The third of the so-called ‘great’ tragedies, King Lear differs greatly in structure and tone from its predecessors, Hamlet and Othello. According to its entry in the Stationers’ Register on 26 November 1607, it had been performed at court on 26 December 1606. This suggests composition no later than autumn 1606. The play is indebted to Samuel *Harsnett’s Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures and to *Florio’s translation of *Montaigne’s Essais, both published in 1603. Gloucester’s reference to ‘late eclipses in the sun and moon’ may or may not allude to actual eclipses of September and October 1605; possible debts to *Jonson, *Chapman, and *Marston’s play Eastward Ho and to George *Wilkins’s Miseries of Enforced Marriage imply composition later than June 1605. The play was probably written late in 1605. Revision represented by the Folio text was made on a copy of the 1608 quarto, probably, judging by stylistic evidence, around 1610.
Text: The play was first printed, badly, in 1608. The origin of this text has been much disputed but the current view is that it derives from Shakespeare’s original manuscript. It was reprinted with minor but unauthoritative improvements in 1619. Editors from the early 18th century onwards, assuming that both texts derive from a single archetype, normally conflated them, but recent research indicates that the 1608 quarto represents the play as Shakespeare first wrote it, and the Folio a substantial revision, cutting some 300 lines and adding about 100, and with many other variations. The Oxford editors first disentangled the two texts under their original printed titles of The History and The Tragedy of King Lear. The synopsis given below is based on the History but indicates major variations in the Tragedy.
Sources: Lear’s story had often been told and Shakespeare appears to have known several versions. He treats it with great freedom, especially by adding Lear’s madness and giving it a tragic conclusion. He knew well The True Chronicle History of *King Leir and his Three Daughters, a play published in 1605 but written at least fifteen years earlier. Echoes from it in many of Shakespeare’s plays suggest that he may have acted in it, probably before 1594. The parallel story of Gloucester and his sons is based on episodes from Sir Philip *Sidney’s Arcadia. Details of, especially, Edgar’s speeches as Mad Tom derive from Harsnett’s Declaration, and Florio’s Montaigne also influences the play’s vocabulary.
Synopsis: Sc. 1 (1.1) The Earl of Gloucester tells the Duke of Kent that King Lear is equally well disposed to each of his sons-in-law, the dukes of Albany and Cornwall, in sharing out his kingdom. Gloucester introduces his bastard son Edmund to Kent, saying that the bastard is no less dear to him than the legitimate Edgar. Lear enters with his daughters, Gonoril, Regan, and Cordelia, and the elder sister’s husbands. Calling for a map, he declares his intention to divide his kingdom into three parts which he will share among his daughters. The King of France and the Duke of Burgundy are in waiting to learn which of them will win the hand of his youngest daughter, Cordelia. Lear asks each daughter for an expression of her love. Gonoril and Regan flatter him, but Cordelia refuses to take part in the competition. Infuriated, Lear banishes both her and Kent, who defends Cordelia. Lear announces that he will retain the name of king, and that, along with a retinue of 100 knights, he will live alternately month by month with each of his elder daughters. Burgundy refuses to marry the disinherited Cordelia, but France, perceiving her true value, accepts her. Left alone, Regan and Gonoril reveal jealousy of Cordelia and impatience with their father’s weaknesses.
Sc. 2 (1.2) Edmund, declaring allegiance to the law of nature, reveals his determination to usurp his legitimate brother’s inheritance. Producing a letter purportedly written by Edgar, he tricks Gloucester into believing that Edgar seeks to join with Edmund in seizing their father’s estates. Edmund offers to demonstrate the truth of his allegation if Gloucester will conceal himself to overhear a conversation between the brothers. Gloucester blames recent eclipses of the sun and moon for overturning the natural order, but Edmund, in soliloquy, reveals a rationalist disposition. He tells the innocent Edgar that Gloucester is displeased with him.
Sc. 3 (1.3) Lear is staying with Gonoril. Complaining that he and his followers are riotous, she instructs her servant Oswald to treat them insolently. She will write to Regan advising her to follow a similar course.
