In the period in which King Lear was written—from 1604 to 1607—King James VI,
King of Scotland and England, was trying to persuade English Parliament to approve the union of the two countries into one nation. (It was James who first used the term "Great Britain" to describe the unity of the Celtic and Saxon lands:
England, Scotland, and Wales.) Such a combination of nations is called
"accession." In his speeches to Parliament, he regularly referred to the misfortunes that had been brought about by the disunion of England under King
Leir, the historical source of Shakespeare's play. The historical context of
Shakespeare's King Lear is thus twofold. Reading it you should keep in mind both the history of King Leir and the discussions on union/disunion of Great
Britain in Shakespeare's own time.
King Lear was a popular work during Shakespeare's lifetime, evidenced by the fact that there were two editions of the play, published in quarto form before the inclusion of the play in the First Folio in 1623. These different editions do not posed significant textual problems for the general reader.
During the intervening centuries the scene where the crazed King Lear goes out into the storm (Act III, scene 2) has become the best-known part of the play. In the late 1600's the play fell into disfavor because the powerful emotions, and the final scene of Lear's suffering was thought to be too much for theater audiences. Eventually the play was rewritten so that Lear survived his ordeal and returned to the throne. Cordelia also survived and married Edgar. This bastardization of Shakespeare's original play reigned supreme during the 18 th
Century. In the 19 th
Century the famous novelist Charles
Dickens wrote a parody of this kind of emotional emasculation of Shakespeare when he described an adapted version of Romeo and Juliet in the novel Nicholas Nickelby. Not only do Shakespeare's famous couple survive their misunderstanding in the tomb, but so does Romeo's friend, Mercutio, who ends up marrying Romeo's cousin Benvolio, who is in actuality Benvolia, a girl who has been masquerading as a man for years.
Gradually theater people rediscovered Shakespeare's original King Lear and began to stage it again, despite the admonition of Samuel Johnson, a famous 18 th
Century
Shakespearean scholar, who declared that the final scene of the play was too emotionally draining for the general public to witness performed. Nevertheless, the play has been restored to its preeminent position. Many people believe it to be the best of
Shakespeare's tragedies. I go even further and hold it to be the finest work of literature ever produced by humankind.
Ethos (Credibility), or ethical appeal , means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect.

Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.
We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade.
Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.
Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite. We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough. We'll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis, and look at some of the common logical fallacies, in order to avoid them in your writing.
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
Logos (Greek for 'word') refers to the internal consistency of the message--the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence. The impact of logos on an audience is sometimes called the argument's logical appeal.
Ethos (Greek for 'character') refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker. Ethos is often conveyed through tone and style of the message and through the way the writer or speaker refers to differing views. It can also be affected by the writer's reputation as it exists independently from the message--his or her expertise in the field, his or her previous record or integrity, and so forth. The impact of ethos is often called the argument's
'ethical appeal' or the 'appeal from credibility.'
[P]athos (Greek for 'suffering' or 'experience') is often associated with emotional appeal. But a better equivalent might be 'appeal to the audience's sympathies and imagination.' An appeal to pathos causes an audience not just to respond emotionally but to identify with the writer's point of view--to feel what the writer feels. In this sense, pathos evokes a meaning implicit in the verb 'to suffer'--to feel pain imaginatively.... Perhaps the most common way of conveying a pathetic appeal is through narrative or story, which can turn the abstractions of logic into something palpable and present. The values, beliefs, and understandings of the writer are implicit in the story and conveyed imaginatively to the reader. Pathos thus refers to both the emotional and the

imaginative impact of the message on an audience, the power with which the writer's message moves the audience to decision or action.
[The above text drawn verbatim from Ramage, John D. and John C. Bean.
Writing Arguments. 4th Edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1998,
81-82.] http://www.u.arizona.edu/ic/polis/courses021/ENGL_102-
78/EthosPathosLogos
Or The Shorthand Version:
Ethos: the source's credibility, the speaker's/author's authority
Logos: the logic used to support a claim (induction and deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to help support the argument.
Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details.
Originating from ancient Greece, the word "catharsis" refers to the emotional outpouring of a character. Often, when a character in a tragedy realizes his/her flaws or downfall, a cathartic speech is delivered.
Poor Tom. The character of Poor Tom or the Bedlam Beggar, as which Edgar disguises himself, is based on vagabonds or madmen considered dangerous in
England at the time. "Bedlam" was a slang word for "Bethlehem," which was the name of a mental institution in London.
Two Versions. There are actually two different versions of King Lear—The History of
King Lear published in quarto form in 1608 and The Tragedy of King Lear, which was published in the First Folio (1623) and is very substantially revised from the play published in 1608. Before the 1990s, editors usually "blended" the two texts, taking what they believed were the best versions of each scene. In recent times, some editors have started focusing on the "original" 1608 edition.

Poor Fool. In Shakespeare's day, the roles of Cordelia and the Fool were often
"doubled"—played by the same actor—since the two characters are never on stage at the same time. Shakespeare alludes to this fact at several points in the play. The first time that Lear summons the Fool, in 1.4, both he and his Knight observe that the Fool has been melancholy ever since Cordelia was sent to France. More famously, in 5.3, upon learning of Cordelia's death, Lear remarks "And my poor fool is hanged" (5.3.369). Sometimes directors staging the play invent a scene in which the Fool himself is hanged, to explain this line, but the tradition of doubling the characters is the better explanation.
Archtypical Lens
Stars, Heavens, gods (pre Christian)
Animals
Clotheing cosutmes
Fathers, Children, Siblings
Authority and order
Disintegration, Chaos, Nothingness
Old Age
Fooling and Madness – reality
Blindness and Insight