King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy about an old king who divides his kingdom among his daughters according to how much they say they love him, banishes the one who loves him most, and is driven into madness and the storm.

Main characters

• King Lear of Britain
• Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, his daughters
• The Duke of Albany, Goneril's husband; the Duke of Cornwall, Regan's husband
• The Earl of Kent, loyal to Lear
• The Earl of Gloucester
• Edgar, his legitimate son, who disguises himself as 'Poor Tom'
• Edmund, his illegitimate son
• The Fool
• The King of France

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

Lear announces he will retire and divide Britain among his three daughters, giving the largest share to whichever declares the greatest love. Goneril and Regan flatter him extravagantly. Cordelia, his favourite, says she loves him according to her duty, 'no more nor less'. Enraged, Lear disinherits her and banishes the Earl of Kent for defending her. The King of France marries Cordelia without a dowry.

In a parallel plot, Gloucester's illegitimate son Edmund tricks his father into believing that his legitimate son Edgar is plotting against him. Edgar flees and disguises himself as a mad beggar, Poor Tom.

Goneril and Regan strip Lear of his followers and shut him out. He rages on the heath in a terrible storm, accompanied by his Fool and the disguised Kent, and meets Poor Tom. When Gloucester helps the king, Cornwall and Regan put out his eyes; Edgar, still disguised, leads his blind father towards Dover.

Cordelia lands with a French army and is reunited with her father, who wakes from madness and asks her forgiveness. The French are defeated and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Edmund, who has been playing Goneril and Regan against each other, orders Cordelia's death. Edgar defeats Edmund in combat, Goneril poisons Regan and kills herself, and a dying Edmund tries too late to save Cordelia. Lear enters carrying her body and dies believing, perhaps, that she breathes.

Themes

• Parents and children
• Sight and blindness
• Madness and wisdom
• Nature and the natural order
• Power and its loss

Famous lines

Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

Lear, Act 1 Scene 1

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child!

Lear, Act 1 Scene 4

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!

Lear, Act 3 Scene 2

I am a man More sinned against than sinning.

Lear, Act 3 Scene 2

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport.

Gloucester, Act 4 Scene 1

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

The legend of King Leir appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth and Holinshed's Chronicles; an older anonymous play, King Leir, was printed in 1605. The Gloucester plot comes from Sir Philip Sidney's prose romance Arcadia.

On stage and screen

It was performed before James I on 26 December 1606. The ending was felt to be unbearable: from 1681 Nahum Tate's adaptation, in which Cordelia survives and marries Edgar, replaced Shakespeare's version on stage for about 150 years. It is now widely regarded as one of the greatest works in the language.

See where King Lear sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.