William Shakespeare is a world-famous English playwright, poet, actor. William Shakespeare wrote plays in different genres such as comedies, historic chronicles, tragicomedies and tragedies. Undoubtedly, he is best known for his tragedies. Such works as “The tragedy of Hamlet” (1601), “The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice” (1604), “The tragedy of Macbeth” (1606) and “King Lear” (1605) are Shakespeare`s the best and the most famous tragedies. From the day of them being written to the present days all these works are highly popular among readers, literature critics, theatre directors, actors and ordinary theatre visitors. So our analysis of one of these tragedies is still relevant and actual. 1. As it was mentioned above, “King Lear” was originally written approximately in 1605 or 1606 at the latest. So we see that this tragedy was produced within the same decade when author`s main masterpieces were written as well. That decade in the Shakespeare`s work life is called “The Tragic Period” (1600-1610). Speaking about dates, it is important to mention that first known performance of “King Lear” was at Whitehall on St. Stephen`s Day (December 26) in 1606. And the first publication of this tragedy was in 1608. “King Lear” is no different from the majority of other plays of William Shakespeare in its use of sources and references. “The Tragic Period” of author`s works is characterised by using historical and literary sources as the basis of the tragedies. For example, Shakespeare was inspired by the story about real XI century Scottish king Macbeth and, as a result, wrote his own “Macbeth”. The character of the king Lear has its roots in Celtic history. It is part of the history of ancient Britain. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to distinguish what in the tragedy is historical fact and what is myth or Shakespeare`s own interpretation. The only proof that such a person as king Lear ever existed is the fact that he or his character appears in too many stories and chronicles. Some of early historians claimed that these stories are actually true rather than just an artistic image. One of the main sources for all Shakespeare`s historic chronicles and some tragedies is “Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland” (1577-1587). As it was already mentioned, king Lear was a well-known part of the national history, so it is not a surprise that we find the story about old king and his daughters in this chronicle. The other literary work where we can find character of king Lear is “The True Chronicle History of King Lear”. This play was written anonymously in approximately 1594 and it was published in 1605. The plot of this play is still similar to Shakespeare`s version. But the most significant difference between this two plays is the fact that “The True Chronicle History of King Lear” has a happy ending. In this version of story Lear and Cordelia are alive and live a happy life. Also, Lear is also appeared in “The Mirror for Magistrates”, a collection of didactic tales, published first in 1559. The part of the text devoted to Lear was written by Higgins, and influenced Shakespeare greatly. Another version of the story of king Lear that Shakespeare surely read and admired was from “The Faerie Queen” (1590), written by the greatest Elizabethan poet before Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser. It is important to mention that the sub-plot about Gloucester was influenced by Sir Philip Sidney’s “Arcadia” (1590). There we can see the same characters and similar conflict. William Shakespeare`s tragedies are often characterised by strong and wellwritten main heroes. To be honest, character development, as we know it today, was introduced by Shakespeare for the first time. “King Lear” is also characterised by wellproduced characters. The main characters in this play are king Lear who is an old man willing to give kingdom to his daughters. But not all of his daughters are sincere: evil Goneril and Regan, and good Cordelia oppose them. Among other significant characters are Gloucester and two his sons: Edgar and Edmund. The conflict of “King Lear” is again similar to other works of “The Tragic Period”. Here we see again a court conflict, but now it is more similar to “Hamlet” because family plays the key role in this conflict. King Lear can be characterised as an old man who has an enormous power and control in his hands, but still he has no control over his daughter Cordelia. King thinks that everyone loves him, but when he was opposed by his daughter who did not want to lie, Lear became angry and made a foolish decision. The tragedy explores the conflict between those who accept natural order of society and those who opportunistically scheme to impose their own values. 2. It was already stated that king Lear has a great power in his hands, actually he really loves power. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he does not want to fulfil a king’s obligations of governing for the good of his subjects. “…only we shall retain the name and all th’addition to a king”. In this quotation we can see that Lear wanted to retain power and privileges of status while giving up responsibilities. Similarly, his test of his daughters demonstrates that he values a flattering public display of love over real love. He does not ask “which of you doth love us most,” but rather, “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” An important question to ask is whether Lear develops as a character -whether he learns from his mistakes and becomes a better and more insightful human being? It is partly happened, king Lear actually admitted his mistakes. “Pray you now, forget and forgive. I am old and foolish.” But still he does not recover his sanity and emerge as a better king. Gloucester character is very important because his story and conflict is parallel to Lear`s one. Gloucester is a cruel man, who understands the danger of the world. “As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods. They kill us for their sport.” Also, Gloucester does not understand his children as well as Lear. “Though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair, there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.” That was said about Edmund by Gloucester himself when his son was near him and heard everything. Gloucester himself is blind to his son’s true motivations. Just as Lear falls for Goneril and Regan’s flattery, Gloucester falls for Edmund’s deception. Lear banishes Cordelia, the daughter who loves him, and Gloucester tries to execute Edgar, the son who loves him. Still in the end Gloucester understood his mistake. “O my follies! Then Edgar was abus'd. Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him!” 3. From the very beginning we understand the true bad nature of two Lear`s daughters Goneril and Regan. When Lear wants to hear how much he is loved by his children two elders hypocritically tell the lies just to take advantage of the situation. “As much as child e’er lov’d, or father found; A love that makes breath poor and speech unable; Beyond all manner of so much I love you.” That was said by Goneril, as we can see she is more determined to have benefit from her father. Regan still helps her with such a decisive plan, but not so crucially: “Sir, I am made of the self-mettle as my sister. And prize me at her worth. In my true heart. I find she names my very deed of love.” These two sisters are clever enough to flatter their father in the opening scene. And yet their bad behaviour toward Lear seems matched by his own pride and temper. As well as king Lear had expelled Cordelia because of her wrong words, his daughters turned their father out into the storm at the end of Act 2. Even more, they mercilessly punish Gloucester by putting out his eyes in Act 3. But still Goneril and Regan see their father Lear more clearly that he sees himself. “You see how full of changes his age is. The observation we have made of it hath not been little. He always loved our sister most, and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off appears too grossly.” Goneril and Regan can analyse Lear`s situation about his age, losing the ability to make good decisions and, also, they see that Cordelia was Lear`s favourite daughter. So if daughters can analyse you better that you do, it can be a big problem. As Regan stated: “’Tis the infirmity of his age: yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.” She identifies Lear’s fatal flaw: he lacks self-knowledge. Regan and Goneril are in some way a personification of evil with their enormous ambitions, they do not understand the possible consequences. 4. Fool as the character in “King Lear” plays a significant role in the plot, although it does not seem so. From the very beginning we can see how Fool is being an opposition to Lear. After Cordelia was banished he stated that she is indeed her father true protector. The fool is the king’s advocate, honest and loyal and through his use of irony, sarcasm and humour he is able to point out Lear’s faults. But the king cannot see his own mistakes, as we understand from the previous analysis of two sisters. So in this tragedy Fool is the only character who is able to confront Lear directly without risk of punishment. We may further suggest that the fool’s surreal and absurd comments in King Lear imply the disorder within the hierarchy as a whole: “thy bor’st thine ass on thine back o’er the dirt.” Ironically, the fool and the king begin to “swap places” from time to time. Fool has always been quick to give Lear helpful advice or understanding of his decisions. Because of that fact we once again think about “Who is the real fool between these two characters?” In the dialogue with Kent Fool is shown as a person who can actually think and give some useful pieces of advice. But also Fool in “King Lear” is an example of Shakespeare using the fool as a voice to bridge the gap between the audience and the stage. 5. Symbols in Shakespeare`s works are always extremely important. Author usually implements his ideas through some symbols. Luckily, in William Shakespeare`s works are a lot of different symbols. One of the main symbols in the “Tragedy of King Lear” is the storm. Some scenes take place during a powerful storm which is accomplished by a gale. That represents the disorder and politic, and family intrigues in the kingdom. On the other hand, the storm is meant to symbolize Lear’s inner, mental state for his mind was lost, wandering, and mad. Madness as the theme reveals itself within the symbol of the storm. At the same time, the storm embodies the awesome power of nature, which forces the powerless king to recognize his own mortality and human frailty and to cultivate a sense of humility for the first time. Lear was forced to go under the rain and in the storm, which is used to symbolise his purifying by nature. Blindness is also another important symbol in this tragedy. It shows the disability of particular characters like Lear to see true motives of people near him. As well as the disability to see the love of a true and sincere daughter. Both Lear and Gloucester have the common story of loyal and disloyal off springs, banishing the loyal, rewarding the disloyal and both seem blind to reality. Their figurative blindness causes literal Gloucester blindness. Division of kingdom as the symbol shows not only the intrigues for the throne, but also the division of Lear`s and Gloucester`s families. Unequal dividing of the Lear`s throne or kingdom shows us again the bad decisions and inability to understand the true good people among relatives and family. Although “Tragedy of King Lear” has a tragic and dramatic ending, we see the lesson which Shakespeare wanted to show and tell us. Still the destiny of the kingdom is not definitely prejudged. Bad people are dead in the end, but the kingdom has a new hope on new king Albany whom support sincerely good people Kent and Edgar.
