king lear summary essay

William Shakespeare

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King Lear intends to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, so that he can enjoy old age without the burdens of power. He has planned a ceremony in which each daughter will state how much she loves him, before an audience of nobles including Lear's long-trusted advisor, Kent , the Earl of Gloucester , and two suitors for his youngest daughter's hand, Burgundy and France . During the ceremony, his elder daughters, Goneril and Regan each profess to love Lear more than anything in the world. However, his youngest daughter, Cordelia , refuses to play along; when her turn comes, she says that she loves Lear "no more, no less" than she should as a daughter. Enraged, Lear strips her of her dowry, and banishes Kent when the latter attempts to intercede on Cordelia's behalf. France says he will marry Cordelia even without a dowry. Lear then tells the gathered nobles that he will keep one hundred knights and alternate months living with Goneril and her husband, Albany , and Regan and her husband, Cornwall .

Back at Gloucester's palace, Edmund , Gloucester's illegitimate son, plans to displace his legitimate brother, Edgar , as Gloucester's heir by turning Gloucester against Edgar. Edmund tricks Gloucester into thinking that Edgar is conspiring to kill him. Meanwhile, Goneril, with whom Lear has gone to live first, becomes angry with her father and his knights for causing chaos in her household. She orders her steward Oswald to treat Lear coldly. Meanwhile, the banished Kent returns to Lear in disguise, offers his services, and is accepted as part of Lear's company. Goneril criticizes Lear for his knights' rowdiness and demands that he dismiss half of them. Deeply insulted and angered, Lear curses Goneril and prepares to leave to go and stay with Regan along with his Fool and his other followers.

Back at Gloucester's castle, Edmund's conspiracy moves along. After Edmund tricks Edgar into fleeing, Gloucester, convinced of Edgar's evil intentions, condemns him to death, declaring Edmund his legitimate heir. Cornwall and Regan arrive at Gloucester's castle and welcome Edmund into their service. Outside, Kent and Oswald arrive with letters for Regan from Lear and Goneril. Kent insults Oswald and challenges him to fight. Roused by the disturbance, Cornwall puts Kent into the stocks—even though such an action is disrespectful to Lear. Elsewhere in the countryside, Edgar disguises himself as a mad beggar "Poor Tom" in order to escape the death sentence declared by his father. Lear himself arrives at Gloucester's castle. Upset to find his man Kent (still in disguise) in the stocks, he grows increasingly angry when Cornwall and Regan refuse to see him. Shortly after Regan finally comes out, Goneril arrives. Lear quarrels bitterly with both, as Regan joins Goneril in claiming that Lear does not need to maintain any attendants of his own. When each says that he may stay with them only if he dismisses all of his knights, Lear rushes, mad with rage, into a brewing storm. Cornwall, Regan, and Goneril lock up Gloucester's castle to keep Lear out.

Searching for Lear, Kent, who has been released from the stocks, meets a Gentleman who tells him that Lear and the Fool are alone in the storm. Kent tells the Gentleman that French forces are on their way to England. He gives the Gentleman his purse along with an identifying ring to bring to Cordelia, and asks the Gentleman to tell her about the injustice that Lear has suffered. Meanwhile, Lear has gone mad and is raging against the storm, while the Fool begs him to seek shelter. When Kent finds them, he leads them toward a hovel. Back inside the castle, Gloucester confides in Edmund that he has decided to try to help Lear; he also reports that he has received a letter about the French invasion. After Gloucester leaves to find Lear, Edmund tells the audience that he will betray his father to Cornwall.

Out on the heath, having reached the hovel, Lear, Kent, and the Fool find Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, inside. Gloucester finds them soon after, and leads them to the shelter of a house. Inside Gloucester's castle, Edmund tells Cornwall about Gloucester's decision to help Lear and hands over the incriminating letter from France. In return, Cornwall makes Edmund Earl of Gloucester. Back in the house, hiding from the storm, Lear hallucinates that Goneril and Regan are on trial before himself, Edgar, and the Fool. Gloucester returns, tells Kent that Goneril, Regan, and their husbands are plotting Lear's death, and asks Kent to rush Lear to Cordelia, who has landed with France at Dover. Back inside the palace, Cornwall sends men to capture Gloucester and sends Edmund and Goneril to tell Albany that the French have landed. When Cornwall's forces bring in the captured Gloucester, Cornwall and Regan pull out Gloucester's eyes as punishment for his treachery. However, Cornwall's Servant attempts to stop him; they end up dueling. Although Regan stabs the servant in the back, Cornwall receives a wound that will eventually kill him. Regan throws the now blinded Gloucester out of his own castle. Two servants take pity on Gloucester, and decide to try to help him find Poor Tom, who they know is Edgar in disguise.

Outside Gloucester's palace, Edgar, still disguised as Poor Tom, meets his blinded father. Deeply moved, he agrees to show him the way to Dover. Meanwhile, Goneril and Edmund have traveled back to her palace to fetch Albany. However, Oswald meets them and reports that Albany has changed. Goneril quickly sends Edmund away. When Albany emerges, he berates her for her brutality to her father. In response, she criticizes him for becoming cowardly. A messenger arrives, interrupting their argument with news of both the death of Cornwall from the wound his servant gave him as well as the blinding of Gloucester.

In the French camp, Kent and a Gentleman discuss Cordelia's love of Lear, which has brought her back to Britain at the head of an invading French army. Kent reports that Lear himself is in Dover and, although he has spells of sanity, he is too ashamed to see Cordelia. In the camp, Cordelia herself sends a search party after her father. Back at Gloucester's palace, Regan questions Oswald about Goneril and Edmund. She states her feeling that, now that she is a widow, she should marry Edmund and asks Oswald to convince Goneril of the logic of this. As Oswald hurries off with a letter for Edmund from Goneril, Regan adds that she will show favor to anyone who kills the blinded Gloucester. Meanwhile, hoping to cure Gloucester of his despair, Edgar pretends to lead him to the cliffs of Dover (they are actually on flat ground). When Gloucester jumps, to commit suicide (in fact just fainting and falling), Edgar then hurries over to him while pretending to be someone who saw Gloucester jump, and telling Gloucester that the fact that he survived is a miracle. Lear shows up, raving mad; he jabbers at Gloucester about lechery, the abuse of power, and other human faults. When some of Cordelia's search party turn up, Lear runs off. Just then, Oswald happens upon Edgar and Gloucester. He attempts to kill Gloucester but Edgar kills him. In Oswald's purse, Edgar finds letters from Goneril to Edmund plotting Albany's death so that they can marry. In the French camp, Lear is awakened by the doctor treating him and is reunited with Cordelia.

At her camp, at the start of the battle, Goneril argues with Albany; she tells herself that she would rather lose the war against the French than let Regan marry Edmund. Edgar, still disguised as a peasant, brings Goneril's letter to Edmund, describing her plot against Albany, to Albany then quickly leaves, with instructions that Albany must summon him with three blows of a trumpet after the battle with the French, if the British have won. While Edgar places Gloucester beneath a tree to rest, the battle takes place off stage. In the battle, Britain defeats France and Lear and Cordelia are captured by Edmund. Edmund sends them to jail, then sends a Captain after them with secret instructions to kill them both. Summoned by Albany's Herald, Edgar arrives in disguise and fights and wounds Edmund, who, dying, admits to all his treacheries. Edgar identifies himself and explains that, right before coming, he revealed himself to Gloucester; Gloucester died in that moment of a mix of grief and joy. Goneril has poisoned Regan beforehand, in the hopes of securing Edmund for herself; however, when he dies, she also stabs herself. Before he dies, Edmund admits that he sent his Captain to hang Cordelia and kill Lear. Albany sends soldiers running off to try to save them. However, it is too late: Lear emerges from the prison with Cordelia's body in his arms, mad with grief. He explains that he killed the Captain who hung her but was too late to save her life. Lear dies of his sorrow on the spot. Only Albany and Edgar remain to pick up the pieces, as Kent concludes that he soon must follow his master (i.e., kill himself, too).

A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s King Lear

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

K ing Lear is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies; indeed, some critics have considered it the greatest. It is certainly one of the bleakest. The plot and subplot deftly weave together the principal themes of the play, which include reason, madness, blindness of various kinds, and – perhaps most crucially of all – the relationship between a father and his children. Before we offer some words of analysis of King Lear , it might be worth recapping the plot of the play.

King Lear : plot summary

King Lear has a plot and subplot which neatly and closely complement each other. The main plot centres on the ageing King Lear, who begins the play by dividing up his kingdom between his three daughters, only to disinherit one of them, Cordelia, when she refuses to tell him that she loves him.

The subplot also focuses on a father, the Duke of Gloucester, who has two sons: Edgar, his legitimate heir; and Edmund, his illegitimate son whom he fathered during a moment of youthful lust.

When Lear gathers his three daughters together to divide up his realm among them, he gives Regan (who is cold and calculating) and Goneril (who is hot-headed and impetuous) the biggest share, because they both play along with his game when he asks his daughters to say which of them loves him most.

But Cordelia, the third daughter (who is staid and dignified) refuses to play this game and says she merely loves him as much as is expected of a daughter for her father, and as a result of her refusal, King Lear banishes her to France. When the Earl of Kent tries to reason with Lear, he, too, is banished – but he returns, in disguise, so he can remain close to his King and serve him.

Meanwhile, in the subplot, Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, sets about getting his half-brother Edgar out of the way by telling their father that Edgar plans to murder him. In an echo of the main plot, Gloucester banishes his (true and loyal) son, Edgar, who will turn up shortly after this, in disguise, as a beggar and madman going by the name of ‘Poor Tom’.

No sooner have they been given Lear’s kingdom than his remaining two daughters start turning against their aged father. They refuse to let his vast royal entourage into their home, and Lear – complete with his Fool (who is the one person who can speak the truth to the King without suffering punishment), and with Kent (in disguise) – walks out into a storm. Sheltering in a hut, the three of them meet ‘Poor Tom’ (Edgar in disguise).

Gloucester takes Lear into his home, and Lear curses his daughters for not loving him. Gloucester knows that Regan and Goneril plan to kill their father, so he sends Lear to Dover, on the coast, where Cordelia is landing with a French army. Edmund tells Regan and her husband, the Duke of Cornwall, what Gloucester has done, and they put out Gloucester’s eyes and cast him out.

Edgar (still disguised as the lunatic Poor Tom) meets his father, and madman leads blind man to Dover, where he dissuades Gloucester from suicide. They meet Lear, who has now gone completely mad and is wandering the heath.

As if this isn’t enough plot strands involving this rather large cast of central characters, there is also a love triangle between the two sisters, Regan and Goneril, and Edmund, whom they both love (even though they are both already married). Edgar intercepts a love letter Goneril has written to Edmund, and passes it to Goneril’s husband, Albany.

When Albany gets back from fighting Cordelia’s French force, he challenges Edmund to fight anyone who challenges him; Edgar ends up killing his half-brother. As Edmund dies, he reveals that he has arranged for Lear and Cordelia to be killed.

Everything now descends into mass death, but also enlightenment: Goneril poisons Regan over Edmund, and then kills herself. Lear finds Cordelia in prison, following her capture; she dies in his arms, and Lear, having wept for her, dies.

King Lear : analysis

King Lear is a bleak play, but like all great tragedies, a measure of catharsis or healing is achieved through Lear’s suffering, as well as that of the other characters. The play might be summed up as a battle between reason and madness, or between blindness and sight, except that the conflict between the two dissolves into a distinction without a difference.

Paradoxically, it is only when he has been (literally) blinded that Gloucester gains insight into his family, and realises that Edgar, not Edmund, was his true and trusted son. Similarly, it is only when King Lear has gone completely mad on the heath that he comes to realise that Cordelia, not Regan or Cordelia, loved him best; in comparison, his other two daughters were mere flatterers using him to get his kingdom (and then push him out of the way).

These paradoxes are also present in the relationship between King and Fool: Lear’s folly or (metaphorical) blindness is highlighted by his Fool, who is one of the wisest people in all of King Lear , and can (paradoxically, again) only be so frank with his King because, being a mere Fool, nobody is expected to take him seriously.

