KING LEAR (Notes) 
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR  
 
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)was an English playwright, 
poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language 
and  the  world's  greatest  dramatist. He  is  often  called  England's national 
poet and  the  "Bard  of  Avon"  (or  simply  "the  Bard"). His  extant  works, 
including collaborations,  consist  of  some 39  plays, 154  sonnets,  two 
long narrative  poems,  and  a  few  other  verses,  some  of  uncertain  authorship. 
His  plays  have  been translated into  every  major living  language and  are 
performed more often than those of any other playwright. They also continue 
to be studied and reinterpreted. 
 
CHARACTER LIST 
 
• King Lear : King of Britain 
• Goneril : Lear’s eldest daughter 
• Regan : Lear’s second daughter 
• Cordelia : Lear’s youngest daughter 
• The Duke of Albany : Nobleman, Husband of Goneril 
• The Duke of Cornwall: Nobleman, Husband of Regan 
• The Earl of Kent :Advisor to Lear 
 
Genre : Tragedy 
Time And Place Written :  England, 1604–1605 
Date Of First Publication : First Folio edition, 1623 
Protagonist : Lear, king of Britain 
Antagonists : Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan 
Setting (Time)  : Eighth century b.c. 
Setting (Place) : Various locations in England 
Foreshadowing : Goneril and Regan’s plotting in Act 1 foreshadows their later 
cruel treatment of Lear. 
Tone : Serious and tragic 
THEMES 
Father‐ daughter relationship 
The relationships between King Lear and his three daughters play a critical role 
in the events of the play. Lear has dysfunctional relationships with all three of 
his  daughters,  resulting  primarily  from  his  overbearing  demands  that  they 
should  love  only  him.  The  relationships  with  his  two  older  daughters 
deteriorate,  and  for  much  of  the  play  Lear  is  estranged  from  his  youngest 
daughter. Although Shakespeare demonizes the two older daughters to a large 
extent,  the  text  itself  suggests  that  Lear  is  primarily  responsible  for  the 
dysfunctional nature of the father/daughter relationships in the play. The way 
Lear’s  two  older  daughters  treat  him  mirrors  Lear’s  own  treatment  of  them. 
Ultimately, Lear fails to treat his daughters well, and then goes mad when they 
do not treat him well in return. 
 
Theme of Love 
True love or real love is a central element in the play and is established by True 
love. Loyalty and loyalty are opposed by selfish love and treachery. The theme 
of  love  enters  the  play  in  its  early  stages  when  shows  that  he  doesn’t 
understand the concept of real love. This is indicated by his setting up of verbal 
love test in the attempt to establish the extent of his daughters love for him. 
 
Justice 
King  Lear is  a  brutal  play,  filled  with  human  cruelty  and  awful,  seemingly 
meaningless  disasters.  The  play’s  succession  of  terrible  events  raises  an 
obvious question for the characters—namely, whether there is any possibility 
of  justice  in  the  world,  or  whether  the  world  is  fundamentally  indifferent  or 
even hostile to humankind.  
But,  in  the  end,  we  are  left  with  only  a  terrifying  uncertainty—although  the 
wicked  die,  the  good  die  along  with  them,  culminating  in  the  awful  image  of 
Lear cradling Cordelia’s body in his arms. There is goodness in the world of the 
play,  but  there  is  also  madness  and  death,  and  it  is  difficult  to  tell  which 
triumphs in the end. 
 
