KING LEAR

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
SYNOPSIS
The story begins in ancient Britain where the elderly King Lear is deciding to
give up his powers and divide his kingdom among his three daughters –Goneril,
Regan, and Cordelia. His plan is to give the largest portion of his kingdom to
the child who loves him the most and he was absolutely sure that his favourite
daughter Cordelia will win the challenge. The other two daughters Goneril &
Regan who were untruthful, malicious & dishonest and by using false means in
order to show their father that they love him the most. Cordelia who was
different from her sisters refuses to be a part of this challenge and replies in
simple words that she loves him just as a daughter should. And she doesn’t need
to be a part of this game to show her profound love for her father. Despite of
sincerity, her remark enraged Lear who in anger disowns Cordelia completely.
Lear’s dear friend, the Earl of Kent, tries to speak in favour of Cordelia and by
doing so, he gets banished from the kingdom as well. In the meantime, the king
of France who was also present there in the court gets so impressed by
Cordelia’s honesty & virtue and asks for her hand in marriage. Cordelia in
response accepts her proposal and reluctantly leaves her father and sisters.
So Lear angrily accuses Cordelia for being an unloving child & disowns her and
give the largest portion of his kingdom which he was supposed to give to
Cordelia instead gives it to his other two sisters and their husbands- Cornwall &
Albany. And then he announces that he will go and stay with his other two
daughters and their husbands.
Kent who was banished is still in the country but has taken on a disguise. While
he is disguised, he offers his services to Lear. The king doesn’t recognize him
and takes him into his service. Actually Kent was loyal to Lear that’s why he
disguised himself to protect the king from his cunning daughters.
Now that Lear has passed all his wealth to Goneril & Regan, their true nature
reveals. What happened was, Lear after given away everything to his two
daughters goes to live with Goneril along with his Knights, a fool & disguised
Kent but she doesn’t treat them well. While living with Goneril, Lear begins to
notice that Goneril, her husband & her servants are unkind to him & his knights.
He also notices that his fool is missing and his knights tell him that the fool is
pining away because Cordelia has left England. The fool then appears and
criticizes Lear for throwing his crown & giving his daughters so much power
over him. The role of a fool in Elizabethan times was to entertain others

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specifically the king & they were hired to do this job. The fool is the king
advocate, very honest & loyal & his use of humour, he is able to point out
certain things kings are not aware of or don’t know.
Meanwhile Goneril appears to complain about Lear’s knights. On hearing this,
Lear becomes furious & accuses her for being a thankless child. He leaves
Goneril in anger & goes to stay with Regan. Lear sends a letter through Kent to
Regan saying that they are coming to stay with them.
When King arrives in Regan’s castle he is horrified to see Kent who has been
placed in stocks. Lear is shocked that how can anyone treat his servants so
badly. Regan maintains that Kent deserves this treatment as he assaulted
Goneril’s servant Oswald that’s why they put Kent in the stocks. Kent is soon
set free and before Lear comes to know who places his servant in the stocks,
Goneril arrives & the king realizes that both the sisters are conspiring against
him.
Scene changes and we see Lear giving Kent some letters to deliver to
Gloucester. Now who is Gloucester? He is the King’s loyal friend, a nobleman
& very sincere to the king. Gloucester has two sons- Edmund & Edgar. Edmund
is the illegitimate son of Gloucester & he is the villain who plots against his
brother Edgar. He thinks of a way of removing Edgar for his father’s affection
so that he can inherit all that his Gloucester owns.