Part of the artistic triumph of the play is the way Shakespeare brings all of these apparent contradictions together to create a piece of compelling drama that is moving without being sentimental, despairing but also illuminating. Thematically, these various strands work together to reinforce the play’s central concern with madness and reason, blindness and seeing.

And Shakespeare cleverly sets up the characters as doubles, opposites, and complements: as Harold Bloom notes in a persuasive analysis of King Lear (in his book Shakespeare: The Invention Of The Human ), in a play where so many of the major characters speak to each other at some point, it was canny of Shakespeare never to have Lear and Edmund speak a word to each other throughout the entire play, because they are complete antitheses: where Lear is all feeling, Edmund is ‘ice-cold’ and emotionless.

Less than a hundred years after Shakespeare wrote the play, in the 1680s, King Lear was given a rather dramatic (as it were) rewrite by the Poet Laureate, Nahum Tate. But in fact the story of King Lear was originally a happy one, when it first appeared in the chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century.

The anonymous play, King Leir , on which Shakespeare based his tragedy also ends on a somewhat more upbeat note. Shakespeare took the story and unleashed its apocalyptic tragedy, in which everyone dies except Edgar, who is to inherit the realm whose division, at the outset, led to the subsequent chaos that unfolded.

One reason Shakespeare may have been tempted to take King Leir and rewrite it for the Jacobean stage was that his King, James I of England (and James VI of Scotland), had been responsible for uniting England and Scotland under a common ruler; indeed, if we include Wales (which always gets left out), he brought together three kingdoms.

In this connection, Lear’s fatal decision to divide his kingdom into three parts at the beginning of King Lear takes on additional historical relevance. Was Shakespeare trying to flatter his King and show him How Not to Rule?

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8 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s King Lear”

I wish I had seen that production I heard about where the opening scene had everyone in party hats while (I think) Lear was whirled about furiously in a wheelchair (UK ten years ago??). Anyway, there’s so much potential for a creative director to set the stage with that scene!

I have seen three versions, maybe four, and it is always interesting to see how the actor portrays Lear: autocratic, megalomaniac, ruthless, unenlightened? Give David Tennant a few more years and let’s see him tackle it or maybe Peter Capaldi is ready?

More productions of Lear, please

Well written

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s King Lear

Thanks for this but…I’m fairly certain you’ve got mixed up with the names of the daughters once or twice. Cordelia appears a little strangely especially towards the end of your piece.

Well spotted, Ken – thanks to your eagle eye, I’ve updated the post but do let me know if there are any remaining inconsistencies (Cordelia was erroneously named in place of Goneril at one point, but this is now fixed).

My pleasure – not often I catch one on you! But with such a dense plot, it is no surprise. Lear, I find, needs a couple of stiff drinks to be ready to swallow, as it were…

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Synopsis and plot overview of Shakespeare's King Lear

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TL;DR (may contain spoilers): King divides kingdom, snubs daughter, goes mad, there's a storm, and everyone dies.

King Lear Summary

King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and banishes the third one who loves him. His eldest daughters both then reject him at their homes, so Lear goes mad and wanders through a storm. His banished daughter returns with an army, but they lose the battle and Lear, all his daughters and more, die.

More detail: 3 minute read

King Lear begins as the Earl of Gloucester introduces his illegitimate son, Edmund , to the Earl of Kent. Lear, King of Britain, enters with his court. Now that he is an old man, Lear has decided to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. The division will depend on the quality of each princess' declarations of love for her father before the court. Goneril, Duchess of Albany, and Regan, Duchess of Cornwall, both speak enthusiastically and earn their father's praise. But Cordelia, the youngest, says nothing because she cannot voice her deep love for Lear. Misunderstanding his daughter, Lear disowns and banishes her from the kingdom. He also banishes the Earl of Kent, who had taken Cordelia's side against the King.

This action by the king divides the kingdom, both figuratively and literally. Cordelia's suitor, the Duke of Burgundy, rejects her once she is dowerless, but the King of France values her honesty and takes her as his wife. Lear's kingdom is shared between Goneril and Regan and their suitors (the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall, respectively). Lear plans to alternate living with each of them.

Nothing will come of nothing — King Lear, Act 1 Scene 1

Meanwhile, Edmund is determined to be recognised as a rightful son of Gloucester. By a trick, he persuades his father that his legitimate brother, Edgar, is plotting against Gloucester's life. Warned by Edmund that his life is in danger, Edgar flees and takes the disguise of a Bedlam beggar. Edmund becomes a courtier to Goneril. Goneril meanwhile grows increasingly exasperated by the behaviour of Lear's hundred companions who are upsetting her life at Albany's castle, and she criticises her father. 

Kent has returned from exile in disguise and wins a place as a servant to Lear. Kent accompanies Lear when, in a rage against her criticisms, he curses Goneril and leaves. Lear goes, unannounced, to live with Regan and Cornwall who, it turns out, have gone out to visit Gloucester. When Lear arrives at Gloucester's house to find Regan, she spurns him and his followers, namely his devoted companion, the Fool.

Despairing for his daughters, and deeply regretting rejecting Cordelia, Lear goes mad at the height of a great storm. He and the Fool run wild on the heath until Gloucester takes them into a hut for shelter. He then seeks the aid of Kent to get them away to the coast, where Cordelia has landed with a French army to fight for her father against her sisters and their husbands. Gloucester then leaves and returns home. 

Jesters do oft prove prophets — King Lear, Act 5 Scene 3

Meanwhile, Edmund is employed as a messenger between the sisters and is courted by each in turn. He persuades Cornwall that Gloucester (his father) is an enemy because he has been in touch with France and helped Lear and when they are turned away by Regan. As punishment for Gloucester's seeming betrayal, Cornwall and Regan pluck out his eyes and abandon him. During the act of blinding Gloucester, a servant stabs Cornwall, who dies. But Regan continues to rule with Edmund's help. 