Authority versus Chaos 
King  Lear is  about  political  authority  as  much  as  it  is  about  family  dynamics. 
Lear is not only a father but also a king, and when he gives away his authority 
to the unworthy and evil Goneril and Regan, he delivers not only himself and 
his  family  but  all  of  Britain  into  chaos  and  cruelty.  As  the  two  wicked  sisters 
indulge  their  appetite  for  power  and  Edmund  begins  his  own  ascension,  the 
kingdom descends into civil strife, and we realize that Lear has destroyed not 
only his own authority but all authority in Britain. The stable, hierarchal order 
that Lear initially represents falls apart and disorder engulfs the realm. 
The failure of authority in the face of chaos recurs in Lear’s wanderings on the 
heath during the storm. Witnessing the powerful forces of the natural world, 
Lear comes to understand that he, like the rest of humankind, is insignificant in 
the world. This realization proves much more important than the realization of 
his  loss  of  political  control,  as  it  compels  him  to  re‐prioritize  his  values  and 
become humble and caring. With this newfound understanding of himself, Lear 
hopes to be able to confront the chaos in the political realm as well. 
 
SUMMARY IN BULLETS  
 Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and 
divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters.  
 First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell 
him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, 
give  their  father  flattering  answers.  But  Cordelia,  Lear’s  youngest  and 
favorite  daughter,  remains  silent,  saying  that  she  has  no  words  to 
describe  how  much  she  loves  her  father.  Lear  flies  into  a  rage  and 
disowns Cordelia.  
 The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to 
marry  her  even  without  her  land,  and  she  accompanies  him  to  France 
without her father’s blessing. 
 Lear  quickly  learns  that  he  made  a  bad  decision.  Goneril  and  Regan 
swiftly  begin  to  undermine  the  little  authority  that  Lear  still  holds. 
Unable  to  believe  that  his  beloved  daughters  are  betraying  him,  Lear 
slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters’ houses to wander on a heath 
during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by Kent, a loyal nobleman in 
disguise. 
 In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia to 
save her father.  
  Lear and Cordelia are captured. Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s 
passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the 
country under a cloud of sorrow and regret. 
EXTRA QUESTIONS Pg 170 – Pg 172 
1)  Who is Kent? 
2) What does Kent of Earl try to explain ? 
3) What does Kent ask King Lear to do? 
4) Does Kent  support King  Lear's  decision?  What  does  he call  his  decision 
as?v 
 
EXTRA QUESTIONS (Pg 173) 
1) How does King Lear that he made a bad decision? 
2) Who are Goneril and Regan ? 
 
EXTRA QUESTIONS (Pg 174/175) 
1) What does Kent tell to Regan and Goneril? 
2) How is King Lear treated by Regan and Goneril? 
3) What does King of France do? 
4) Was Cordelia able to find her father? 
5) Who dies at the end of the play and why? 
 
QUICK RECAP ‐ SUMMARY IN BULLET POINTS 
 King Lear puts his daughters through a test. 
 Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia.  
 The king of France marries Cordelia (even without her land). 
 Lear  quickly  learns  that  he  made  a  bad  decision.  Goneril  and  Regan 
swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. 
 
 

Making connections  

1.    a.  King  Lear  decided  to  divide  his  kingdom  into  three  parts  and  distribute 
the    three parts amongst his daughters.  

b. Goneril  tells  Lear  that  she  loves  her  father  as  much  as  any  daughter 
loves her father and also that her love for him is so great that it makes 
 her breathless and speechless, while Regan, his second daughter, agrees 
with her sister and also adds that nothing gives her more joy than loving 
her father. 
 
c. Cordelia,  unlike  her  two  sisters,  decides  to  say  the  truth  and  tells  Lear 
that as his daughter, it is her duty to love, honour and obey her father, 
and  she  does  that  with  all  her  heart.  
King  Lear  is  disappointed  with 
Cordelia’s reply and he denounces her and declares that she would not 
receive any portion of his kingdom from him. 
 
d. The Earl of Kent argues with Lear since he believes that Lear’s two elder 
daughters are flattering the king and telling him lies. He realizes that he 
has  fallen  prey  to  their  lies,  whereas  Cordelia,  who  has  been  honest 
about her feelings with her father, has been denounced. The Earl of Kent 
believes  that  Lear  must  realize  that  Cordelia  loves  him  most  and  truly, 
while  his  two  elder  daughters  are  merely  flattering  him  to  get  him  to 
give away his kingdom to them. 
 

