William Shakespeare: King Lear

William Shakespeare is my favorite writer. I admire him, because no other

dramatists has been performed even remotely as often on the world stage as
Shakespeare. For more than 350 years, he has been the worlds most
popular playwright. People read his plays again and again for pleasure.
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-Upon-Avon. At the age of
18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Between
1585 and 1592, he began a successful carrier in London, as an actor, writer,
and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlains Men,
later known as the Kings Men. Shakespeare produced most of his known
work between 1589 and 1613. He appears to have retired to Stratford around
1613 at age 49, where he died three years later.
William Shakespeare: King Lear
First of all, I want to mention, I read all of his plays that I found translated,
but my favorite was King Lear.
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and
divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he
puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she
loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lears older daughters, give their father
flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lears youngest and favorite daughter,
remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves
her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France,
who has courted her, says that he still wants to marry her even without her
land, and she accompanies him to France without her fathers blessing. Lear
quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin
to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe his
beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his
daughters houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm,
accompanied by his Fool ( I really liked him) and by Kent ,a loyal nobleman in
disguise. When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lears daughters have
turned against their father, he decides to help him in spite of the danger.
Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear. Accuse him of
treason, blind him, and turn him out wander the countryside. He ends up
being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear
has also been brought. In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion

led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes

romantically entangled with Regan and Goneril, whose husband, Albany, is
increasingly sympathetic to Lears cause. Goneril and Edmund killed Albany.
Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him. Meanwhile, the
English troops reach Dover, and the English, led by Edmund, defeat the
Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene,
Edgar duels with and kills Edmund, Gloucester dies, Goneril poisons Regan
out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself. Edmunds betrayal of
Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison, and Lear finally dies out of
grief at Cordelias passing. Albany, Edgar, and elderly Kent are left to take
care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day. His plays
remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and
reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.