William Shakespeare’s
King Lear
Historical Context & Background
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
Sources of King Lear:
1605 – the true chronicle history of King
Leir and his three daughters, Gonorill,
Ragan, and Cordella (author unknown)
Cordella does not die
No Gloucester story
No storm
No insanity
No fool
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
1577 – Holinshed’s “Chronicles”:
 Lear, upset by Cordeilla, marries the two older
daughters to Cornwall & Albania
 The kingdom is promised to the sons-in-law on Lear’s
death
 The two rebel against Lear
 Lear is saved by a third son-in-law, Aganippus,
Cordeilla’s husband and one of the twelve kings of
Gallia
 Cordeilla becomes Queen when Lear dies
 Five years later, a nephew revolts and imprisons her
 In prison, Cordeialla commits suicide
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
1599 – A Mirror for Magistrates (collection of
works by various authors)
One story by John Higgins dealt with Lear
Cordell is the narrator of the story
Gonorell reduces her father’s guards
Her husband is Albany
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
1590 – The Faerie Queene (Edmund Spenser)
A work of poetry in two volumes
Contains some stanzas on the Lear theme
The name “Cordelia” appears for the first
time
Cordelia dies by hanging
It is considered an act of suicide
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
Shakespeare’s Lear:
1607 – first performance
1608 – first printing
The story of King Lear was a popular old
folktale by this time, but the painful ending
is Shakespeare’s own invention.
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
Shakespeare’s Lear:
 The themes in the play examine some of the
fundamental problems in life:
Whether there are gods and whether or not they care for
humans
The problem of evil co-existing with goodness
The question of Fate
The problems of parents and children and the exchange of
power from one generation to another
The question of suffering – why must humans endure such
agony (allusions to the Book of Job – The Old Testament)
The question “what is a human”
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
Shakespeare’s Lear:
Characterization in King Lear is crucial
because it delineates themes
Comparison is a good method of
understanding character.
You should examine:
King Lear & Gloucester
Regan-Goneril & Cordelia
Edgar & Edmund
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
Shakespeare’s Lear:
Imagery in this play is very important:
Animal
Clothing
Blindness/Seeing
Sexual Lust
Sickness
Nature
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
The Structure of
King Lear
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
Structure:
The structure of King Lear is slightly
different from most of Shakespeare’s
tragedies
For the most part, in plays like Hamlet &
Macbeth, the climax (reversal of fortune for
the protagonist) occurs in the third act
For Lear, his fortunes reverse, then go
forward, only to reverse again
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
1
2
Order
Imperilled
3
4
The Storm
Humility, love,
and
understanding
Lear disrobes
himself of the
arrogance and
ego-centricity of
the past
Pride and
vanity blind
Lear, causing
him to divide
his kingdom
and reject
Cordelia
Rejection by
Goneril
followed by
Lear’s curse
Rejection by
Regan
Sounds of
approaching
storm
He begins to
question and
philosophize
He sleeps
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0
5
Devastation
Lear, mad,
raves against
lust
Cordelia
hanged
Lear’s grief
Death of Lear
Albany
Lear is in the
care of Cordelia becomes ruler,
yields to Edgar
Structure:
The play is also different in the sense that
the secondary plot is fully developed
We are exposed to a secondary plot with
Fortinbras in Hamlet, but we are not given
the same amount of detail as given with
Gloucester
Mr. Mehrotra
ENG 4U0