King Lear divides his kingdom between his three daughters, favoring flattery over truth. This causes him to disinherit his honest daughter Cordelia and bring ruin to himself and the kingdom. Parallel to this is the story of Gloucester, who is betrayed by his illegitimate son Edmund, causing his downfall. Both old kings are driven mad by their daughters' betrayal and cruelty.

1. King Lear
Three daughters.
Two liars.
A king grown old, but not wise.
“POWER IS THE PRIZE, BUT POWER SHALL BE DAMNED BY LIES”
“FATE LOVES A FOOL”

2. King Lear
• Tragedy centering on the decline and fall of a dysfunctional royal family.

3. Parallel Plots
King Lear Gloucester
Aging father (patriarch) Aging father (patriarch)
Imperious gullible
Tyrannical
Capricious
Each sees his children through a distorted lens, turning against the child who truly loves him,
unleashing in the others greed, lust, ambition.

4. Hamartia
 Aristotilian term
 The error of the tragic protagonist
 Does not have to be a character flaw, could be a mistake or failure to take a particular action

5. Theme
 Love, betrayal, revenge, loyalty, and foolishness
 All things are not as they appear
 Greed and lust for power corrupt human beings and bring their downfall
 Fate turns humans into playthings
 Candor has a sharp edge
 Advanced age and wisdom do not go hand in hand
 Suffering can transform a contemptible human being into a good person

6. Motifs
 Blindness 2..minf and eyes..gloucesetr was blind .
 Madness
 Nature and order
 Animals

7. Cast of Characters
Lear: King of Britain
His daughters
- Goneril - Regan - Cordelia
Earl of Gloucester
His sons
- Edmund (the illegitimate) - Edgar
Kent husband of daughtr
Cornwall same

8. Act 1, Scene 1
 Earl of Gloucester introduces Edmund (illegitimate son) to Earl of Kent, mentions legitimate son
(Edgar).
 King Lear intends to divide his power and kingdom among his three daughters:
Goneril (married to Duke of Albany)
Regan (married toDuke of Cornwall)
Cordelia (intened to marry Duke of Burgundy) but he doesn’t marry her
 demands they publicly profess their love for him
 Cordelia refuses to put on a show; Goneril & Regan get kingdom divided btw them
 Cordelia gets France, but is disinherited.
 Earl of Kent banished upon arguing with Lear for his treatment of Cordelia.

9. Act 1, Scene 2
• Edmund (illegitimate) decides to steal Edgar’s (legitimate) inheritance.
• Fools father (Gloucester) using a fake letter.
• Fools Edgar as well.

10. Act 1, Scene 3
Goneril -- bad daughter -- decides to humble her father, orders Oswald to treat him badly.

11. Act 1, Scene 4
• The banished Earl of Kent arrives in disguise to serve Lear
• The fool enters and mocks the king for banishing his good daughter and elevating his two bad
ones

12. Act 1, Scene 4
Original Modernized
Have more than thou showest, Have more than you show
Speak less than thou knowest Speak less than you know
Lend less than thou owest, Lend less than you owe.
Ride more than thou goest, Ride more than you walk
Learn more than thou trowest, Don’t believe everything you hear,
Set less than thou throwest, Don’t bet everything on one throw of the dice,
Leave thy drink and thy whore Leave behind your booze and your whore,
And keep in a door, And stay indoors,
And thou shalt have more And you’ll end up with more
Than two tens to a score. Than two tens to a twenty

13. Act 1, Scene 4
Lear: Why no, boy. Nothing can be made out of nothing.
Act 1, Sc 1 to Cordelia: “Nothing will come of nothing.”
The word nothing and the idea of “nothingness” becomes a refrain throughout the play.
 Latin: ex nihilo nihil fit
 Existentialism - the idea that, although there is no controlling force in the universe (i.e. no
God), individuals have the power to make their own destiny.
 Nihilism - the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is
meaningless.