Out in the storm, Lear finds shelter where Edgar has also taken refuge, still disguised as the beggar. The Fool, the mad king, and the disguised "insane" beggar become unlikely companions before they are separated. Edgar finds Gloucester wandering the heath alone and in agony. Since his father is blind, Edgar leads the despairing man to the coast and helps him along the journey to come to an acceptance of his life. Gloucester later meets the mad Lear on Dover beach, near Cordelia's camp. With Kent's aid, Lear is rescued and re-united with Cordelia. Gloucester, now reunited with Edgar, dies quietly alone.

The French forces are overcome by Albany's army led by Edmund, and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Goneril has already poisoned Regan in their jealous rivalry over Edmund's attention. Edgar, disguised now as a loyal knight, challenges Edmund to a duel and wounds him mortally. Seeing no way out, Goneril kills herself, and the dying Edmund confesses his misdeeds and releases Cordelia. However, it is too late to save Cordelia from the hangman. Lear's heart breaks as he carries the body of his beloved youngest daughter in his arms, and he dies. Albany and Edgar are left to re-organise the kingdom and resolve the civil wars.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Drama Criticism › Analysis of William Shakespeare’s King Lear

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s King Lear

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 25, 2020 • ( 1 )

There is perhaps no play which keeps the attention so strongly fixed; which so much agitates our passions and interests our curiosity. The artful involutions of distinct interests, the striking opposition of contrary characters, the sudden changes of fortune, and the quick succession of events, fill the mind with a perpetual tumult of indignation, pity, and hope. There is no scene which does not contribute to the aggravation of the distress or conduct of the action, and scarce a line which does not conduce to the progress of the scene. So powerful is the current of the poet’s imagination, that the mind, which once ventures within it, is hurried irresistibly along.

—Samuel Johnson, The Plays of William Shakespeare

For its unsurpassed combination of sheer terrifying force and its existential and cosmic reach, King Lear leads this ranking as drama’s supreme achievement. The notion that King Lear is Shakespeare’s (and by implication drama’s) greatest play is certainly debatable, but consensus in its favor has gradually coalesced over the centuries since its first performance around 1606. During and immediately following William Shakespeare’s lifetime, there is no evidence that King Lear was particularly valued over other of the playwright’s dramas. It was later considered a play in need of an improving makeover. In 1681 poet and dramatist Nahum Tate, calling King Lear “a Heap of Jewels unstrung and unpolish’d,” altered what many Restoration critics and audiences found unbecoming and unbearable in the drama. Tate eliminated the Fool, whose presence was considered too vulgar for a proper tragedy, and gave the play a happy ending, restoring Lear to his throne and arranging the marriage of Cordelia and Edgar, neatly tying together with poetic justice the double strands of Shakespeare’s far bleaker drama. Tate’s bowdlerization of King Lear continued to be presented throughout the 18th century, and the original play was not performed again until 1826. By then the Romantics had reclaimed Shakespeare’s version, and an appreciation of the majesty and profundity of King Lear as Shakespeare’s greatest achievement had begun. Samuel Taylor Coleridge declared the play “the most tremendous effort of Shakespeare as a poet”; while Percy Bysshe Shelley considered it “the most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world.” John Keats, who described the play as “the fierce dispute / Betwixt damnation and impassion’d clay,” offered King Lear as the best example of the intensity, with its “close relationship with Beauty & Truth,” that is the “Excellence of every Art.” Dissenting voices, however, challenged the supremacy of King Lear . Essayist Charles Lamb judged the play to have “nothing in it but what is painful and disgusting” and deemed it “essentially impossible to be represented on a stage.” The great Shakespearean scholar A. C. Bradley acknowledged King Lear as “Shakespeare’s greatest achievement” but “not his best play.” For Bradley, King Lear , with its immense scope and the variety and intensity of its scenes, is simply “too huge for the stage.” Perhaps the most notorious dissenter against the greatness of King Lear was Leo Tolstoy, who found its fable-like unreality reprehensible and ruled it a “very bad, carelessly composed production” that “cannot evoke amongst us anything but aversion and weariness.” Such qualifications and dismissals began to diminish in light of 20thcentury history. The existential vision of King Lear has seemed even more pertinent and telling as a reflection of the human condition; while modern dramatic artistry with its contrapuntal structure and anti-realistic elements has caught up with Shakespeare’s play. Today King Lear is commonly judged unsurpassed in its dramatization of so many painful but inescapable human and cosmic truths.

King Lear is based on a well-known story from ancient Celtic and British mythology, first given literary form by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1137). Raphael Holinshed later repeated the story of Lear and his daughters in his Chronicles (1587), and Edmund Spenser, the first to name the youngest daughter, presents the story in book 2 of The Faerie Queene (1589). A dramatic version— The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters, Gonerill, Ragan, and Cordella —appeared around 1594. All these versions record Lear dividing his kingdom, disinheriting his youngest daughter, and being driven out by his two eldest daughters before reuniting with his youngest, who helps restore him to the throne and bring her wicked sisters to justice. Shakespeare is the first to give the story an unhappy ending, to turn it from a sentimental, essentially comic tale in which the good are eventually rewarded and the evil punished into a cosmic tragedy. Other plot elements—Lear’s madness, Cordelia’s hanging, Lear’s death from a broken heart, as well as Kent’s devotion and the role of the Fool—are also Shakespeare’s inventions, as is the addition of the parallel plot of Gloucester and his sons, which Shakespeare adapted from a tale in Philip Sidney’s Arcadia . The play’s double plot in which the central situation of Lear’s suffering and self-knowledge is paralleled and counterpointed in Gloucester’s circumstances makes King Lear different from all the other great tragedies. The effect widens and deepens the play into a universal tragedy of symphonic proportions.

