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.

Symbols & Motifs

Blindness

Blindness manifests most literally in King Lear through the unfortunate Gloucester, whose eyes Regan and Cornwall gouge out. Only after this hideous loss does Gloucester see all that he was blind to before: the loyalty of his betrayed son Edgar, the heartless cruelty of the false Edmund, and the pure malice of his erstwhile allies.

In the literal case of Gloucester, as well as in a heap of metaphorical references scattered throughout the play, blindness is paradoxically related to sight. The characters repeatedly demonstrate how one’s own prejudices and fears can blind someone to reality. The two fathers of the play, Lear and Gloucester, are so hampered by their own petty insecurities and egoism that they cannot perceive what is true. They must lose their “eyes” and their “I”s—meaning, their identities—to truly see reality. Part of that seeing is the capacity to see oneself and to know oneself to be weak, foolish, and flawed.

Clothing and Nakedness

When the mad Lear meets the disguised, raving, and naked Edgar in the storm, he takes a shine to him and quickly strips off his own clothes to imitate this “philosopher.

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