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King Lear Summary | William Shakespeare | Neb English Notes
KING LEAR
ABOUT NOVEL
King Lear by William Shakespeare
King Lear is one of Shakespeare's tragedies, meaning it ends in death for the main characters. It is the tale of an ageing king who has three daughters and must decide which one will inherit his lands and wealth when he dies. He chooses flattery as the deciding factor and demands that his daughters tell him which one of them loves him best. Although, of course, the truth is not revealed until far too late.
SUMMARY
King Lear by William Shakespeare
When the play opens, King Lear of Britain enters with his court. Lear is an old and bitter man nearing the end of his life. He has no male heir, only three daughters, and so he coldly decides that he will leave the greatest part of his fortune to whichever daughter can convince him she loves him the most. The two oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, quickly catch on to the game. Goneril speaks first and greatly flatters the king, who immediately grants her one-third of his fortune. Regan then comes in and does the same, professing her love for her father so well that she is also granted a third of his fortune. The youngest daughter, Cordelia, is next but has little to say. Though she does love her father, it is an honest love, and she cannot and will not proclaim it openly in front of the court. Not when such a proclamation is being demanded in return for an inheritance. Greatly offended by Cordelia's refusal to flatter him, Lear divides his entire fortune between Goneril and Regan and, of course, their lucky husbands, the Duke of Albany and the Duke of Cornwall, respectively. Lear says that he will now spend part of the time with each of his two daughters and their husbands. Cordelia, though, is disowned and exiled. She was unmarried and had two suitors, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. But when he hears that she no longer has a dowry, the duke breaks the engagement, and so the oldest daughters are greatly rewarded for their false displays, while Cordelia's honesty has literally cost her everything. The King of France, however, is stunned by Lear's actions and agrees to marry Cordelia anyway, so she leaves for France. Lear arrives with a very large retinue of men to live with Goneril and her husband, the Duke of Albany, for a time. But Goneril is disturbed by her father's men, who are disrupting her orderly life.
Now that she has her share of her father's wealth, Lear sees how little respect she actually has for him. Goneril does not want him there, and if he must stay, she orders him to at least get rid of most of his men. Lear is both hurt and infuriated at learning the truth about how Goneril sees him. He leaves to go live with Regan and her husband, the Duke of Cornwall, still believing that Regan had meant it when she told him she loved him. But Regan is no happier to see Lear and his men at her home. Then Goneril, like Regan, wanted only her inheritance and did not want to be burdened by her father. The enraged Lear, his retinue dispersed except for his fool, and one man, the Duke of Kent, leaves Regan's home to go out into a storm on the open moors, feeling he is better out there than with either of his traitorous daughters. Eventually, Lear is sheltered and saved by the Duke of Kent, but he has finally learned his lesson about Goneril and Regan.
Word comes that Cordelia and her husband, the King of France, are coming to invade Britain, battle Goneril and Regan and their husbands, and return Lear to the throne. but Britain wins the ensuing battle, and both Lear and Cordelia are captured. As an invading queen of France, Cordelia's execution is ordered, but Goneril's husband, the Duke of Albany, has finally had enough of his wife. Albany exposes her actions, but not before she poisons her own sister. Goneril herself ends up taking her own life. Lear tries to get his third daughter and save her life, but it is too late for Cordelia, and she is hanged. Her father kills the hangman and carries her body away. Overcome by age, tragedy, and grief, Lear dies, and it is implied that the Duke of Albany will become the new king. King Lear is a very clear illustration of how actions speak louder than words. Since Cordelia's actions towards her father were far more loving towards him than the false words of Goneril and Regan, the play contains a quote that has become very well known: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child.".
Lear is speaking bitterly of Goneril after realising that she was not sincere in her words towards him. He is essentially wishing a curse on her to have a child that will make her just as miserable as she made her father. Shakespeare's play is believed to be based on the story of King Lear, a ruler of Britain some 700 years before the birth of Christ. The modern city of Leicester, England, is said to be named for him. The earlier story is very similar to the later one; the three daughters are also named Regan, Gonoro, and Cordelia. But here, Lear eventually reconciles with Cordelia and her husband. She and Lear invade Britain, overthrow the two older daughters and their husbands, and live well for a few more years until Lear's death. Cordelia then succeeds her father on the throne. In the years after Shakespeare wrote this treatment of the story, it was sometimes presented with a similar happy ending. Yet the tragedy remains so powerful and affecting that it is by far the best-known and most often produced version of the play.
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