King Lear opens with the tragic turning point in its very first scene. Compared to the long delays in Hamle t and Othello for the decisive tragic blow to fall, King Lear , like Macbeth , shifts its emphasis from cause to consequence. The play foregoes nearly all exposition or character development and immediately presents a show trial with devastating consequences. The aging Lear has decided to divest himself of kingly responsibilities by dividing his kingdom among his three daughters. Although the maps of the divisions are already drawn, Lear stages a contest for his daughters to claim their portion by a public profession of their love. “Tell me, my daughters,” Lear commands, “. . . Which of you shall we say doth love us most.” Lear’s self-indulgence—bargaining power for love—is both a disruption of the political and natural order and an essential human violation in his demanding an accounting of love that defies the means of measuring it. Goneril and Regan, however, vie to outdo the other in fulsome pledges of their love, while Cordelia, the favorite, responds to Lear’s question “what can you say to draw / A third more opulent than your sisters” with the devastatingly honest truth: “Nothing,” a word that will reverberate through the entire play. Cordelia forcefully and simply explains that she loves Lear “According to my bond, no more nor less.” Lear is too blind and too needy to appreciate her fidelity or yet understand the nature of love, or the ingenuous flattery of his older daughters. He responds to the hurt he feels by exiling the one who loves him most authentically and deeply. The rest of the play will school Lear in his mistake, teaching him the lesson of humanity that he violates in the play’s opening scene.

The devastating consequences of his decision follow. Lear learns that he cannot give away power and still command allegiance from Goneril or Regan. Their avowals of love quickly turn into disrespect for a now useless and demanding parent. From the opening scene in which Lear appears in all his regal splendor, he will be successively stripped of all that invests a king in majesty and insulates a human being from first-hand knowledge of suffering and core existential truths. Urged to give up 50 of his attending knights by Goneril, Lear claims more gratitude from Regan, who joins her sister in further whittling down Lear’s retinue from 100 knights to 50, to 25, 10, 5, to none, ironically in the language of calculation of the first scene. Lear explodes:

O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man’s life is cheap as beast’s .

Lear is now readied to face reality as a “poorest thing.” Lear’s betrayal by his daughters is paralleled by the treachery of the earl of Gloucester’s bastard son, Edmund, who plots to supplant the legitimate son, Edgar, and eventually claim supremacy over his father. Edmund, one of the most calculating and coldblooded of Shakespeare’s villains, rejects all the bonds of family and morality early on in the play by affirming: “Thou, Nature, art my goddess, to thy law / My services are bound.” Refusing to accept the values of a society that rejects him as a bastard, Edmund will operate only by the laws of survival of the fittest in a relentless drive for dominance. He convinces Edgar that Gloucester means to kill him, forcing his brother into exile, disguised as Tom o’ Bedlam, a mad beggar. In the play’s overwhelming third act—perhaps the most overpowering in all of drama—Edgar encounters Lear, his Fool, and his lone retainer, the disguised Kent, whom Lear had banished in the first scene for challenging Lear’s treatment of Cordelia. The scene is a deserted heath with a fierce storm raging, as Lear, maddened by the treatment of his daughters, rails at his fate in apocalyptic fury:

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak cleaving thunderbolts, S inge my white head; and thou all-shaking thunder, Strike fl at the thick rotundity o’ th’ world, Crack nature’s mould, all germens spill at once, That makes ingrateful man.

The storm is a brilliant expressionistic projection of Lear’s inner fury, with his language universalizing his private experience in a combat with elemental forces. Beseeching divine justice, Lear is bereft and inconsolable, declaring “My wits begin to turn.” His descent into madness is completed when he meets the disguised Edgar who serves as Lear’s mirror and emblem of humanity as “unaccommodated man”—a “poor, bare, forked animal”:

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en Too little care of this. Take physic, pomp, Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, That thou mayst shake the superflux to them And show the heavens more just.

Lear’s suffering has led him to compassion and an understanding of the human needs he had formerly ignored. It is one of the rare moments of regenerative hope before the play plunges into further chaos and violence.

Act 3 concludes with what has been called the most horrifying scene in dramatic literature. Gloucester is condemned as a traitor for colluding with Cordelia and the French invasion force. Cornwall, Regan’s husband, orders Gloucester bound and rips out one of his eyes. Urged on by Regan (“One side will mock another; th’ other too”), Cornwall completes Gloucester’s blinding after a protesting servant stabs Cornwall and is slain by Regan. In agony, Gloucester calls out for Edmund as Regan supplies the crushing truth:

Out, treacherous villain! Thou call’st on him that hates thee. It was he That made the overture of thy treasons to us, Who is too good to pity thee.

Oedipus-like, Gloucester, though blind, now sees the truth of Edmund’s villainy and Edgar’s innocence. Thrown out of the castle, he is ordered to “smell / His way to Dover.”

Act 4 arranges reunions and the expectation that the suffering of both Lear and Gloucester will be compensated and villainy purged. Edgar, still posing as Poor Tom, meets his father and agrees to guide him to Dover where the despairing Gloucester intends to kill himself by jumping from its cliffs. On arriving, Edgar convinces his father that he has fallen and survived, and Gloucester accepts his preservation as an act of the gods and vows “Henceforth I’ll bear / Affliction till it do cry out itself / ‘Enough, enough,’ and die.” The act concludes with Lear’s being reunited with Cordelia. Awaking in her tent, convinced that he has died, Lear gradually recognizes his daughter and begs her forgiveness as a “very foolish, fond old man.”

The stage is now set in act 5 for a restoration of order and Lear, having achieved the requisite self-knowledge through suffering, but Shakespeare pushes the play beyond the reach of consolation. Although Edmund is bested in combat by his brother, and Regan is poisoned by Goneril before she kills herself, neither poetic nor divine justice prevails. Lear and Cordelia are taken prisoner, but their rescue comes too late. As Shakespeare’s stage directions state, “Enter Lear with Cordelia in his arms,” and the play concludes with one of the most heart-wrenching scenes and the most overpowering lines in all of drama. Lear, although desperate to believe that his beloved daughter is alive, gradually accepts the awful truth:

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, And thou no breath at all. Thou’lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never!

Lear dies with this realization of cosmic injustice and indifference, while holding onto the illusion that Cordelia might still survive (“Look on her, look, her lips / Look there, look there!”). The play ends not with the restoration of divine, political, or familial order but in a final nihilistic vision. Shakespeare pushes the usual tragic progression of action leading to suffering and then to self-knowledge to a view into the abyss of life’s purposelessness and cruelty. The best Shakespeare manages to affirm in the face of intractable human evil and cosmic indifference is the heroism of endurance. Urging his despairing father on, Edgar states in the play’s opposition to despair:

. . . Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither; Ripeness is all. Come on.

