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King Lear Character Analysis
William Shakespeare’s King Lear is a tragedy that has received many accolades. As said
by David Littlejon, the work is “the most unconventional, the most hysterical, the most outré and
outrageous play Shakespeare ever wrote” (Boyden, Kimberley and Staines 564). This
masterpiece is about the perils faced by the aging King Lear who plans to divide his realm
amongst his three daughters purely based on their flattery. The following paper will analyze the
character of King Lear.
King Lear is the tragedy’s protagonist who wields a lot of power in Britain but is reduced
to madness because of his believe in empty flattery from his daughters. Although King Lear
ruled over stable and strong land, he had very little understanding of the problems that his
subjects faced. Instead, he looked upon the Fool to distract him from real issues and with
entertainment so that he could forget his problems. He is depicted as an arrogant and proud King
in the opening scene of Act 1 when he abdicates his Kingdom. Here, he recklessly avoids his
duties as a King “intent/to shake all cares and business from our age,/conferring them on younger
strengths.” (1,1, 40-42) (Cameron 58- 62)

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Lear is also presented as a quick-tempered and dominant king who enjoys the high life
going hunting and reveling with his knights. His quick temper is demonstrated in Act 1 scene 4,
for example, after the fool tells the King of the foolishness in the decision to give away his
kingdom, at which the King responds as thus: “Dost thou call me fool, boy? / we’ll have you
whipp’d.” (1,4,7) His hot temper is also demonstrated when he lashes out at his daughter
Cordelia for telling the truth.
Another significant character of King Lear is that of a mad person. This is depicted after
the humiliation he gets from Regan and Goneril in Act 2 scene four, whereby he is in “high
rage”. In Act 3 scenes 2 and 4, King Lear rages and fantasizes with the gods of nature and asks
them to execute their worst: “blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!” (3,2,1) In the events that
follow he eventually accepts responsibility and displays empathy, regret and kindness for the
poor. One of the good characters of the King is that of a pitiful man. This is depicted in Act 3
scene 2 when he laments of his disgrace more sinned against than sinning” (3,2,59). King Lear
also displays pity with the Fool when he recognizes that he is shivering and wet, asking thus,
“How dost, my boy? Art cold?” (3,2,68) (Bloom 48; Shakespeare 265).
In Act 4, scene 7, Lear is depicted as a sad and remorseful man. When he wakes from a
deep sleep, in tent, Lear thinks he is in Purgatory and mourns thus “I am bound/Upon a wheel
of fire, that mine own tears/Do scald like molten lead (4,7,46- 48). In sorrow, he begs the
forgiveness of Cordelia. When Lear and his daughter Cordelia are about to be imprisoned, he is
presented as a joyful, content man simply by being with his daughter. He tells Cordelia that “So
we’ll live/And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh/ At gilded butterflies, and hear poor
rogues/.” (5,3,11-13) In the ending scene in ct 5 scene 3, Lear is depicted as a wise and chastened
man. He eventually comes to value Cordelia more than even himself following her death and

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speaks thus of the chance that Cordelia might live “is a chance which does redeem all
sorrows/That ever I have felt” (5,3,268) (Shakespeare and Pearce 233)

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Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare's Tragedies. 48: Infobase Publishing, 2000.
Boyden, Matthew, Nick Kimberley and Joe Staines. The Rough Guide to Opera. 564: Rough
Guides , 2002.
Cameron, Lloyd. King Lear, by William Shakespeare. Pascal Press, Pascal Press, Oct 1, 2004.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press,
2005.
Shakespeare, William and Joseph Pearce. The Tragedy of King Lear: With Classic and
ContemporaryCriticisms. Ignatius Press, 2008.