14. Act 1, Scene 4
The Fool mocks the King for halving his Kingdom.
Original Modernized
Thou madest thy daughters thy mothers. For when
thou gavest them the rod, and pust’st down thine
own breeches
You made your daughters into your mothers by
given them all your power. That’s when you gave
them the spanking paddle and pulled your pants
down.
Thou hast pared thy wit o’ both sides and left
nothing i’th’ middle
When you gave away pieces of your kingdom, it’s as
if you cut off pieces on both sides of your brain and
left nothing in the middle.
I am a fool. Thou art nothing I’m a fool and you’re nothing

15. Act 1, Scene 4
Goneril scolds Lear, demands halfing his men.
Lear decides to visit other daughter.
Albany protests Goneril’s behavior, is silenced.

16. Act 1, Scene 4
 Goneril scolds Lear, demands halfing his men.
 Lear realizes her ingratitude and begs the Gods to make her sterile
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”
Laments that maybe Cordelia’s flaw wasn’t all that bad
“Oh most small fault, how ugly didst thou in Cordelia show”
Lear decides to stay with his other daughter
“Who I am sure is kind and comfortable…”
Goneril sends Oswald with letter to Regan.

17. Act 1, Scene 5
 Lear sends Kent with letter to Regan.
 Fool again taunts his master, Lear.

18. Act 2, Scene 1
 Edmund tricks Edgar into appearing -- in front of Gloucester -- to fight.
 Gloucester vows to legitimize Edmund and capture/kill Edgar.
Concerning Edgar: “I never got him”, meaning, “He cannot truly be my son”
Concerning Edmund: “Loyal and natural boy…”, meaning: “My loyal and true son”

19. Act 2, Scene 1
 Regan and Cornwall arrive.
 Edmund tells Regan that Edgar was friends with Lear’s rowdy knights
 Cornwall and Regan are pleased with Edmund and take him on as a servant/companion (similar
to Kent and Lear)
For you, Edmund, whose virtue and obedience doth this instant so much comment itself, you
shall be ours.

20. Act 2, Scene 2
 Outside Gloucester’s castle, Kent beats Oswald.
• Kent shows some of the stubbornness and impetuousness that led King Lear to banish him in
the first place
 Tyrannical Cornwall punishes Kent; Gloucester protests weakly
• “I’m sorry for thee friend, tis the duke’s pleasure, whose disposition, all the world well knows,
will not be rubbed nor stopped.
 Kent ponders a letter from Cordelia, who knows of her father’s situation and vows to find a way
to fix things

21. Act 2, Scene 3
 Edgar escapes capture by hiding in a tree.
 While hiding he learns that he is to be killed.
 Disguises himself as Tom O’Bedlam; a crazy, disgusting beggar
 His new name gives him a new identity.
 “As Edgar, I am nothing”

22. Act 2, Scene 4
 Lear and the Fool arrive at Gloucester’s castle (seeking Regan), sees Kent in stocks.
 Lear’s heart (literal)
• “O, how this mother swells us toward my heart! Hysteria passio, down, thou climbing sorrow.
• O me, my heart, my rising heart! But down.
•O Regan, she hath tied shar-toothed unkindness, like a vulture, here. (indicates his heart)
 Regan and Cornwall free Kent.

23. Act 2, Scene 4
The Fool’s speech… Foreshadowing?
Original Modernized
Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way. This story bodes more stormy weather.
Fathers that wear rags Father who wear rags
Do make their children blind. Make their children neglect them.
But fathers that bear bags But fathers who are rich
Shall see their children kind. Make their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore Lady Luck is a fickle wore
Ne’er turns the key to th’ poor. And never gives the poor a break.
But for all this thou shalt have as many doors for thy
daughters as thou canst tell in a year.
But despite all this, your daughters will give you a
lot of money-or do I mean pain? –in the coming
year.

24. Act 2, Scene 4
Original Modernized
That sir which serves and seeks for gain, That gentleman who serves you only for profit
And follows but for form, And is only superficially loyal to you
Will pack when it begins to rain you Will take off when it starts to rain
And leave thee in the storm. And leave you alone in the storm.

25. Act 2, Scene 4
 Regan defends Goneril’s actions; Goneril arrives; they both demand he give up his retainers.
 Lear rages into a storm followed by his Fool and Gloucester.

