Book
King Lear
First published 1623
The ageing King Lear decides to divide his realm among his three daughters according to public declarations of love. He rewards Goneril and Regan and disinherits Cordelia, setting in motion a collapse of family authority and political order that is mirrored by the Earl of Gloucester’s conflict with his sons Edgar and Edmund.
Driven from shelter and exposed to the storm, Lear gradually recognises the human cost of his earlier pride. The tragedy uses a legendary pre-Roman Britain rather than documented history, but its divided kingdom, competing inheritances and civil violence create a stark study of sovereignty, filial obligation and the consequences of surrendering power without surrendering the expectation of obedience.
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