Ultimately, King Lear , more than any other drama, in my view, allows its audience to test the limits of endurance in the face of mortality and meaninglessness. It has been said that only the greatest art sustains without consoling. There is no better example of this than King Lear .

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I like to think that even the Greeks would’ve weeped at this incredible play. And perhaps even that man from Uz, whose grief was heavier that the sand of the sea, would’ve pitied Lear. Great analysis. Thank you!

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King Lear Themes, Characters, & Analysis Essay

Want to know what the King Lear themes are? This essay focuses on King Lear analysis: themes, characters, and main ideas. Justice, madness, suffering, and other major themes of King Lear are described here. A 100-word summary of the play is also provided.

Introduction

• Character Analysis

Personal Opinion

The struggle for power constitutes a root reason for conflict in Shakespeare’s King Lear, wherein a royal family betrays their ties for the sake of authority and order. Chaotic events of the post-Medieval rule are perceived through the prism of jealousy, betrayal, and dishonesty. A brief overview of the plot, characters, and central themes of the play provides sufficient evidence to argue that Shakespeare aims at encouraging the readers to disregard the quest for power in favor of family ties.

King Lear Summary in 100 Words

The story began when the aging King Lear decided to transfer power to his grown-up daughters, diving the kingdom in three equal proportions. Cordelia, the youngest daughter, chooses to remain without power than be dishonest with Lear. When the king makes a decision to renounce Cordelia, concentrating the right to rule between Goneril and Regan, the new authority figures expel the man, forcing him to leave as an outcast. At the same time, Cordelia marries a French king and falls for an obligation to invade Britain with an intent to save her neglected parent. Despite Lear’s prior unfair treatment, the woman remains loyal to him, continuing to take care of the former ruler.

Another plotline concerns Edgar, an illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester. In exile, Edgar thrives on gaining power even in an illegal way, deciding to ally with Goneril and Regan to defeat Cordelia (Al Zoubi and Al Khamaiseh, 2018). Yet, the plan falls apart when Goneril becomes jealous of Edgard’s brother’s romantic feelings for her sister. Jealousy motivates her to poison the sibling and commit suicide afterward. Observing the chaos inside his former kingdom, Lear loses sanity, dying in Cordelia’s arms.

King Lear Character Analysis

A protagonist of the play, King Lear, is an elderly king of Britain. As stated by Hamilton (2017), over the course of his rule, everyone was faithful and obedient to his orders. However, the situation changes when the man passes power to his two daughters, Goneril and Regan (Hamilton, 2017). The wise king makes a fatal mistake, choosing flatter of the older children over the truthfulness of Cordelia, the youngest. In the end, Lear realizes his flaws, declaring “when we are born, we cry that we have come to this great stage of fools” (Shakespeare, 1999, p. 190). His realization, however, does not save him from insanity and death.

Shakespeare portrays Cordelia as an example of virtue and tenderness. The youngest daughter of Lear, she refuses to flatter his father during the ceremony of transferring power (Hamilton, 2017). Though the king renounces her royal status, Cordelia remains loyal to her father regardless of the unfair treatment. Through the words of his character, Shakespeare (1999, p.11) derives a golden rule for all children: “Obey you, love you, and most honor you. Half my love with him, half my care and duty.” In other words, kids should maintain respect for their parents while adhering to reasonable sense.

Goneril and Regan

Unlike Cordelia, Goneril and Regan do not share qualities of integrity and mildness. Lear’s older daughter, Goneril, uses flattery to trick her father into handing power to her during the ceremony (Hamilton, 2017). Hypocritically, she says, “Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty” (Shakespeare, 1999, p. 9). His generous gesture does not stop her, however, from insulting the king and expelling him afterward (Hamilton, 2017). Regan, the middle daughter, utilizes the same approach as Goneril to gain authority in the kingdom.

King Lear Themes

Jealousy, greed, infidelity.

Betrayal has a central position in the story, happening inside the government and the family. As stated by Mahbub-ul-Alam (2016), Goneril and Regan’s infidelity and Edmund’s dishonesty with the officials allow the trio to gain control over the country. The group’s betrayal is fueled with jealousy and greed, which can be observed on different levels in the play. The greed for property and power, jealousy of Cordelia’s tender relationships with her father – all together contribute to the collective decision to seize the authority. Yet, in Shakespearean interpretation, the negative force, impregnated by evil, egocentric motifs, will be, sooner or later, combatted by the kindness, love, and respect.

Authority and Order

In Shakespeare’s play, the theme of authority is closely embedded both on the political and personal levels. On the one hand, King Lear represents the national ruler who commands obedience and respect from the citizens. On the other hand, the man is the head of the family who has unconditional love for his daughters. While the struggle for power is a common issue in the literature of the time, Shakespeare describes authority based on natural and divine order, wherein protagonists are morally weaker than villains (Mahbub-ul-Alam, 2016). With this example, the playwright tries to convey the idea that power is not always held in the hands of those who deserve it for their virtue and integrity.

Sanity and Madness

Another reoccurring theme in King Lear is the distinction between sanity and madness. At the beginning of the play, Lear maintains a reasonable sense despite being fooled by his daughters. Ironically, as the plot progresses, and the man discovers the truth, he loses sanity, stricken by grief and disappointment in his family. With this character’s transformation, Shakespeare underlines the imperfection of human nature, suggesting that sometimes the hardships of reality are unbearable to handle.

From my perspective, literary experts give little attention to Lear’s extreme expressions of vanity. A self-satisfied monarch is so obsessed with praise and flatter that he fails to recognize the hypocrisy in his daughters’ actions. Shakespeare’s King Lear should serve as a reminder for all government officials to disregard personal sentiment in favor of professionalism and work ethics. The author also depicts a harsh reality, wherein the strongest tie of all, family, falls apart in a quest for power. It is critical to realize that authority and greed are superficial, thus, able to bring only short-term happiness. On the contrary, qualities of compassion, honesty, and loyalty are everlasting.

