the tragedy of king lear by william shakespeare

Meanwhile, in 1590, two different works emerged that would influence the play: Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene and Sir Philip Sidney's prose work Arcadia, in which a fallen king is blinded by his illegitimate son. He, too, picked up the tale from Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistory. Others included The Mirror for Magistrates-a collection of English poems from the Tudor period-and Raphael Holinshed's 1587 work The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which included the legend. Written by Geoffrey of Monmouth, this tome has been described as “a brilliantly conceived pastiche of myth, song, and outright invention masquerading as straightforward history.”īefore the Bard's play hit the scene, multiple works had already explored Leir's sad tale, including an anonymous 16th-century play called The True Chronicle History of King Leir, and his three Daughters. King Lear wasn't inspired by a ruler of Shakespeare's era, but by the legend of an ancient king, Leir of Britain, who was said to have lived around the 8th century BCE, according to the 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae. KING LEAR WAS INSPIRED BY A LEGENDARY BRITISH KING. The fallen monarch has captivated our literary imagination for centuries, but there's still plenty to learn about the Bard's classic play that you might have missed in high school English class. Scheming sisters Regan and Goneril rob him of his power and sanity after Lear is flattered into giving them his kingdom, while kind Cordelia suffers tragic consequences. The play tells the story of the titular king, who attempts to divide his kingdom among his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. William Shakespeare wrote King Lear, frequently cited as his best tragedy, between 16.

The tragedy of king lear by william shakespeare