74 pages 2 hours read

William Shakespeare

King Lear

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1606

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.

Character Analysis

Lear

Lear is a mighty figure and a titan among Shakespeare’s tragic heroes. But he’s also a small-minded, ill-tempered, and self-involved old man—at least at the start. Lear’s initial bad decision to ask his daughters how much they love him before he’ll give them his kingdom sets the scene for the whole play. This demand suggests a world where love is nothing but an expression of power. Lear is fortunate to be truly loved by Cordelia, Kent, and his Fool, who refuse to play along with his manipulative game.

As his plan backfires, Lear rediscovers his connection to reality over the course of the play. When he goes mad in the midst of a terrible storm, his madness paradoxically reconnects him to reality: he remembers that he, like Edgar’s beggar “Poor Tom,” is a “poor, bare, forked animal” (3.4.108), a mortal being in a painful and unpredictable world. Over the rest of the play, he acts on what he’s learned, consoling the blinded Gloucester, humbling himself before the wronged Cordelia, and submitting to imprisonment with a wisdom that comes from a sense that there are things in this world more important than power and status.

But this isn’t a morality play—at least, not in the conventional sense—and Lear receives no reward for his education in harsh reality.

Related Titles

By William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary

logo

Cymbeline

William Shakespeare

Cymbeline

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary

logo

Henry IV, Part 2

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 2

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary

logo

Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary

logo

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary

logo

Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary

logo

King John

William Shakespeare

King John

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Love's Labour's Lost

William Shakespeare

Love's Labour's Lost

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Measure For Measure

William Shakespeare

Measure For Measure

William Shakespeare

Study Guide

logo

Othello

William Shakespeare

Othello

William Shakespeare