King Lear

The Christian kings of England could suppose a “divine right” imposed by “natural order” in order to legitimize their place in the feudal hierarchy, a view bolstered by Christ’s admonishment to “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21) and various other Biblical representations and endorsements of worldly rulers. In a pre-Christian society, … Read more

In The Tragedy of King Lear, William Shakespeare drags his audience through horrific tragedy to get to the core of truth. Violence, pain, betrayal, and finally death come crashing down upon almost every character, good or bad. This peeling away of pleasantries is fundamental to the meaning of the play. Shakespeare begs his audience to … Read more

Like all Shakespearean tragedies, “King Lear” has several prevailing humanistic themes. Certainly, the plot revolves around the obvious themes of parent-child relationships, sibling rivalries and pride as the downfall of man. However, one common theme incorporates all of these elements: A quest for love. In each respective plot, the characters are pushed forward by a … Read more

In his study Shakespeare: Time and Conscience, Grigori Kozintsev expresses how the plot of King Lear sets in motion “an unstoppable avalanche of the fragments of structures, attitudes, ties, all intermingled in frenzied movement”. Indeed, Shakespeare’s “great” tragedy is a play of extremes, with its presentation of intolerable suffering and devastating conclusion almost rendering the … Read more

As in his Hamlet, Shakespeare uses “reason in madness” throughout King Lear by using unexpected characters to help with his overall theme of recognition and realization. However, reason in madness can also refer to Shakespeare himself, because in all the chaos and tragedy throughout King Lear, he preaches to us a very real and intended … Read more

King Lear, as both head of state and paterfamilias, has multiple claims to power, and to obedience. His spectacle of dividing the kingdom between his daughters confuses their obligations to him as subjects with their filial obligations, duties which are not necessarily equivalent. Cordelia cannot play both roles at once; she favors her role as … Read more

William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, is not merely a story of the ill effects of aging, but an illustration of a man plagued by pride and arrogance. Initially, Lear deems himself a man worthy of worship by his family and friends, an ill for which he suffers profoundly. ‘The world remains what it was, a … Read more

Throughout King Lear, the play’s themes and messages are communicated to the audience using a devastating combination of irony; reversal of situation and fortune; and paradox, underlining the harrowing truth of the futility of human existence presented in the play. This method is particularly effective because it highlights the fickle nature of the course of … Read more

In King Lear, the recurring images of sight and blindness associated with the characters of Lear and Gloucester illustrate the theme of self-knowledge and consciousness that exist in the play. These classic tropes are inverted in King Lear, producing a situation in which those with healthy eyes are ignorant of what is going on around … Read more

Shakespeare’s two plays King Lear and Macbeth take place in two contrasting settings that, from the first scenes, influence the characters’ paths and shape the course of the plays’ events. The action of both plays alternate between the settings of the harsh barren heath and the castle, where acts of malice are carried out. The … Read more

Why, in spite of everything do we like Lear and are on his side? Ultimately any pathos that lies with Lear is due to the fact that he, like all Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, does not deserve the severity of the punishment he receives. He is, through his lack of wisdom, the victim of circumstance. Lear’s … Read more

If Shakespeare penned two King Lears, he created three King Lears. There is the Quarto’s hero, the Folio’s hero, and the hero who exists somewhere in the interplay. The last of these is not the same Lear who emerges variously in various conflated editions. That Lear is an editor’s creation. The Lear I refer to … Read more

Two English literary works, one a comedy and the other a tragedy, by two different authors of separate centuries, both have their fair share of characters who illustrate the admirable and the not-so-admirable of dispositions. Jane Austen’s socially satirical novel Pride and Prejudice from 1813 and William Shakespeare’s poetic poem King Lear from 1606 match … Read more

Introduction King Lear was authored by Shakespeare around 1605. It is usually ranked as one of the greatest plays of Shakespeare. The setting of the play, King Lear, is like the setting of any of his other plays, dramatizing events from the eighteenth century. The play demonstrates how vulnerable noblemen and parents are to the … Read more

In Leviathan from 1651, philosopher Thomas Hobbes reflects on “the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal… the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (“Hobbes”). Even though Shakespeare’s King Lear was most likely written a good half a century … Read more

In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the titular ruler undergoes multiple trials in his wish to pass the kingdom on to his three daughters and their betrotheds. After the disownment and banishment of his youngest daughter Cordelia, Lear’s elder daughters Goneril and Regan soon begin attempting to overthrow their father and usurp his power. In the midst … Read more

The Christian kings of England could suppose a “divine right” imposed by “natural order” in order to legitimize their place in the feudal hierarchy, a view bolstered by Christ’s admonishment to “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21) and various other Biblical representations and endorsements of worldly rulers. In a pre-Christian society, … Read more

In the first scene of the first act of King Lear Cordelia, Lear’s youngest daughter, is banished from his sight forever. As per his decree, she does not return to the stage until the end of the drama. Yet Cordelia’s actions and attitude reverberate throughout the play, revealing Lear’s motivations and conveying Shakespeare’s message to … Read more

In a story of a king’s treacherous demise by his unfaithful, scheming daughters, Shakespeare leaves little room for lightheartedness, laughter, or even reason. Family turns on each other as sisters plot out of jealousy, a truly dedicated daughter is executed, and the king dies of despair. The kingdom is left in the novice hands of … Read more

A pragmatic approach to literary criticism enhances the 21st-century reader’s understanding of Shakespeare’s King Lear in a multitude of ways. The pragmatic approach was the popular canon at the time of Shakespeare’s composition, and continued to dominate the perspectives of critics and authors alike through the neoclassical period, continuing until the rise of Romanticism. An … Read more

William Shakespeare is no stranger to the bending and breaking of conventions. Hailed as an inventor of words from “elbow” to “sneak”, and a master playwright who created some of the most enduring plot structures, like that of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s legacy comes as a result of his unfailing creativity. It is this unwillingness … Read more

A common practice that William Shakespeare employs in many of his works is the experimentation with gender politics. Shakespeare often shows how notions of gender become unstable as a result of social forces. To discuss Shakespeare’s treatment of gender in his plays, it is helpful to use Joan Wallach Scott’s definition of gender, which she … Read more

The Subtlety of Edgar’s Importance in King Lear Any great work of literature stems from the cohesion of many elements to create a piece that is memorable and captivating. William Shakespeare’s plays gained notoriety for the ability their characters to captivate the human spirit as well as his eloquent use of language. As a testament … Read more

In four of Shakespeare’s plays, he introduces a character who is illegitimate. Philip Faulconbridge, Don John, Thersites, and Edmund are all children who were born out of wedlock. Also, all four characters were antagonists, if not the main antagonists, of the plays. In Much Ado About Nothing, Don John causes doubt in the mind of … Read more