26. Act 3, Scene 1
 Kent discovers that Lear is madly in the storm.
 Kent asks the gentleman to inform Cordelia, who as arrived at Dover with a French army

27. Act 3, Scene 1
The gentleman re Lear: ominous much?
Original Modernized
Contending with the fretful elements. Bids the
winds blow the earth into the sea Or swell the
curlèd water 'bove the main, That things might
change or cease. Tears his white hair, Which the
impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage, Catch in their
fury and make nothing of. Strives in his little world
of man to outscorn The to-and-fro–conflicting wind
and rain. This night—wherein the cub-drawn bear
would couch, The lion and the belly-pinchèd wolf
Keep their fur dry—unbonneted he runs, And bids
what will take all.
Struggling with the wind and rain. He’s shouting at
the wind to blow the earth into the sea, or make
the sea flood the earth—he wants to see the world
return to primal chaos. He keeps tearing out his
white hair, which the blindly raging winds catch up
and blow away into nothingness. Small but brave in
his surroundings, he’s trying to stand up against the
wind and rain blowing back and forth. He’s running
bareheaded, calling for the end of the world, out
there on a night like this, when even savage animals
ravenous with hunger crawl under cover and hide.

28. Act 3, Scene 2
Lear raves
In a moment of lucidity he realizes he is not acting normally:
“My wits begin to turn”
Kent arrives, takes him to nearby shelter.
Fool predicts bad things to happen.

29. Act 3, Scene 3
Gloucester tells Edmund that Cornwall forbids him to help Lear.
He confides in Edmund that he will help him anyway and bids him to go to Cornwall to distract
him so he will not be aware that Gloucester is helping Lear
Edmund decides to inform on his father
This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the duke
Instantly know, and of that letter too.
This seems a fair deserving, and must
draw me That which my father loses—no
less than all. The younger rises when the
old doth fall.
I’ll tell the duke right away that you’re
going to see the king, which is forbidden.
And I’ll tell him about the letter too.
You’ll get what you deserve, and I’ll be
rewarded with everything you lose—in
other words, all your lands. The young
generation rises while the old one falls.

30. Act 3, Scene 4
Lear, Kent, and the Fool approach the shelter (hovel).
Fool goes in, comes out afraid of Tom O’Bedlam (Edgar).
Lear and Edgar commiserate.
Gloucester appears, offers shelter, warns Kent that Regan and Goneril want to kill Lear.

31. Act 3, Scene 4
Existential Idea?
Original Modernized
Thou art the thing itself.
Unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor,
bare, forked animal as thou art.—
Off, off, you lendings!
Come. Unbutton here. (tears at his clothes)
You’re the real thing.
The human being unburdened by the trappings of
civilization is no more than a poor, naked, two-
legged animal like you.
Off with these clothes borrowed from animals! Let
me unbutton this. (he tears at his clothes)

32. Act 3, Scene 4
Psychoanalytic Idea?
Original Moderized
“What has his daughters brough him to this pass?-
Couldst thou save thingh?Wouldst thou give ‘em
all?”
Have his daughters made him crazy like this?—
Couldn’t you have kept something for yourself? Did
you have to give them everything?

33. Act 3, Scene 4
Archetypal
Consider the metaphorical resonances of:
Storms
Confusion
Chaos
Rain
Cleansing
Baptism

34. Act 3, Scene 5
Edmund reveals to Cornwall his father, Gloucester’s, dealing with French army.
Cornwall strips Gloucester of his title and gives it to Edmund
Cornwall orders Gloucester to be arrested.
Cornwall puts even more trust in Edmund, taking him on as his own son.

35. Act 3, Scene 6
Gloucester leaves them.
Lear acts out an imaginary trial of his daughters.
Gloucester returns with warning; Kent and Fool take sleeping Lear away.
Edgar stays behind; he feels bad for the king, even though he is suffering a similar bad situation.
Who alone suffers, suffers most I’ th’ mind The person who suffers alone suffers the most

36. Act 3, Scene 7
Gloucester, arrested, is sent to Regan/Cornwall.
Cornwalls blinds Gloucester.
A loyal servant attacks Cornwall. The servant is killed.
Other servants take Gloucester to wandering madman (Edgar) to escape.