Sc. 4 (1.4) Kent, disguised, declares unwavering loyalty to Lear, who admits him into his service. Oswald behaves insolently and Kent endears himself to Lear by mocking him. Lear’s Fool warns his master in riddles and snatches of song against the consequences of his poor judgement. Gonoril complains to Lear of his retinue’s behaviour; enraged, he calls for his horses, invokes a curse upon her, and leaves for Regan’s home. Within moments he returns in even greater fury, having learned that 50 of his followers have been dismissed. Gonoril summons Oswald to carry a letter to Regan.
Sc. 5 (1.5) Lear also sends letters to Regan, by Kent. Lear meditates on his wrongs, punctuated by cryptic comments from his Fool.
Sc. 6 (2.1) In Gloucester’s house, Curan, a servant, tells Edmund that Cornwall and Regan are approaching, and reports rumours of forthcoming wars between Cornwall and Albany. Edmund tricks Edgar, who is in hiding, into running away, convincing Gloucester by means of a mock fight that Edgar had been trying to persuade Edmund to murder their father. The duped Gloucester instigates a hunt to the death for Edgar. Cornwall and Regan join in enmity to Edgar, report receipt of Gonoril’s letter, and commend Edmund, taking him into their service.
Sc. 7 (2.2) Kent threatens and insults Oswald; Cornwall orders Kent to be put into the stocks even though Gloucester points out that this will offend Lear. In soliloquy Kent tells of a letter he has received from Cordelia, in France, who knows of his course of action. He goes to sleep. The fugitive Edgar reveals to the audience his plan to assume the appearance and behaviour of a Bedlam beggar. Lear, entering with no more than his Fool and one follower, is appalled to find Kent in the stocks and goes off to question Regan. Speaking to Kent, the Fool reveals his continuing loyalty to Lear. Lear tells Gloucester of his anger that Regan and Cornwall have refused to see him. They enter, and Kent is released. Gonoril enters, and Lear is shocked that Regan welcomes her. Regan tells her father that he should return to Gonoril, dismiss half of his retinue, and then come to stay with her. Lear refuses to have anything more to do with Gonoril and says that he and his 100 knights will live with Regan. She prevaricates, saying she will accommodate no more than 25 followers, at which Lear decides he will go to Gonoril after all. When the sisters question his need for even a single follower, Lear, breaking down, threatens revenges on them both and expresses fear of madness. He departs into the night. Cornwall and Regan batten their gates against the coming storm.
Sc. 8 (3.1) A gentleman tells Kent that Lear, accompanied only by the Fool, is battling against the elements. Kent tells the gentleman of division between Albany and Cornwall and that an invasion force is on the way from France (not in Tragedy), and asks him to hasten to Dover to tell Cordelia of the King’s plight (to give Cordelia, if he sees her, a ring which she will know comes from him (Kent), Tragedy).
Sc. 9 (3.2) Accompanied by the Fool, Lear rages against the storm. Kent tries to persuade him to shelter in a hovel, and they go off to look for it. (Before leaving the Fool speaks a mock prophecy, Tragedy.)
Sc. 10 (3.3) Gloucester, turned out of his own house, tells Edmund of division between Albany and Cornwall (and passes on news of the French invasion, History) (and that support for Lear’s party is already on the way, Tragedy). Edmund, left alone, says he will instantly tell Cornwall of this and expresses determination to supplant his father.
Sc. 11 (3.4) Kent seeks to persuade Lear to enter the hovel. Before doing so, Lear prays for all who suffer in the storm, acknowledging that he has ‘ta’en | Too little care of this’. The Fool, who has entered the hovel, emerges terrified by the presence of the disguised Edgar. Edgar vigorously acts the madman, and Lear assumes that Edgar has daughters who have ‘brought him to this pass’. Edgar’s near-nakedness provokes Lear to reflect on the basic state of ‘unaccommodated man’, and Lear tears off his own clothes in sympathy. Gloucester enters, shocked that Lear has ‘no better company’, and offers, in spite of the sisters’ prohibition, to find shelter for Lear. Lear’s wits are turning, and Gloucester fears for his own. They all go into the hovel.
