Globe theater burnt down 1613 Date of Publication: 1608. Writing Style: Blank verse, prose, unrhymed iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets. Conventions: Asides, soliloquies, puns, subject/verb inversions. Genre: Drama, tragedy. Includes- tragic hero, tragic flaw, irony. Foil- contrasting person or thing, sets off, enhances another. Stock characters: faithful servant Kent, buffoon or fool, imposter, languishing heroine. Setting: Wearing Elizabethan attire but set in pre-Christian Britain. Castles (Lear's, Goneril's, Regan's, Gloucester's). Cliff's of Dover (acts iv-v). Atmosphere: Stormy scenes foreshadow tragedy, stress, high intensity. Characters: King Lear: King of Great Britain, aging so gives his kingdom to his daughters but still wants to be respected as king. Blind to truth about his daughters and Kent. Dies of stress and old age over Cordelia's body. Cordelia: Lear's youngest daughter. Disowns her after she doesn't flatter him. Married to France. Heavenly good. Contrasted by Goneril and Regan. Reunites with Lear, all forgiveness. Is killed, hung, in prison under Edmond's orders. Regan: evil middle sister, married to Cornwall. Poisoned by sister. Goneril: equally as evil as Regan. Married to Albany. Fights with Regan over Edmond, poisons Regan and kills her. Has steward named Oswald. Killed herself. Edmond: Evil bastard son of Gloucester. Dies of wounds from Edmond. Machiavellian character (Nicolo Machiavelli 1469-1522, Italian statesman who wrote that gov should be deceitful and crafty). Wants to inherit his fathers land instead of his brother. Changes somewhat at end, guilt over the sister's death for him. Gloucester: Earl loyal to king Lear. Parallel to Lear. Gets his eyes gouged out. Blind to the truth about his sons until he is blinded. Tries to kill himself on Dover cliffs. Edgar: Gloucester's oldest, legitimate son. Disguises himself as "poor tom" the insane beggar. Helps avenge all wrongs in end.
