Synopsis

Though it is often considered Shakespeare’s greatest and most complex work, King Lear begins simply enough, like a fairytale. An aging king wishes to unburden himself from the responsibilities of rulership and pass his lands down to his three daughters.

He promises to give the largest portion to the daughter who loves him most. The eldest two daughters, Goneril and Regan, attempt to outdo each other with lofty speeches but the youngest daughter, Cordelia, refuses to speak. Her silence sends Lear into a rage and he banishes Cordelia along with Kent, a loyal advisor who speaks out against the king’s actions. Cordelia flees with the King of France, who loves her despite being stripped of her wealth.

But that’s where the fairytale ends. Lear’s remaining daughters bar him from their homes, objecting to hosting his knights. Betrayed, Lear wanders the heath in a storm, accompanied by Kent (who has returned in disguise to aid his king) and his Fool.

Meanwhile, in a subplot which echoes and intensifies the events of the main one, the Earl of Gloucester is tricked by his bastard daughter, Edmund, into thinking that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Edgar flees to avoid death and disguises himself as a mad beggar called Poor Tom. He too ends up wondering the heath, eventually joining Lear and the Fool.

Gloucester, still loyal to Lear, receives news that Cordelia is en route with the French army to help the king. But Edmund betrays his father to Regan and her husband, Cornwall, who torture Gloucester and blind him.

Cordelia and the French army save Lear, but the army is defeated. Cordelia and Lear are reunited in prison. The siblings, Edgar and Edmund, face-off in a trial by combat which Edgar wins. Dying, Edmund confesses that she has ordered the deaths of Cordelia and Lear. Before they can be rescued, Lear brings in Cordelia’s body and then he himself dies of a broken heart.

Historical and Literary Context

Whether or not King Lear is Shakespeare’s greatest work has been argued back and forth by critics. One thing is for sure: Lear is his most intense. Even by modern standards, its unrelenting depiction of extreme suffering and cruelty can be intolerably bleak. This was certainly the perception for around 200 years of the play’s production history, where the preferred version was not Shakespeare’s Lear at all but an adaptation written by Nahum Tate in which Cordelia and Lear survive and Cordelia marries Edgar. So what could have spurred Shakespeare to write such a dark play?

The Writer

Shakespeare wrote King Lear sometime between 1605–6, around the same time he composed the other great tragedies, Hamlet, Othello & Macbeth. Heavily involved in all aspects of the theatre, he had recently helped build a successful open-air stage on London’s South Bank called The Globe. Critics had compared him to famous ancient Roman writers, and King James I thought highly enough of Shakespeare’s company to lend them his name. In short, William Shakespeare, playwright and shareholder of The King’s Men, was well regarded and more or less mainstream as far as earlymodern theatre goes. If he were alive today, it’s not a stretch to imagine Shakespeare as show-runner for a popular HBO television series.

Source

In undertaking Lear, Shakespeare’s primary source was likely Raphael Holished’s account of a semilegendary King of the Britons called Leir whose reign would have been around the 8th century BC. It is cultural habit to think of Shakespeare as a lone genius and it pays to be reminded that he often adapted his plots from existing stories or chronicles of historical events. The main points of the Leir story remain intact in Shakespeare’s adaptation, though the subplot is entirely the playwright’s innovation.

Primogeniture

Shakespeare may also have taken inspiration from a couple of local court cases which centred around primogeniture, the custom of passing property on to the eldest child. In one case, a nobleman’s eldest daughter tried to have him declared insane so that she could take over his property. In another, a nobleman divided his property amongst his daughters planning to stay with each in turn but was ultimately abused by them.

Furthermore, the law of primogeniture and the issue of succession more generally would have been at the forefront of the public consciousness in England at the time Shakespeare composed Lear. Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth I had had no children and refused to name an heir. The possibility of a prolonged dispute — and even war — over the succession of the crown created anxiety amongst the ruling classes.

When King James I became King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1603 it put an end to the angst over succession but replaced it with a new challenge: how to maintain authority and create unity across three different realms. These concerns find expression in King Lear in the King’s choice to slice up the realm, followed by a descent into chaos as his daughters (and their husbands) abuse their power.

Legacy And Relevance

Given it owes its plot to the quirky customs of a historical England, how does the uncompromisingly dark Lear still resonate with audiences? It is no accident that the 20th century, with its unprecedented destruction of human life, saw King Lear return with force to stages across the world.

King Lear stands as the archetypal work to hold a mirror up to a world that has lost its sense of unity and teeters on the precipice of a decent into chaos. As circumstances drive the protagonists towards madness, we are asked if madness is really the only sensible response to an uncaring world. This massive and confronting question is like the black hole at the centre of King Lear, around which other ideas orbit.

Playwright

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English playwright and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language. Born in Stratford-uponAvon, he gained recognition for his plays during the late-16th and late17th centuries.

Shakespeare’s works, consisting of approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets and several narrative poems, span various genres, including tragedy, comedy and history, and have had a profound and enduring impact on literature, theatre and culture. Some of his most celebrated plays include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. His exploration of universal themes such as love, jealousy, ambition and human nature continue to resonate with audiences today and offer profound insights into the human experience.

Shakespeare's language, characterised by its poetic beauty, intricate wordplay and profound psychological depth, has inspired and influenced artists worldwide. His plays are performed and studied extensively, in both traditional productions and innovative adaptations, showcasing the enduring power of his storytelling.

This year is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Of the 700odd printed, only 235 are known to survive today. One is located in the Special Collections at Auckland Libraries; it was a gift to the people of Auckland by Sir George Grey in 1894. The First Folio contains 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, including King Lear, some being published for the first time.