Berlin, Normand. "Boundary Situation: King Lear and Waiting for Godot." In The Secret Cause: A Discussion of Tragedy. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981, pp. 87-107.

Attempts to uncover the "secret cause"—what Berlin believes is the essence of tragedy—in both works.

Brooke, Nicholas. Shakespeare: King Lear. London: Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd., 1963, 62 p.

Summarizes the play, addressing plot, poetic language, imagery, and sources.

Burke, Kenneth. "King Lear: Its Form and Psychosis." Shenandoah XXI, No. 1 (Autumn 1969): 3-18.

Suggests that readers take a very generalized view of King Lear in order to discover its underlying "psychosis"—that element or pattern in the play that contributes to its mass appeal.

Callaghan, Dympna. Woman and Gender in Renaissance Tragedy: A Study of "King Lear," "Othello," "The Duchess of Malfi," and "The White Devil." Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press International, Inc., 1989, 187 p.

Analyzes the impact of gender issues in the plays cited on the social order portrayed in each.

Danson, Lawrence. "King Lear." In Tragic Alphabet: Shakespeare's Drama of Language, pp. 163-97. New Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press, 1974.

Explores the role of language in the play.

Delany, Paul. "King Lear and the Decline of Feudalism." PMLA 92, No. 3 (May 1977): 429-40.

Examines ways that a shift during the English Renaissance from an aristocracy to a bourgeoisie affected Shakespeare's depiction of personal and social relationships in the play.

Fraser, Russell A. Shakespeare's Poetics: In Relation to King Lear. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962, 184 p.

Close reading of the play with individual essays treating such themes as redemption, anarchy, reason, and fortune.

Heinemann, Margot. "'Demystifying the Mystery of State': King Lear and the World Upside Down." Shakespeare Survey 44 (1992): 75-83.

Argues that the play involves both the downfall of an individual and the collapse of a sociopolitical structure.

Honigmann, E. A. J. "The Uniqueness of King Lear: Genre and Production Problems," pp. 73-92. In Myriad-Minded Shakespeare: Essays, Chiefly on the Tragedies and Problem Comedies. London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1989.

Notes that Shakespeare's focus on inner action makes King Lear unique among his tragedies and results in staging difficulties.

Kermode, Frank, ed. Shakespeare: King Lear; A Casebook London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1969, 304 p.

Collection of important essays on the play, from early commentators such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Keats, to twentieth-century critics including G. Wilson Knight and Northrop Frye.

Nevo, Ruth. "King Lear." In Tragic Form in Shakespeare, pp. 258-305. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Studies in detail the themes, motives, characterization, and philosophy presented in the play as they are developed in each act, and, in some instances, in each subsequent scene.

Peat, Derek. "'And That's True Too': King Lear and the Tension of Uncertainty." Shakespeare Survey 33 (1980): 43-53.

Uses the Dover cliff scene and Lear's death scene to evaluate the overall sense of uncertainty the play evokes in audiences.

Salingar, Leo. "King Lear, Montaigne and Harsnett." In Dramatic Form in Shakespeare and the Jacobeans, pp. 107-39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Speculates that Shakespeare drew on Samuel Harsnett's Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures and John Florio's translations of Montaigne's Essays while composing King Lear.

Stampfer, J. "The Catharsis of King Lear." Shakespeare Survey 13 (1960): 1-10.

Enumerates ways in which the ending of King Lear resolves the various perspectives on God and salvation presented in the play.

Thompson, Ann. "Are There Any Women in King Lear?" In The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare, edited by Valerie Wayne, pp. 117-28. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991.

Surveys feminist, historical, and materialist readings of King Lear and speculates whether or not the approaches are mutually exclusive.

Wittreich, Joseph. "Image of That Horror": History, Prophecy, and Apocalypse in King Lear. San Marino, C.A.: Huntington Library, 1984, 185 p.

Examines the prophetic elements of King Lear.