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Audiobook edition · 3 h 11 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a king gives away his power but still demands unquestioning love?
King Lear is tired of ruling Britain. He plans to divide his kingdom among Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, turning a question of love into a contest for land. Goneril and Regan flatter him. Cordelia refuses. Her honesty meets his anger, and a family begins to break.
In William Shakespeare's tragedy, another father makes a similar mistake. The Earl of Gloucester trusts the wrong son, while the ambitious Edmund schemes for his brother's place and his father's lands. Across both households, plain speech carries a cost. Lear wants to keep a king's honours, but the power to demand them is slipping away.
What you’ll discover
- A kingdom for flattery Enter the opening court scene, where a father's hunger for praise puts a kingdom at stake.
- The cost of honesty Meet Cordelia and Kent, whose loyalty means speaking truths Lear does not want to hear.
- Two fathers misled Follow Lear and Gloucester as each mistakes a child's intentions, with painful consequences for both families.
- Out on the heath Face wind, rain, and thunder beside Lear, the Fool, and Kent in the storm scene.
- Truth in riddles Listen to the Fool's songs and riddles as he stays beside a king whose world falls apart.
Who will love it
Readers who love family drama, sharp dialogue and stories about power and its price will find a great deal here. It also suits anyone curious about Shakespeare, and anyone who asks what justice, loyalty and old age really mean.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A king puts love on trial
- Plain love loses to flattering words
- Truth is driven from the court
- Edmund makes trust serve his ambition
- Lear loses more than his knights
- The storm reveals a shared humanity
- Loyal children return to wounded fathers
- Two families reflect the same mistake
- Love asks for more than need
Who’s who
- LearThe aging king of Britain who gives away his realm and wants his daughters to prove their love in words.
- CordeliaLear's youngest daughter, who will not flatter her father and is cast out, yet keeps her love for him.
- GonerilLear's eldest daughter, married to the Duke of Albany, who wants to cut down her father's hundred knights and keep power.
- ReganLear's second daughter, married to the Duke of Cornwall, who agrees with her sister and wants to rule without her father's interference.
- GloucesterAn earl who trusts the wrong son and pays dearly for helping the king in secret.
- EdgarGloucester's elder son, framed by his brother, who hides as a mad beggar called Poor Tom to survive.
- EdmundGloucester's illegitimate younger son, who resents his birth and schemes to win his brother's land and title.
- KentA loyal earl, banished for speaking plainly, who returns in disguise to serve Lear.
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The Tragedy of King Lear
by William Shakespeare · 1608
A king gives his realm to two flattering daughters, and the one who speaks honestly is cast out.
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“But if Othello be the most pathetic, King Lear the most terrible, Hamlet the subtlest and deepest work of Shakespeare, the highest in abrupt and steep simplicity of epic tragedy is Macbeth.”
In short
What would you give to hear that you are loved? In the first scene of King Lear, an old king of Britain puts a price on it.
The Tragedy of King Lear at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h1 h 35 min fast, 2 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 28,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1608by William Shakespeare
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A king trades his kingdom for flattery
Lear opens by announcing that he is done with ruling. He has cut Britain into three parts, and he wants to hand them to younger hands while he crawls toward death. First he sets a test before the court. The daughter who says she loves him most will receive the richest share.
Goneril, the eldest, says she loves him more than sight, space and freedom, more than life itself. Regan says her sister has not gone far enough. Each speech earns a fine third of the kingdom. Cordelia, the youngest and the favourite, listens and says to herself that she will love, and be silent. When her turn comes, she answers with one word, nothing.
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Details
- First published
- 1608
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tragedy-of-king-lear.
Shakespeare, W. (2026). The tragedy of King Lear. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tragedy-of-king-lear (Original work published 1608)
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tragedy-of-king-lear.
@book{shakespeare2026tragedy,
author = {Shakespeare, William},
title = {The Tragedy of King Lear},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-tragedy-of-king-lear},
note = {First published 1608}
}
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What is King Lear about?
An aging king of Britain divides his kingdom among his daughters according to who says she loves him most. He banishes the one who answers plainly, and the two who flatter him strip away his power, driving him into madness and exposure.
Who are Goneril, Regan and Cordelia?
They are Lear's three daughters. Goneril is the eldest and married to Albany, Regan is the second and married to Cornwall, and Cordelia is the youngest, who refuses to flatter her father and marries the King of France.
What is the subplot with Gloucester and his sons?
The Earl of Gloucester has a legitimate son, Edgar, and an illegitimate son, Edmund. Edmund forges a letter and lies to turn his father against Edgar, so a second family breaks apart in the same way as the king's.
The author
William Shakespeare
1564–1616 · English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He worked in London as an actor and playwright. He wrote plays, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth, and published sonnets in 1609. He died in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616.
“Nothing comes from nothing.”
More by William Shakespeare
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