the Fool, as well as the suspicion I have heard mentioned that they are in fact the same actor, and who is Lear talking about when he says "my poor fool is hanged" anyway? 

Even though all of the good characters (King of France, The Fool, etc) of the play like her, it is hard to read her motives or to discern how good she is at all. The same can be said about the Fool.  With all of his riddles and songs it is nigh impossible to tell who he is directing his criticism towards or why he is saying it.   Did Cordelia refuse to flatter Lear out of honesty and to put herself apart from the obviously contrived praise of her sisters or is she truly unable to tell him she loves him.  You can't really blame her if this is the case as he is a kind of pompous guy anyway.  Maybe she's just keeping him down to earth the way the fool does.  Like Cordelia, the Fool does not flatter Lear but because he does it indirectly and uses doublespeak he is not faced with any serious wrath.  However, Cordelia remains loyal to the King even after he disowns her, reinforcing the idea that she is his only true ally, but is she doing this out of love for a father or out of being generally virtuous as the King of France sees her.Perhaps by using the same actor for both roles is a way to indicate that each character possesses similar traits and deficiencies.  Both characters see and speak the truth, and are punished for it despite their loyalty.