Literary Devices in King Lear
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
We're just going to put this out there right now: any play/novel/story of some sort that features a character getting blinded is also probably saying something about metaphorical blindness. In King...
Setting
This isn't set in a galaxy far, far away... but it is set a long, long time ago.Lear is set in super-ancient, pre-Christian Britain. (But there are some Christian themes in the play. Check out...
Genre
Like Hamlet and Macbeth, King Lear is a tragedy, which is a genre that has some basic rules and conventions. What are these basic rules and conventions, you ask? Let's take a look at our nifty chec...
Tone
'Nuff said.King Lear is a dark play, and its tone reflects this. The powerful language of Lear's cursing of his daughters defines the play, and as Lear goes mad, he begins to curse the entire socia...
Writing Style
King Lear, like Shakespeare's other plays, is written in a combination of verse (poetry) and prose (how we talk every day). (Note: The play Richard II is the one exception to this rule—it's the o...
What's Up With the Title?
There's a king and his name is Lear… and half of the other people in the play are related to him. Basically, he's a big deal.Brain Snack: If you've ever gone digging around in Shakespeare archive...
What's Up With the Ending?
This is actually a trick question, Shmoopers. The real question is "What's Up With The Endings." Yup, there are two of 'em. Does that mean double the reading, double the fun?Luckily for you, n...
Tough-o-Meter
We're not gonna lie, getting the hang of reading Elizabethan English can be a little rough at first. Once you've got the hang of Big Willy Shakespeare's language, though, reading Lear is a piece of...
Plot Analysis
Split the kingdom; bring on retirement.Uh-oh. Anybody who has read Henry IV Part 1 (or lives in seventeenth-century England) knows it's not a good idea for Lear to split up the kingdom so he can e...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Lear looks forward to hanging out with Cordelia King Lear doesn't fit this part exactly. Lear's initial "anticipation" is more like the dream stage. Unfortunately, his dream doesn't get the...
Trivia
Leo Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, thought Shakespeare was a horrible writer and that King Lear was an especially terrible play. (Source)For over 100 years the only version...
Steaminess Rating
You might be surprised by this—isn't all Shakespeare pretty kid-friendly (if the kid in question likes super-advanced language and seeing people's eyes gouged out)?There aren't any steamy loves s...
Allusions
Raphael Holinshed, The Historie of England in Chronicles (Volume 1, Book 2), 1577Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historie of the Kings of Britain (Book 2), c. 1135Anonymous, The True Chronicle Historie of Ki...