KING LEAR

WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
 KING LEAR – WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
01 02 03
GENERAL CHARACTERS PLOT
INTRODUCTION

04 05
THEMES REFLECTION
 01
General
Introduction

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 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

• William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)

+ English playwright, poet and actor
+ As the greatest writer in the English language;
the world's greatest dramatist.
+ England's national poet & the "Bard of Avon"

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 1589 1613
1564 WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE

1616

• Comedies Tragicomedies
• Histories Tragedies (also known as 
romances)

+ Shakespeare's first plays were written in the conventional

style (The poetry: extended, elaborate metaphors and conceits;
the language: rhetorical.)
+ Shakespeare soon began to adapt the traditional styles to his
own purposes, freer style and more natural poetry.
+ Shakespeare's standard poetic form was blank verse

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 KING LEAR

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KING LEAR ● A tragedy
● Based on the mythological Leir of Britain.
● Between 1603 and 1606

Historical context:
+ Many aspects, images and characters
related to politicians under Elizabeth I.
+ The play also contains references to
negotiations between King James I and
Parliament.
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KING LEAR Creative inspiration:
+ While writing King Lear, Shakespeare used the standard
structure of morality plays and other elements of their
tradition.
+ Shakespeare’s “morality” plays are nihilistic in a way
that medieval mortality plays would never have been.
There is no redemption for the characters in King Lear.

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