King Lear | Criticism

  • Tragic Form in Shakespeare

    In this brief excerpt, Ruth Nevo comments one of Lear's famous last speeches, in which he asks Cordelia to join him in the spirit of eternal optimism—"We two alone will sing like birds i' the' cage. . . ."

  • All of Shakespeare

    In this excerpt, Maurice Charney probes King Lear's transformation, from his justice-centered madness to the recognition of his own fallibility. The excerpt touches upon some of the most important scenes in Lear, including the storm on the heath.

  • Overview

    In this informal, almost conversational, essay on King Lear—developed from his lectures to undergraduate students over many years—Northrop Frye ranges widely across many aspects of the play as he outlines its tragic vision. As he takes up several thematic issues, he also offers commentary on Lear, Cordelia, Goneril and Regan, Edmund, and Edgar.

  • Double Plot

    In this excerpt, Ian House emphasizes the dynamic relation between the main plot and the subplot in King Lear, proposing that the differences as well as the similarities between them unsettle and illuminate our understanding of the principal story.

  • Language and Imagery

    In the first excerpt, George W. Williams focuses on Act III, scene ii of Lear, pointing out the correspondence of the storm with Lear's disordered mind, disrupted families, and the divided kingdom. The storm has a restorative effect on Lear, the critic declares, and he must live through it in order "to be cured of evil." In the second excerpt, John C. McCloskey examines the association of images from the world of "animals, insects, and the more repulsive denizens" of the seas with the shifts in Lear's emotions. McCloskey notes that as Lear moves from resentment in Act I to indignation in Act II, and, finally, rage in Act III, the imagery changes to reflect the increasing intensity of his moods and to underscore the theme of unnaturalness.

  • Love

    In the first excerpt, Marilyn Gaull argues that King Lear depicts two kinds of love: divine love, associated with universal order, and erotic love, associated with chaos and destruction. When Lear abdicates his royal responsibilities, the critic asserts, he plunges his kingdom into a state of spiritual and emotional disorder. In the second selection, Simon Lesser notes that the king looks chiefly to his favorite, Cordelia, for love and praise. The extraordinary intensity and possessiveness of his love for her makes Lear more vulnerable to disappointment, Lesser argues.

  • Madness

    Kenneth Muir, in the first excerpt, maintains that Lear's attacks on hypocrisy and worldly justice "show profound insight" into the human condition. However, the critic cautions readers against assuming that these speeches represent Shakespeare's own point of view. In the second selection, Josephine Bennett focuses on three scenes—III.iv, III.vi, and V.vi—where, in her estimation, Lear shows unmistakable signs of insanity.

  • Lear

    In the first excerpt, William Rosen demonstrates how the focus of dramatic interest in King Lear shifts from concern with a particular man to such universal issues as justice, order, and meaning in the world. In the second selection, Judd Arnold asserts that although other characters in the play—including Edgar, Gloucester, Albany, and Cordelia—are transformed, Lear's own progress toward self-knowledge and spiritual regeneration is never completed.

  • The Fool

    In this excerpt from her classic study of the social and literary tradition of the Fool figure, Enid Welsford describes Lear's Fool as both a commentator on dramatic events and a tragic figure in his own right. In the second excerpt, Goldsmith calls Lear's jester a "wise fool" and distinguishes him from traditional fools known principally for being half-witted or cunning, satirical or ironical. The Fool's chief characteristic is devotion to the king, the critic declares, and in this steadfastness he demonstrates the virtues of "patience, humility, and love."

  • Lear's Daughters

    In the first excerpt, A. C. Bradley views Cordelia as a superlative figure who combines many of the individual virtues of Shakespeare's other heroines: a loving nature, a tender heart, resolution, and dignity. In the second excerpt, Edwin Muir discusses Goneril and Regan as representatives of a new political order. In the early 1600s, when the play was written, the medieval concept of communal traditions was giving way to modern notions of political rule—ones that emphasized effectiveness rather than principles.