King Lear: the whole play
Two families, two foolish fathers. Lear has three daughters; Gloucester has two sons.
Two stories woven together
King Lear (written about 1605–06) has a main plot and a subplot that mirror each other.
- Lear's family: King Lear and his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia.
- Gloucester's family: the Earl of Gloucester and his two sons, Edgar (legitimate, older) and Edmund (illegitimate, the "bastard").
That's where the sons come in. Each father misjudges his children, trusts the false ones and drives out the loyal one.
Act 1: the love test
Old Lear decides to divide Britain among his daughters, giving the most to whoever says she loves him most. Goneril and Regan flatter him extravagantly. Cordelia, the youngest and truest, won't play: she says she loves him "according to my bond, no more nor less." Lear disowns her. The King of France marries her anyway, without a dowry. The loyal Earl of Kent speaks up for her and is banished, but returns in disguise to keep serving Lear.
Meanwhile Edmund forges a letter to make Gloucester believe Edgar plans to kill him. Edgar flees and disguises himself as a mad beggar, Poor Tom.
Acts 2–3: the storm
Lear goes to stay with Goneril, then Regan. Both cut his knights and treat him with contempt. Lear rages out into a storm on the heath with his Fool and the disguised Kent. In the storm he begins to go mad, and also to see clearly for the first time how the poor live (see Lear's great lines). They meet Poor Tom (Edgar).
Gloucester secretly helps Lear. Edmund betrays him to Regan and her husband Cornwall, who gouge out Gloucester's eyes. Only then does Gloucester learn Edmund betrayed him and Edgar was innocent.
Act 4: the blind and the mad
Edgar, still disguised, leads his blind father toward Dover. Gloucester wants to throw himself off the cliffs; Edgar tricks him into a harmless fall to save him. Cordelia lands with a French army to rescue her father. Lear, mad and crowned with wildflowers, meets blind Gloucester. Then Lear wakes, cared for by Cordelia, and asks her forgiveness: "I am a very foolish fond old man."
Act 5: the ending
The British forces win and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Goneril and Regan both lust after Edmund; Goneril poisons Regan, then kills herself. Edgar fights and mortally wounds Edmund in a duel. Dying, Edmund tries to cancel his order to have Cordelia killed, but it is too late. Lear enters carrying her dead body, and dies over it. Gloucester has already died, his heart bursting between joy and grief when Edgar revealed himself. Edgar, Kent and Albany (Goneril's decent husband) are left.
Key facts
- Lear: three daughters, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia
- Gloucester subplot: two sons, Edgar (loyal) and Edmund (illegitimate, the schemer)
- Edgar hides as the mad beggar Poor Tom
- Cordelia: loves him "according to my bond, no more nor less"