Sc. 12 (3.5) Cornwall declares his determination to revenge himself on Gloucester. Edmund accuses his father of complicity with the powers of France, and Cornwall tells him that he will soon succeed his father.
Sc. 13 (3.6) Gloucester leaves the hovel to seek help. Lear, now fully mad, conducts a mock trial of Gonoril and Regan (not in Tragedy) then sleeps. Gloucester, reporting ‘a plot of death’ against the King, arranges for him to be carried in a litter to Dover. Edgar, left alone, reflects on the situation (not in Tragedy).
Sc. 14 (3.7) Preparing to take revenge on Gloucester, Cornwall sends Edmund away. Oswald reports that Lear, with a party of his knights, is on his way to Dover. Edmund leaves with Gonoril, and Cornwall gives orders for Gloucester to be bound and brought before him. Gloucester is tied to a chair and Regan plucks him by the beard as they interrogate him about the King’s whereabouts. Provoked beyond endurance, Gloucester admits that he has sent Lear to Dover to protect him from his evil daughters. Sadistically, Cornwall puts out one of Gloucester’s eyes. A servant who protests is stabbed to death by Regan, and Cornwall, injured in the fight, puts out Gloucester’s other eye. When Gloucester calls on the absent Edmund for help, Regan reveals that it was he who told them of the help that Gloucester had given Lear. Gloucester now realizes that Edgar had been tricked. A horrified servant says he will get Tom o’Bedlam to lead Gloucester on his way to Dover, and another that he will fetch ‘flax and whites of eggs | To apply to his bleeding face’ (not in Tragedy).
Sc. 15 (4.1) The disguised Edgar encounters his father being led by an old man. Gloucester calls upon the supposedly absent Edgar for help. Edgar comes forward and his father asks him to lead him to the edge of Dover Cliff.
Sc. 16 (4.2) Gonoril welcomes Edmund. Oswald reports that her husband Albany, much changed, is refusing to oppose ‘the army that was landed’. She sends Edmund to expedite Cornwall’s opposition, giving Edmund a token of her love and kissing him. Albany enters and expresses horror at what the sisters have done to their father, prophesying that the heavens will take revenge. A gentleman brings news of Gloucester’s blinding and reports that Cornwall has died of his wounds. Gonoril reveals fear that Regan may seduce Edmund.
Sc. 17 (not in Tragedy) Kent asks a gentleman why France has returned home and whether the letters describing Lear’s plight moved Cordelia. The Gentleman describes Cordelia’s sorrowful reaction. Kent remarks that Lear, in his more lucid moments, is too ashamed to see Cordelia.
Sc. 18 (4.3) Cordelia (entering with an army, Tragedy) sends soldiers to seek the mad King. A messenger brings news that the British armies are approaching. Cordelia declares that she is acting out of love for her father, not personal ambition.
Sc. 19 (4.4) The jealous Regan tries to persuade Oswald to reveal the contents of letters he is carrying from Gonoril to Edmund. She sends a token to Edmund by Oswald and offers promotion to anyone who will kill Gloucester.
Sc. 20 (4.5) Edgar persuades a suspicious Gloucester that they are close to the edge of Dover Cliff and invents a description of the view. Believing himself on the verge, Gloucester prays and leaps forward. Speaking in a different accent, Edgar approaches him as if he really had fallen. Gloucester repents his suicide attempt. Lear enters, madly reliving episodes from his past, inveighing against female sexuality and reflecting on justice and authority in a poignant mixture of reason and madness. Gloucester recognizes his voice and pays homage, and Edgar looks on, moved. Gentlemen arrive to take Lear to Cordelia, but he evades capture. Edgar asks about the impending battle and starts to lead Gloucester to safety. Oswald enters, recognizes Gloucester, and hopes to kill him so as to gain the promised reward, but Edgar fights and kills him. Dying, Oswald asks him to take the letters he is carrying to Edmund. Edgar searches his pockets and finds a letter in which Gonoril incites Edmund to kill her husband.
