(We're not kidding-he made some big changes.) In Tate's version, Lear and Cordelia live and Cordelia falls in love with and marries Edgar. Enter playwright Nahum Tate, who rewrote Shakespeare's play in 1681 so it would have a happy ending. It seems that after a long and grueling English Civil War, audiences were looking for something a little more upbeat and less cynical. The excessive portrayal of cruelty and suffering in Shakespeare's play (especially the violent blinding of Gloucester, Lear's descent into madness, and the tragic death of Cordelia) was deemed to be just t oo much. After the English Civil War (1642-1651), the play came to be regarded as a theatrical flop. ( FYI-King James just so happened to attend a performance of the play at Whitehall on December 26, 1606.)įor the past several decades, the crazily brilliant King Lear has been regarded as one of Shakespeare's greatest works, perhaps even better than Hamlet. King Lear was written between 16, after King James I of England (also known as King James VI of Scotland) ascended the English throne (1603). Lear's actions end up destroying his family, tearing apart the kingdom, and causing a big old war, leaving just about everyone dead by the play's end. Early retirement and the division of the kingdom turn out to be a big no-no. The play's action centers on an aging king who decides to divvy up his kingdom between his three daughters (Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia) in order to avoid any conflict after his death. King Lear is a tragedy by the big Billy himself, William Shakespeare. Oh, and about a zillion eloquent quotable quotes-this is Shakespeare we're dealing with, after all.

And enough family dysfunction to make Sigmund Freud spit out his cigar in fright. There's also an Encyclopedia Brittanica-level amount of British history. There's a Game of Thrones-level world of hurt happening in this tragedy. There's simply no way to be pithy about King Lear. Okay: King Lear is a super-tragic play by some guy named Bill about how, 50-66.6% of the time, your offspring will try to kill you. Still not getting all of the pertinent points in. King Lear is Shakespeare's most gruesome tragedy about a nobleman getting his eyes gouged out, Oberyn Martell-style.

King Lear is everyone's favorite Shakespearean tragedy about an aging king who decides to become a nudist.Įr-hold up.

William shakespeare lear