King Lear's ego and vanity illustrates in Act 1, in the first very first scene what led him to make all the inappropriate determinations. ... The king's last flaw is his careless common sense, which is the basis of him making all the wrong choices that lead to terrible mistakes. ... If it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt. (5.3.265-267). ... The king states, "A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all! ... First of all, King Lear's blindness doesn't let him see the reality behind his children. ...

• Word Count: 1061
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The play shows the betrayal and trust of characters in King Lear. ... King Lear gained wisdom by suffering by giving all his land to his two evil daughters and disowning Coredlia, the faithful one of the sisters. ... Regan wanted King Lear to get rid of all his knights in order for him to be able to stay in Gloucester's castle. ... The people who paid for their lies all had the same fate which was death. One example from King Lear that displays this second theme is when Goneril and Regan take the power and abuse King Lear to insanity. ...

• Word Count: 1049
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear (1604) deals with the consequences and misjudgments of Lear. ... Lear was a ruler in early Britain and his irresponsibility and that of his counselor, the Duke of Gloucester led to tragedy for all. ... One where two evil daughters help banishes a good daughter in a love test by King Lear. ... In his old age King Lear had divided his kingdom between his daughters, Goneril and Regan, who professed great love for him but then harassed him into madness. ... King Lear died over her body....

• Word Count: 555
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In William Shakespeare's, King Lear, the King allots power rashly and ultimately dies based on some of his impulse decisions. A King is supposed to have all that he needs to sustain a complete life, without having to worry about anything in his later years. ... All that is remaining for Lear are his precious knights, and yet Goneril's lack of compassion decides to strip that away from him as well. This can be seen as the stripping of his title as King. ... Her father loved and nurtured her since childhood, all he asks for is an occasional visit, and she runs away from it. ...

• Word Count: 770
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

How have different productions explored the theme of power in "King Lear? ... The struggle for power is the essential, basic theme in William Shakespeare's "King Lear". ... Through a multitude of critical analysis and interpretations, over the course of history, "King Lear" has been produced under difference social and cultural contexts. ... Many productions have tried to dramatise the development of Lear in the play, all different according to technological advantages and social circumstances. ... But during the storm scene, Lear, played by David Ritchie, removes more and more of ...

• Word Count: 441
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear is a text that has been continually recontexualised but its universal nature is reflected through its reception in a range of contexts. ... King Lear explores how responsibility and order are one and the same with power and authority. ... Although the notions of power change over time, the issue of responsible leadership continues to hold relevance to all audiences. ... Following both the major plot of King Lear's family, and the parallel plot of Gloucester's family, the parental flaws of the patriarch's King Lear and Gloucester become evident, becoming the catalysts ...

• Word Count: 1414
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

King Lear: Themes Many themes are evident in King Lear, but perhaps one of the most prevalent relates to the theme of justice. ... Everything had its own relative position beginning with Heaven, the Divine Being, and the stars and planets which are all above. On earth the king is next, then the nobles, on down to the peasantry. ... King Lear's sin was that he disrupted this chain of being by relinquishing his throne. ... Holloway sums up this concept as follows: "the world can be to mankind, and has been to Lear, a rack: a scene of suffering reiterated past all probability ...

• Word Count: 1734
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Derek Standarowski 2/1/03 AP English King Lear Many critics often interpret King Lear, one of Shakespeare's timeless classics, as a journey to self-awareness. ... King Lear's hot temper and hasty decisions contribute significantly to his path of suffering. ... Lear suffers tremendously; in only a short period of time he has gone from an all-powerful king to a weak and unconfident peasant. ... King Lear is no longer concerned with flattery and money, but with the truth and love. ... Gloucester then realized that is was Edgar who saved his life, and the he loved him all along. ...

• Word Count: 1056
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear is one of the greatest tragedy play written by William Shakespeare, which portrays the intense suffering from the blindness through Lear king of Britain and the earl of Gloucester. ... The blindness is the main factor that leads to the tragedy in the play because of the blindness itself that is a root for all the false decisions. Firstly, Lear's blindness is the main issue of all the disaster in the play because he is the blindest among all the characters. ... Even more truthfully, she says "Why have my sisters husbands, if they say they love you all? ... As a tragedy p...

• Word Count: 3449
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

In Shakespeare's Richard III, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Henry V, he tells the stories of four kings, all different in certain ways. ... Claudius was just there, never seen as good or evil, just there, he never did anything at all. ... Macbeth was only feared, "All is fear nothing is love"(Macbeth IV. ... Looking at all three bad kings, Macbeth is the worst. ... Macbeth though, did several tenets wrong, so when it comes down to it he was all around the worst king. ...

• Word Count: 763
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

On the surface of Henry V, Shakespeare poses a convoluted image of King Henry. ... All that lies within the heavens and earth has a set place. ... All because of the Dauphin's "jest", which the OED refers to as "A mocking speech; a taunt, a jeer" (OED, 4A). ... One of the soldiers, Williams, tells him, "Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it, who to disobey were against all proportion of subjection" (4.1.146-149). ... The king is not to answer it" (4.1.191-192). ...

• Word Count: 1885
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Has this been your interpretation after reading King Lear? ... The end of King Lear however, sees Gonerill, Regan and Edmund all dead. ... All the characters that were considered evil did die, however many of those that were kind died as well. ... King Lear an honest but old aged King, suffered immensely from his daughters" cruel ways. ... This cruelty towards all does initially aid in their survival and uprising however ends in all their deaths. ...