Sc. 21 (4.6) Kent, still in disguise, encounters Cordelia. A doctor (not in Tragedy) and gentleman ask if they may awaken Lear, and he is revealed (carried in, Tragedy) asleep, freshly arrayed. They wake him (to the accompaniment of music, History). At first Lear believes he is dead and that Cordelia is an angel, but slowly he comes to himself and recognizes her. He kneels to her in penitence, and she asks his blessing.
Sc. 22 (5.1) Amid preparations for war, Regan asks Edmund if he has seduced Gonoril. He replies evasively. Edgar, now disguised as a peasant, gives Albany a letter to open before the battle, claiming that, if Albany wins, Edgar will produce a champion who will bring to pass what the letter claims. Edmund admits to the audience that he has sworn love to both sisters and declares that he will have no mercy on Lear and Cordelia if they fall within his power.
Sc. 23 (5.3) The French (an, Tragedy) army, led by Cordelia with Lear, passes across the stage. Edgar, still disguised as a peasant, leaves his blind father in a safe place. Noises of battle are heard. Edgar, returning with news that Lear has lost and is captured with Cordelia, leads his father away.
Sc. 24 (5.3) Edmund enters with Lear and Cordelia captives, and they are led to prison. Edmund instructs a captain to follow them and to obey the orders in a note which he gives him. Albany instructs Edmund to hand over his captives. Edmund explains that he has sent them to prison. Albany says he had no right to make a decision. Regan and Gonoril vie in defending his action. Regan, saying that she is unwell, claims Edmund as her husband. Albany arrests Edmund and Gonoril on charges of high treason. Albany challenges Edmund. Regan becomes more sick, and Gonoril in an aside reveals that she has poisoned her. A herald reads a challenge on behalf of Edmund. The disguised Edgar answers it. They fight and Edgar wins. Gonoril opposes the decision but flounces off when Albany produces her letter to Edmund. Edgar reveals his identity and tells of his father’s death (and of how Kent, finding them together, was so overcome with grief that he collapsed: not in Tragedy). A gentleman enters with news of Gonoril’s suicide and Regan’s death. Kent’s entry in his own person to say farewell to Lear reminds Albany of Lear and Cordelia. The bodies of the evil sisters are brought on to the stage. Edmund, dying, repents and reveals that he has given orders for Lear and Cordelia to be killed. A servant is sent to try to countermand the order, but Lear enters with Cordelia in his arms. He seeks for signs that she is alive and reveals that he killed her murderer. Kent identifies himself. News arrives that Edmund is dead. Albany offers to give up the kingdom to Lear, who dies, grieving over Cordelia’s body. Albany asks Kent and Edgar to rule, but Kent says he must follow his master. Albany (Edgar in Tragedy) rounds off the play, commending stoicism and integrity.
Artistic features: Though occasionally relieved by touches of humour, this is Shakespeare’s most profoundly and philosophically intense drama, often dense in expression though with shafts of sublime simplicity, especially in Lear’s reunion and reconciliation with Cordelia. It is his only tragedy with a fully developed sub-plot, or parallel story, the physical suffering of Gloucester, culminating in his blinding, running alongside the mental torment of Lear, culminating in madness. Shakespeare seems consciously to withdraw all sense of period, avoiding the Christian frame of reference which is notable in Hamlet, and of locality: even Dover is an idea rather than a place. The influence of the morality tradition is apparent in the exceptionally black and white characterization. Lear’s Fool represents Shakespeare’s most subtle and poignant development of this type of character. The play calls for acting of the highest quality but otherwise makes no exceptional demands; with doubling, it could be acted by thirteen men and three boys, and the staging calls for no special effects except an upper level at only one point.