37. Act 4, Scene 1
Gloucester is led to Edgar.
Edgar continues as Tom O’Bedlam, agrees to lead Gloucester to the cliffs of Dover.

38. Act 4, Scene 2
Oswald meets Goneril and Edmund.
Albany likes Cordelia’s invasion, dislikes Gloucester’s situation.
Goneril sends Edmund to Cornwall to gather an army; hints of plot against Albany.
Messenger arrives, tells of Cornwall’s death, Gloucester’s blinding.
Aside, Goneril is jealous of Regan about Edmund.
Aside, Albany vows revenge for Gloucester.

39. Act 4, Scene 3
In Dover, the gentleman tells Kent about Cordelia’s reaction about Lear’s situation.
Kent says that Lear is nearby but ashamed to see his daughter, Cordelia.

40. Act 4, Scene 3
Existential Idea
Original Modernizeed
It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our
conditions.
It must be fate that makes us who we are—
otherwise someone as good as
Else one self mate and mate could not beget Such
different issues.
Cordelia could not possibly be related to those two
witches.

41. Act 4, Scene 4
Cordelia orders a search party for Lear.
Albany and Cornwall’s armies approach.

42. Act 4, Scene 5
Oswald tells Regan that Goneril convinced Albany to fight Cordelia.
Letter from Goneril to Edmund makes Regan jealous; says that it makes more sense for Edmund
to marry her now that her husband is dead
Regan gives Oswald her own token, tells him to kill Gloucester for reward.

43. Act 4, Scene 6
Edgar convinces Gloucester that he has jumped and survived the cliffs at Dover.
Gloucester accepts his affliction.
Lear appears, raving.
Search party takes Lear to Cordelia.
Oswald appears, attacks Gloucester, is killed by Edgar. While dying, gives letters to Edgar.
Letters (from Goneril for Edmund) propose Albany’s death and their marriage.

44. Act 4, Scene 7
Cordelia greets Lear.
Lear mistakes her for a spirit.
Kent and the gentleman talk about upcoming battle

45. Act 5, Scene 1
Regan corners Edmund about Goneril.
Edgar appears, in disguise, gives Albany letters; proposes a challenger after the battle to
prove/disprove letters.
Edmund needs Albany’s military leadership but hopes he dies after battle.
Albany has proposed mercy, Edmund will not allow it.

46. Act 5, Scene 2
Edgar goes to fight in battle.
Fleeing soldiers, and Edgar, pass by Gloucester, informing him of Cordelia and Lear’s defeat and
capture.
Gloucester and Edgar flee.

47. Act 5, Scene 3
Edmund sends Cordelia and Lear to prison (with orders to have them killed in an apparent
murder- suicide).
Albany, Regan, Goneril arrive.
Albany arrests Edmund and Goneril for treason. Regan is poisoned, leaves.

48. Act 5, Scene 3
Edgar appears in full armor, fights Edmund, who is wounded.
Albany shows letter, Goneril leaves
Dying Edmund confesses.
Edgar reveals himself, tells of his revelation to Gloucester, which shocked and killed him.

49. And then…
A report arrives that Goneril poisoned Regan and killed herself.
Soldier is sent to stop Lear and Cordelia’s deaths.
Lear carries in Cordelia’s body, mad again.
Edmund dies.

50. Finally
Albany will return kingdom to Lear.
Lear “sees” Cordelia breathing, then dies.
Albany orders funerals, Kent and Edgar to assist in ruling kingdom.
Kent predicts his own death.

51. Dramatic Conventions
Aside – Private words that a character in a play speaks to the audience or to another character
and that are not supposed to be overheard by others onstage. Stage directions usually tell when
a speech is an aside.
Soliloquy – A long speech in which a character who is usually alone onstage expresses his or her
private thoughts or feelings.
Monologue – A long formal speech made by a character in a play. A monologue may be directed
at another character or the audience.