In King Lear, Shakespeare narrates the story of a family whose members considered power to be more important than love, respect, and kindness. Themes of jealousy, greed, infidelity, and madness accompany the play, showing the wicked nature of humankind. With his work, the author attempts to encourage the readers to value virtue, honesty, and integrity instead of falling for superficial qualities of lust and authority.

Reference List

Al Zoubi, S. M. and Al Khamaiseh, A. Z. (2018) ‘A critical study of William Shakespeare’s King Lear: plot and structure’, International Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, 8(1), pp. 14-18. Web.

Hamilton, J. M. (2017) This contentious storm: an ecocritical and performance history of King Lear. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Mahbub-ul-Alam, A. (2016) ‘ King Lear: amalgamation of good and evil visions ’, Manarat International University Studies, 7(1), pp. 1-8. Web.

Shakespeare, W. (1999) King Lear. Edited by Stephen Orgel. New York: Penguin Books.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "King Lear Themes, Characters, & Analysis Essay." December 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/king-lear-summary-of-the-plot-analysis-of-characters-main-themes-and-personal-opinion/.

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by William Shakespeare

King lear study guide.

The story of King Lear and his three daughters existed in some form up to four centuries before Shakespeare recorded his vision. Lear was a British King who reigned before the birth of Christ, allowing Shakespeare to place his play in a Pagan setting. Predated by references in British mythology to Lyr or Ler, Geoffrey of Monmouth recorded a story of King Lear and his daughters in his Historia Regum Britanniae of 1137. Dozens of versions of the play were then written up, highlighting certain events, such as the love test, or expanding upon the story, such as creating a sequel where Cordelia committed suicide. Most of these versions had a happy ending, though untrue to the story, where peace was restored under the reign of Lear and Cordelia. Shakespeare however had no interest in writing a tragicomedy.

The main version that Shakespeare had likely read and from which he had definitely borrowed was The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his Three Daughters. He also borrowed from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland (who adopted the story from Monmouth), Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene , Sir Philip Sidney's The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (from which Shakespeare drew his subplot), and John Higgins' A Mirror For Magistrates. He stole pieces and ideas from these versions to create the type of story he wanted to tell. For instance, The True Chronicle provides the basis of the story, though sentimentalizing it by ignoring the sequel. "Leir" is betrayed by two of his daughters but is reconciled to his youngest at the end. "Cordella" is accompanied by a Fool-type character who is loyal to her and Leir is reseated on the throne after beating Gonerill and Regan's armies. Moreover, Shakespeare left out main components of the earlier stories of Lear and created wholly new ones as well. Most considerable of the changes was the creation of a subplot and Lear's descent to madness.

In Shakespeare's time, numerous events, historical considerations, relationships, and cultural trends influenced his writing of King Lear. Scholars tend to believe that the play was written after Othello and before Macbeth, thus assigning it to 1604-1605. Further proof of this comes from the apparent influence the 1603 texts, A Declaration of Egregious Popishe Impostures, by Samuel Harsnett, and John Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays, had on Shakespeare's conglomeration of the story. Critics have noted that more than one hundred words found in King Lear which Shakespeare had never before used can be found in Florio's translation. In addition, Montaigne's famous essay, "Apology for Raymond Sebonde," apparently refers to the same major themes which Shakespeare's King Lear presents. He also borrowed from a very convenient contemporary true story of a gentleman pensioner of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Brian Annesley, whose daughters tried to get him declared insane in late 1603 so that they could legally take control of his estate.The youngest daughter, named Cordell, intervened on his behalf.

As Shakespeare's players were the king's men, he knew they would have to perform for King James I and his court. Subsequently, Shakespeare imbued his plays with certain aspects that would appeal to James. For instance, the dangers of a divided kingdom was often the topic of James' speeches because of his wish to unite Scotland with England. Further topics from the time which Shakespeare took into account were the honor and wisdom endowed to the elderly as opposed to the rash ambition of the young as well as the ritualistic reverence showed to royalty. Shakespeare himself had moved into his period of writing tragedies as he felt they were more respected by critics although audiences generally preferred comedies. After his publication of Julius Caesar , he was looked at as the greatest tragedian since Sophocles and was at the zenith of his literary capacity. The play was first performed for the King in December of 1605. It was first published in a quarto in 1608 and titled M William Shak-speare His Historie, of King Lear. A completely revised version was reprinted by Shakespeare in a 1623 First Folio edition, now referred to as The Tragedy of King Lear. The two versions were conflated in the eighteenth century until editors realized how significantly different the two were and now each edition and the conflated text can be found.

King Lear Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for King Lear is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

"Themes of King Lear are skilfully presented through imagery and symbolism"

King Lear is rife with animal imagery, as the play is known for interrogating whether mankind is anything "more" than animal after all. Most often, animal imagery appears in the form of savage or carnivorous beasts, usually associated with Goneril...

A tragic hero moves the reader to pity,since his misfortune is greater than he deserves,and also creates fear,since his tragedy might easily befall one of us.To what extent does Lear fit the definition of a tragic hero?

Check this out:

http://bailieborocslibrary.weebly.com/blog/lear-develops-more-as-a-tragic-hero-than-gloucester-discuss

Edmund's "Up With Bastards" soliloquy in King Lear

The repetition makes Edmund sound harsh and angry.

Study Guide for King Lear

King Lear study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About King Lear
• King Lear Summary
• King Lear Video
• Character List

Essays for King Lear

King Lear literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of King Lear.

• The Heroines of Crime and Punishment, King Lear, and To the Lighthouse
• Folly of the Fool
• Sight and Consciousness: An Interpretive Study in King Lear
• An Examination of the Inverse Tropes of Sight and Blindness in King Lear
• Gender, Power, and Economics in King Lear

Lesson Plan for King Lear

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to King Lear
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• King Lear Bibliography

E-Text of King Lear

King Lear E-Text contains the full text of King Lear

• Persons Represented

Wikipedia Entries for King Lear

• Introduction
• Date and text

74 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Acts Summaries & Analyses

Character Analysis

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Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

What does King Lear ’s use of literal and metaphorical blindness suggest about the play’s vision of the world? What’s the meaning of seeing in this play?