Critical history: Nahum *Tate’s adaptation The *History of King Lear, a skilful piece of theatrical writing which evades the play’s tragic issues, held the stage from 1681 to 1845, influencing the perceptions even of critics such as *Johnson, *Hazlitt, *Coleridge, and *Lamb who acknowledged the original play’s sublimity but doubted its theatrical validity. A. C. *Bradley too, though he wrote eloquently on the play in Shakespearean Tragedy as ‘the fullest revelation of Shakespeare’s power’, considered it ‘not his best play’. At the same time, *Tolstoy vitriolically attacked Lear, eccentrically stating a preference for King Leir. *Granville-Barker’s ‘Preface’, of 1927, successfully refutes Lamb’s criticism of the play’s actability. From G. *Wilson Knight 1930 onwards the play’s literary qualities have provoked much fine criticism from critics including R. B. Heilman, W. H. Clemen, and Winifred Nowottny. Twentieth-century critics including J. F. Danby, Barbara Everett, W. R. Elton, Jan Kott, and many others concentrated on the question of whether the play embodies fundamentally Christian values or is fundamentally pessimistic. Other topics of discussion and, sometimes, controversy have included the play’s structure, its relationship to the morality tradition, the credibility of, especially, the opening scene, whether the blinding of Gloucester and the death of Cordelia are dramatically justifiable, and whether Lear dies happily or in despair. Critics such as Maynard Mack and Marvin Rosenberg have drawn on the play’s performance history, and more recent criticism includes studies relating it to feminist, historicist, and materialist issues. It has also stimulated important scholarly studies feeding into criticism by for example W. W. Greg, Enid Welsford, Peter W. M. Blayney, Gary Taylor, and R. A. Foakes, along with numerous pictorial, dramatic, and fictional offshoots.
Performance history The only recorded early performance is the one given at court on 26 December 1606. The play was acted after the Restoration, but from 1681 to 1838 in England, and to 1875 in America, all performances adopted or modified Nahum Tate’s adaptation, which cuts around 800 lines, modernizes the language, omits the Fool and France, adds a love story between Edgar and Cordelia, and preserves the lives of Kent, Gloucester, and Lear. David *Garrick triumphed as Lear, and the play was adapted into French and German during the 18th century. In the Romantic period *Kemble and *Kean were outstanding in the title role. *Macready restored the Fool, played by a woman, in 1838, and the Italian *Salvini played in a shortened translation from 1882. Henry *Irving, in 1892, cut nearly half of the text. The first French production of the unadapted text was acted in 1904. *Komisarjevsky directed the play successfully at Stratford in 1936. Barker translated the principles of his ‘Preface’ into theatrical terms in an almost uncut text given in Elizabethan costume with John *Gielgud as Lear at the Old Vic in 1940. Donald *Wolfit was an admired Lear during the 1940s and 1950s. Peter *Brook directed Paul *Scofield in an influential Stratford production of 1962; more recent outstanding British Lears have included Brian Cox (National Theatre, 1990), Robert *Stephens (Stratford, 1993), Ian *Holm (National, 1997), David *Warner (Chichester, 2005), Ian *McKellen (RSC, 2007), Derek Jacobi (Donmar, 2010), and Simon *Russell Beale (National, 2014).
Stanley Wells
On the screen: The most memorable film versions of Lear are the two made for cinema by Peter *Brook (1971) and Grigori *Kozintsev (1969), and Michael Elliott’s production for Granada Television (1983). Both Brook and Kozintsev selected remarkably articulate locations to project the world of the play, Brook’s landscape being one of ice and snow, Kozintsev’s one of stony barrenness. While Brook infuses his film with moments of Brechtian alienation, reminding the viewer of the medium with written captions, Kozintsev’s film explores, with no over-indulgence, the emotional dimensions of the play and (unlike Brook, who eschews it) gives music (composed by Shostakovich) a major function. There is, too, a great disparity in the portrayals of Lear. Brook’s Lear (Paul *Scofield) gives the impression of immense stature, and curtails the range of emotional expression in the lines. Kozintsev chose the Estonian Yuri Yarvet for his Lear. Physically small and unable to speak Russian, Yarvet impressed Kozintsev as ideal for Lear because of his eyes.
Michael Elliott’s Granada production captures a rare side of Lear, played with compassion and a captivating autumnal radiance by the 75-year-old Laurence *Olivier. Jonathan *Miller’s BBC TV production (1982) stressed the domestic dimensions of the tragedy, with Michael *Hordern moving about the rather confined space like a father but not like a king.
Akira *Kurosawa’s Ran (1985) is a powerful and visually splendid adaptation of the play, with Lear’s daughters transposed into the sons of the old warrior lord Hidetora.
Anthony Davies