King Lear is a text that has been continually recontexualised but its universal nature is reflected through its reception in a range of contexts. ... King Lear explores how responsibility and order are one and the same with power and authority. ... It is ironic when Lear wishes to "unburthen'd crawl towards death" as a King was expected to lead and protect his people until his death. ... Following both the major plot of King Lear's family, and the parallel plot of Gloucester's family, the parental flaws of the patriarch's King Lear and Gloucester become evident, b...

• Word Count: 1414
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Shakespeare authored King Lear around 1605, between Othello and Macbeth, and it is usually ranked with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The setting of King Lear is as far removed from Shakespeare's time as the setting of any of his other plays, dramatizing events from the eighth century b.c. ... Shakespeare authored King Lear around 1605, between Othello and Macbeth, and it is usually ranked with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. ... Shakespeare authored King Lear around 1605, between Othello and Macbeth, and it is usually ranked with Hamlet as one of ...

• Word Count: 1155
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Has your study of King Lear and its reception in a range of contexts lead you to believe the play supports or sabotages structures of power? ... Structures of power are intrinsic to the play King Lear and its function as a seventeenth century power play. ... Interpretations of this message have varied since the initial performance of King Lear in 1606 and are continually adapting to changes within society and human development in general. ... Imre Csiszar's 1981 interpretation of King Lear is one of several attempts to adapt the play to its specific audience and context, with his interpr...

• Word Count: 1753
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

King Lear, like all texts, has been interpreted in a number of ways. ... In a contemporary society however, King Lear has been received very differently. ... New social views have brought new readings of King Lear and one of these is that of Richard Eyre. ... As a result, Eyre's reading presents King Lear as a domestic rather than a social tragedy. ... King Lear has been and will always be read in a variety of ways. ...

• Word Count: 1119
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Scott Fitzgerald and King Lear by William Shakespeare, both characters attempt to portray themselves as powerful and important - yet it is the childlike narcissism of titular characters Jay Gatsby and King Lear that blinds them to the truth and renders them unable to accept reality. ... King Lear, meanwhile, is overbearingly preoccupied with his daughters demonstrating their undying love for him. ... This idea of material things and their significance arises in King Lear, when the King is considering dividing up his land between his daughters. ... " (King Lear 1.1 45-50). ... " (King...

• Word Count: 1560
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

William Shakespeare's King Lear: Film production by Richard Eyre or Michael Elliott? King Lear today rivals Hamlet as the most frequently performed William Shakespeare play. King Lear is a timeless tale of human greed, lust for power and lost loyalties. Directors" Richard Eyre and Michael Elliott have produced two distinctively different film adaptations of Shakespeare's play King Lear. Richard Eyre's King Lear production aired on television in 1998 and earned Ian Holm the 1997 Olivier Award of the Society of London Theatre. ...

• Word Count: 1073
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In King Lear, we see the evolution of thought from the Medieval to the Renaissance played out for us onstage. ... When King Lear gives up his kingdom to his daughters, he is quick to dismiss any truth not to his liking. ... King Lear's reign ends because of his foolishness and his corrupt daughters deceit. ... In Act IV, Scene 6, we see Lear dressed in wild berries and donning a crown made from weeds -- Lear has begun to see clearly and still believes himself to be a King, but, more realistically, a King of nothing. ... The consequences of King Lear's actions appear before death ...

• Word Count: 1596
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In scene I.i, Lear is a demonstration of what it is to be "only human". ... Lear's character is particularly prone to such flaws, eventually (and inevitably) resulting in problems for himself and others. ... As the scene progresses it becomes clear that this behaviour is all a product of certain ingrained aspects of Lear's nature. ... Lear's concern with his own ego is also demonstrated through others" treatment of him. ... While Lear laps up these "low sounds" (In Kent's words), his dearest daughter expresses her knowledge of Lear's character, but her refusal to gra...

• Word Count: 817
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

" Such disregard for the kingdom is a mere blasphemy of a king. ... " The noblemen of his court opposed to such statements of the King. ... Here, the irresponsible, immature and weak king undergoes a complete transformation, as he emerges before the audience as a tragic hero in his understanding of the worthlessness of a king stripped off power, much like the King in King Lear. ... The King metamorphosized to his spiritual self as he expresses the tragic condition of a king remaining the titular head of his kingdom but in imprisonment in his own kingdom. ... What, fear you not the fu...

• Word Count: 949
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Shakespeare once said "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them"- truly I believe he himself is greatness for his simple devotion and love for art and literature. Known as one of the finest poets of all time, Shakespeare is also acknowledged for the beauty of his words and thoughts; struck with rich emotions and the characters he's created are beautifully dimensional with both positive and negative attributes, as well as this he has taught us that mistakes and wrong-doings are allowed as long as we learn from them. Not only has he cre...

• Word Count: 2217
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

As the suffering outcast whose daughter cannot reciprocate his affection, Henchard is far grander--and far more sympathetic--than the leader of the town council at the King Arms' dinner. ... Like Shakespeare's King Lear, even in his youth Henchard is one who but scantily knows himself (Hardy's phrase is "introspective inflexibility"), and permits his passions, especially the desire to save face in the furmity vendor's tent, to overwhelm his common sense. ...

• Word Count: 1167
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In contrast, Edward de Vere's death in 1604 would have bar him from being the author of several majestic tragedies believed written latter such as Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear; the fact that the quality of de Vere's published earlier poetry likely before 1585 is vastly inferior to that of Shakespeare; the specific knowledge the plays and poems infer certain prominent people in the Queen's court connect with associated events; similarities in Shakespeare's writings parallel Oxford's life, and the need for a pseudonym by an author-courtier being Oxford to publish his...

• Word Count: 1431
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate