... left standing at the end of the play is the truest measure of the greatness of King Lear and the tragic nature of his story. No ending of a Shakespeare play captures more perfectly the fundamental contrast at work in tragedy between the ordinary human beings who are content to stay within the limits of the conventional world and the heroic souls who try to go beyond them. Notes 1 In his ... great pathos in his reunion with Cordelia. The dramatic movement of King Lear is so extraordinary, the contrast between Lear at the beginning and at the end of the play is so great, that we must be war...

• Word Count: 8939
• Approx Pages: 36
• Grade Level: High School