Main directions of the English Literature in the Early Middle ages

25. KING LEAR.In “King Lear” Shakespeare shows the very foundations of the monarch to be inhuman, demoralizing, and monstrous. In the first scenes of the play Lear is an old king, drunk with the sense of his almighty power. This sense prompts him to put his power to a final proof by renouncing his royal authority and dividing his kingdom between his three daughters. The reason for this action lies in Lear’s conviction of his personal greatness, which, as he thinks, does not depend upon his kingship but will be with him in any circumstances. He is sure that the kingdom will remain a kingdom without a king, and the king will remain without his kingdom. He calls this intention “our darker (that is, hidden, top-secret) purpose”, although at the very beginning of the play, we learn that this plan is known among the countries, for Gloucester says that ”equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either of either’s moiety”, which means that the kingdom is divided into absolutely equal shares, and no princess will have cause to consider herself dealt with unfairly.

King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It tells the tale of a king who bequeaths his power and land to two of his three daughters, after they declare their love for him in a fawning and obsequious manner. His third daughter gets nothing, because she will not flatter him as her sisters had done.