Lear (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Edward Bond
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: Unspecified
- Setting: England
- Genres: Satire, Drama, Psychological drama, Allegory, Political drama
- Subjects: Values, Parents and children, Power, personal or social, Murder or homicide, England or English people, Violence, War, Fathers, Good and evil, Kings, queens, or royalty, Corruption
- Locales: England
Characters Discussed
Lear, the king of England, now in his old age. Lear’s enterprise to protect his lands from attack by the dukes of North and Cornwall is near completion. By constructing a wall around his kingdom, Lear is shown as a strong and politically effective leader. His failure, however, is that in keeping enemies out, Lear also traps within the country various internal destructive forces. Consequently, civil war breaks out, and Lear is driven from his own kingdom. Wandering in the wilderness, he returns to an almost childlike state, shrugging off responsibility for...
[The entire page is 938 words long]
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