King Lear
E72922
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare that portrays an aging monarch’s descent into madness after he divides his kingdom among his daughters, exploring themes of power, loyalty, and human suffering.
Aliases (3)
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Shakespearean tragedy
→
literary work → play → |
| author |
William Shakespeare
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|
| basedOn |
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae
→
legend of Leir of Britain → |
| climax |
battle between forces of Lear and Cordelia and their enemies
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|
| compositionDate |
circa 1605–1606
→
|
| countryOfOrigin |
England
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|
| ending |
tragic deaths of Lear and Cordelia
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|
| firstFolioPublicationDate |
1623
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|
| firstPerformanceDate |
circa 1606
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|
| firstQuartoPublicationDate |
1608
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|
| genre |
tragedy
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|
| hasVersion |
Folio text of King Lear
→
Quarto text of King Lear → |
| influenced |
20th-century theatre and criticism
→
modern interpretations of madness in drama → |
| literaryMovement |
Elizabethan and Jacobean drama
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|
| literaryPeriod |
English Renaissance
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|
| mainCharacter |
Cordelia
→
Edgar → Edmund → Gloucester → Goneril → King Lear → Regan → The Fool → |
| notableAdaptation |
Akira Kurosawa’s film Ran (1985), loosely based on King Lear
→
film adaptation by Grigori Kozintsev (1971) → film adaptation by Peter Brook (1971) → |
| numberOfActs |
5
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|
| openingEvent |
Lear’s division of his kingdom among his daughters
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|
| originalLanguage |
Early Modern English
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|
| plotElement |
Cordelia’s exile
→
Edmund’s betrayal of his father and brother → Gloucester’s blinding → Lear’s descent into madness → love test of Lear’s daughters → |
| setting |
ancient Britain
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|
| theme |
authority and kingship
→
blindness and insight → family conflict → filial ingratitude → human suffering → justice → loyalty → madness → power → |
Referenced by (15)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Claire Bloom
→
Derek Jacobi ("King Lear (stage performances)") → Ian McKellen ("King Lear (stage performances)") → William Shakespeare → |
notableWork |
|
First Folio of Shakespeare
→
Folger Shakespeare Library editions of Shakespeare’s plays → |
containsWork |
|
King Lear
("Quarto text of King Lear")
→
King Lear ("Folio text of King Lear") → |
hasVersion |
|
Sam Mendes
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|
directed |
|
English Renaissance
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|
hasNotableWork |
|
The Dresser
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|
hasPlayWithinFilm |
|
Shakespeare quartos
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|
includesEditionOf |
|
Shakespearean tragedies
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|
includesWork |
|
King Lear
→
|
mainCharacter |
|
Junius Brutus Booth
→
|
notableRole |