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King Lear

King Lear

ComicLiterary FictionPlays
Pages
189
Published
1606
Language
English

Synopsis

One of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, King Lear tells of an aging king who decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters according to how lavishly they profess their love for him. When his youngest and most devoted daughter, Cordelia, refuses to flatter him, Lear disowns her in a rage — a catastrophic misjudgment that sets his downfall in motion.

As Lear's scheming elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, strip him of power and dignity, the old king descends into madness upon a storm-swept heath. A parallel story of the Earl of Gloucester and his sons, the loyal Edgar and the villainous Edmund, mirrors Lear's blindness to those who truly love him. Betrayal, cruelty, and grief mount toward one of the most devastating conclusions in all of drama.

A towering meditation on power, family, folly, and human suffering, King Lear remains among the most performed and studied works of the English stage.

Prose complexity
10/10

Vibe

DarkMelancholicTenseReflective
Betrayal

Genres

Literary Fiction Plays Classics Folklore Drama

About the author

W
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – died 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and "the Bard of Avon." His surviving works comprise 38–39 plays (depending on classification), 154 sonnets, and several other poems, and have been translated into every major living language and performed more often than those of any other playw...

Characters

King LearProtagonist

The aging king whose vanity and misjudgment bring ruin upon himself and his kingdom.

GonerilAntagonist

Lear's eldest daughter, whose ambition helps destroy him.

ReganAntagonist

Lear's second daughter, equally ruthless.

EdmundAntagonist

Gloucester's scheming illegitimate son.

CordeliaSupporting

Lear's youngest, most honest daughter, disowned for refusing to flatter him.

All characters in King Lear

Frequently asked questions

  • When was King Lear written?

    Shakespeare wrote King Lear around 1605–1606. It was first performed at court before King James I on December 26, 1606, and first published in a quarto edition in 1608.

  • Is King Lear based on a true story?

    No. Shakespeare drew on the legend of Leir, a pre-Roman British king first recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century and retold in later chronicles and an earlier anonymous play, The True Chronicle History of King Leir. There is no historical evidence that Leir actually existed.

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