2. a. Goneril says this to her father, King Lear.  


b.  Lear  asked  Goneril  how  much  she  loves  him  and  the  portion  of  the 
kingdom that she was to get from Lear depended on whether Lear liked her 
reply or not, so she decides to use these flattering words.  

   c. Goneril by referring to ‘a love that makes breath poor’ tries to convey 
that her love for her father is so great that it makes it rather difficult for her 
to breathe.  

3. a.
Cordelia is the speaker of the first line.

b. Cordelia, when asked by her father to explain her love for him, decides
to say this because in her heart she felt that her love for her father was
greater than that expressed by either of her two elder sisters and that it
could not be explained through words.
c. As a result of such a response from Cordelia, King Lear is disappointed
and upset because Cordelia was his favourite. Hence, he decides to
denounce her as his daughter and give no part of his kingdom to her.
4. a. These words spoken by Lear mean that after giving one third of his
kingdom to his eldest daughter and another one third to Regan, he had
planned of placing the remaining portion under Cordeila’s care.
b. The ‘dragon’ being referred to here is King Lear himself. Lear is called
the dragon since he is very upset with Cordelia’s reply and hence is
seething with anger, much like a dragon that emits flames when it is angry.
c. King Lear finally declares to the Earl of Kent that he has decided to
denounce Cordelia as his daughter and give the remaining portion of his
kingdom to his other two daughters and instead of to her.
5. Cordelia decides to respond to her father’s questions in a different
manner than her two sisters since she feels that her love for her father is so
great that is impossible to communicate it in words. So she chooses to
speak as few words as possible, expressing her love for her father as best
as she can. She does the correct thing because she does not flatter her
father with the hope of getting a large portion of his kingdom. Instead, she
believes that the love she has for her father is so pure that it cannot be
expressed in words and therefore, refrains from using falsity and
exaggeration for her own petty benefit.

6.King Lear who had already fallen prey 
to Goneril and Regan’s flattery,
was disappointed with the simple words in which his youngest daughter
Cordelia chooses to express her love for him. 
King Lear makes a wrong
decision when he falls prey to the flattery of his two eldest daughters. He
is unable to understand his youngest child’s heart and refuses to credit her
simple words of love. Although an old and astute king, Lear fails to
discern between truth and treachery, and goes on to divide his kingdom
between his two eldest daughters and denounces Cordelia and his
relationship with her. 


7.The Earl of Kent rises in Cordelia’s defense because he believes in the

8.Even though Kent feels it is his responsibility to point out the error his
king is making, he still has a lot of respect for the position of the monarch
and for the person Lear is, and therefore, does not openly go against his
king to whom he owes his loyalty and allegiance. This suggests that Kent
is loyal not only to Lear as a person, he also respects the position Lear
occupies. This shows Kent as a person who always tries to do the right
thing and can be trusted to do so under any circumstances. 


9.Goneril, Regan and Cordelia are King Lear’s daughters but their
temperaments and characters are rather different from one another’s. This
becomes clear to us through the speeches they make about how much they
love their father. When Lear asks Goneril about her love for him, she says
that it is so great that it leaves her speechless and breathless. Similarly
when Regan is asked the same question, she says that she completely
agrees with her sister and adds that this love gives her greater joy than any
other thing in the world. Although their speeches suggest that they are
speaking falsehoods and are flattering their father in order to lay their
hands on two-thirds of his kingdom, their father is unable to understand
the truth. It is clear that they are greedy by nature. Cordelia, by nature, is
honest and believes that no words are enough to describe her love for her
father and hence, she chooses to say that as his daughter it is her duty to
love, obey and honour him, and that is the true extent of her love for him.
She does not take recourse to flattery. She is not greedy and her father’s
love means more to her than the kingdom he owns. She is tongue-tied and
awkward because this is an unnatural question to ask because loving one’s
father is perhaps one of the most important yet ordinary things that a child
does.