• Word Count: 985
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

(1.1.54-57) Goneril's answer appears perfect initially, showcasing grace, honor and what appears to be true love, all wrapped in an elegant bouquet of praise. ... Regan, the King's middle daughter, proves to be the most fierce and brutish of all Shakespeare's female characters. ... Regan's wicked desire to rule all shows that she is a character of greed, lust and jealousy. ... This resolution comes at the climax of the play: although good has somewhat triumphed, the King and all three of his daughters perish. In "King Lear," it can indeed be said that the female ch...

• Word Count: 1537
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear has been subjected to various interpretations throughout history, depending upon the social and cultural contexts which exist at the time of performance. ... Miller's 1988 interpretation of King Lear can be contrasted to that of a contemporary student. ... "King Lear- uses the plainest language compared to other Shakespearean plays, where the character of Lear is reserved the finest words. ... The magnificence of Lear's language is that all authority is quickly replaced with servitude and hysterical rage. ... In the student's interpretation however, all the Fool's...

• Word Count: 2146
• Approx Pages: 9

In each production of Henry V, the emphasis changes: Henry can appear to be "the mirror of all Christian Kings" or as a cynic who uses the, seemingly corrupt, church to justify his actions. The play is full of noble speeches, heroic battles, and valiant English underdogs fighting their way to victory against all odds. ... The punishment for looting is hanging as decreed by the King. ... Henry has already previously warned that "We would have all such offenders so cut off," meaning that he hopes all looters will be hanged, without exception. ... When his father, Henry IV, usurped the throne fr...

• Word Count: 3298
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Firstly, he wants to have the title of king but not take on any responsibilities of a king. ... Personality theorists say that "underneath all the padding one would find a very pitiable creature " (Guntrip, 104). In this case, Lear's true self is a pitiable creature after he loses the persona of a king. ... Had he done that, he could have possibly avoided all the drama that came with putting on a persona instead of denying his true self. ... King Lear may have reached individuation but the loss of his beloved daughter Cordelia is what breaks him, leading to his death....

• Word Count: 964
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?... This shows his ambition causes him to betray at all coasts. ... King Lear. ... Truth and Tragedy in King Lear. ... King Lear. ...

• Word Count: 1354
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Vanity, in all its forms, leads to one's inevitable downfall. King Lear is a play that illustrates this poignant theme in brutal reality. ... When Lear yells, "And thou, all-shaking / thunder, / Strike flat the thick rotundity o" th" world. / Crack Nature's molds, all germens spill at once, / That make ingrateful man!" ... Blindness in King Lear is the inability to see past deception and see people for the way they truly are. ... King Lear was blinded and unable to see Regan and Goneril for their true character. ...

• Word Count: 1402
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

For example one of the principal themes in Shakespeare's play, King Lear is that of blindness. Normally blindness is defined by the dictionary as the lack of sight or the disability to see .however after reading king lear, blindness come to have a meaning at a different level. ... In lear's case the blindess of them all, his lack of sight due to his stubborn and capricious character costs him suffering and the life of his loving daughter Cordelia. From the very beginig, lear is shown as a person who, ironically as king, is unable to distinguish among good and evil. ... The fool als...

• Word Count: 770
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear's actions throughout the play have substantial consequences. ... He gives away all his worldly power and human dignity and loses his identity. ... (1.4.234-236) By giving away everthing he owns, he gives away his title as King and leaves himself with nothing. ...

• Word Count: 868
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear, like all texts, has been interpreted in a number of ways. ... So when Lear, the King, decides "to shake all cares and business from our age, conferring them on younger strengths" (Act 1 scene 1, lines 34-35), the Elizabethan reading would have interpreted him as actually rejecting his God given role as head of the state and thus disturbing the natural order of society. ... In a contemporary society however, King Lear has been received very differently. ... As a result, Eyre's reading presents King Lear as a domestic rather than a social tragedy. ... King Lear has been a...

• Word Count: 1119
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Astrology, mythology, nature and science all find their way into William Shakespeare's plays. ... King Lear was a British king who reigned before the Roman period. ... In King Lear, astrology is used in a broader context and with a lot of effect. ... So, Ursa Major has no astrological meaning in that sense at all. ... Shakespeare truly knew what he was doing on all levels and utilized this knowledge well. ...

• Word Count: 1633
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Title: The Tragedy of King Lear. ... Characters: King Lear: King of Great Britain, aging so gives his kingdom to his daughters but still wants to be respected as king. ... Reunites with Lear, all forgiveness. ... Gloucester: Earl loyal to king Lear. ... Helps avenge all wrongs in end. ...

• Word Count: 1209
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

King Lear is a brutal play filled with cruelty and seemingly meaningless disasters. All of these terrible events trigger the reader to question whether this world is full of meaningless chaos, or that justice strikes those that truly evoke it. ... When Lear shares with his daughters that he is going to spilt his kingdom into three territories for them to reign over and all he simply asks is who loves him the most, two of the sisters, Regan, who is the middle and most aggressive daughter and Goneril, who is the oldest most ruthless daughter, immediately declare their boundless and unrelenting l...

• Word Count: 1109
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

I understand that you are interested in hearing about King Lear. ... What he does not know is that deceit is all around him and his weaknesses will be exploited by the ones he loves most. ... King Lear. ... King Lear. ... King Lear. ...

• Word Count: 999
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School