Why does Lear ask his daughters the fateful question at all? What does the first scene reveal about Lear’s character, and how does Lear’s question relate to the terrible events that follow?

Lear’s Fool disappears without a trace after the storm scenes. Why might this be? What does the Fool mean to the first half of the play, and why might he not fit into the second half?

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King Lear Themes

Theme is a pervasive idea presented in a literary piece.  King Lear , a masterpiece of William Shakespeare , has very thoughtful themes.  It presents the dilemma of human relations and exposes the dark sides of human nature, such as infidelity and ungratefulness.  Some of the major themes in King Lear have been discussed below.

Themes in King Lear

Age and the process of aging is a significant theme of the play , King Lear. When a person starts aging, he starts losing his significance. As King Lear starts aging, he starts making decisions about his kingdom and makes a bet on the persons expressing their profound love for them. However, old King Lear does not understand Cordelia is the loyal one. Sadly, he trusts the deceitful ones. On the other hand, Edmund also waits for his father, Gloucester, to die so that he could inherit something to win social legitimacy in the eyes of the social fabric he wants to live in. In fact, King Lear’s age heralds a new social circle forming around him where he is not the kingpin, but just a commoner having no authority as in the past. However, he wants to retain the same authority even in his old age, that seems impossible. That is why he admits of his being old and the desire for retirement without having to abandon his privileges. Therefore, old age and its attendant features of losing privileges.

Family Relations

Family relationships and family loyalty are equally prominent as King Lear checks the loyalty of his daughters through their love. Though superficially, love is in abundance, it becomes scary when it comes to its application and demonstration. Cordelia, however, shows true loyalty to her father by staying with him until the end when Goneril and Regan conspire to keep the old man out of their castles. Despite severe emotional consequences and legal and regal repercussions, Goneril and Regan do not budge from their stand of keeping the king out. Similarly, Gloucester’s act of fathering Edmund seems a matter of childishness for him and causes sufferings for all others. King Lear’s earlier act of seeing familial love through expressions of love seems to hinge upon the fact that he wants to ensure family loyalty and blindly trusts the one who vocally vows to love him but abandon him later.

Madness and ensuing foolishness is another major theme of the play, King Lear. However, most of the characters , including that of the king, try to determine their reasonable behavior toward the choice they have to make. However, most often, they fail to think clearly. It is because most of them, including the King himself, try to keep their own interests before them, ignoring the interests of others. That is why he puts the entire kingdom in harm’s way with the desire for power come what may . His irrational desire to hear only love and nothing else and then irrational decision to cling to power even after dividing his kingdom seems a foolish decision, bordering madness. That is why the court jester, mostly known as fool, appears to help King Lear realize the situation prevalent in his kingdom. He makes the king realizes his own madness about judging people.

Significance of Order

Order and its significance in the world is another major theme of the play, King Lear. It is clear from the very start that King Lear is disrupting this order. He brings chaos in his family and his country. His desire for seeming love, even if it is flattery, makes him reject those who want to bring order and calmness. He almost disowns Cordelia for her honesty and divides his kingdom among two undeserving daughters. This brings chaos on which the court jester makes a commentary. Interestingly, even the jester taunts him for throwing away his kingdom. In fact, where Cordelia and Kent bring order and strength, Edmund, Edgar, Goneril, and Regan are the forces who bring disorder and disruption. Even King Lear himself wants disruption as he finally curses his treacherous daughter.

King Lear tests the loyalty of his daughters and their husbands through a test. He asks them to tell him how much they love him. Regan and Goneril instantly shower praises on him, vowing their everlasting and strong love, while Cordelia, who actually takes care of him and loves him very much, only states that she loves him. The king was enamored of this superficial realization of the love of his daughters that he instantly considers both of them worthy of the heritage to share his kingdom. However, he does not take care of Cordelia. Instead, he instantly disinherits her. Despite this treatment, she stays loyal to her father, demonstrating that the relationships of father-daughter are not subject to property and divisions; rather, it is an enduring bond of loyalty.

The theme of justice is intertwined with the theme of royal authority. King Lear does injustice to his daughter, Cordelia, who, despite her intense love for her father, is thrown away, while Regan and Goneril’s deception is bought by King Lear. He, however, faces injustice at the hands of both of his daughters so much so that he is left in the stormy weather to bear the brunt of his own doing. Later, he repents over this injustice meted out to him, saying that he has faced punishment more than his sin. However, later he seeks justice through a mock trial. Another point of injustice is to Edmund committed by Gloucester that he is illegitimate, which makes him jealous of his brother for which he plans his brother’s exile and murder Cordelia. The punishment meted out to him by the end is another instance of justice.

Appearance and Reality

Appearance and reality is another important theme of the play. Lear believes in the false narrative of his daughters, Goneril and Regan, that they love her more than he can think. However, he equally turns away his attention from the reality that his daughter, Cordelia, loves him the most. The appearances of his two elder daughters fool him, and he ignores his daughter, who shows him true love and loyalty. Similarly, Edmond, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, does not accept this reality and conspires to discredit his brother, Edgar, the legitimate son.

Compassion and humanity is another thematic strand that runs parallel to other themes. Although King Lear sends Kent into exile, he still comes back to serve him as a farmer. He knows that the king has done a wrong and would soon face repercussions. So, when the king sees the jester, he feels sympathy and compassion for him. The king also tears down his clothes to show his sympathy for poor Tom when he sees such poor people facing problems in life.

Nature and its impacts, like the storm in the play, shows that the kingdom of King Lear is in turmoil on account of his own actions. The turns in weather conditions also reflect how King Lear faces mental instability that leads to his confusion and madness. This is actually, as stated by King Lear himself, a tempest in his mind reflected through nature.

Vision is a minor yet important theme of the play, which is evident in many ways. Sometimes in literally and sometimes symbolically. King Lear’s call to his daughters to demonstrate their love is a loss of his vision that cost him his kingdom.

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