History Theatre / KingLear

* AnachronismStew: King Lear is a legendary Brythonic monarch said to have reigned sometime before 400 BC. All the terminology used in the play however is either contemporary to Shakespeare's time or only a few centuries before that. Lampshaded by the Fool, who, after parodying Myth/{{Merlin}}'s Prophecy, notes that Merlin hasn't been born yet.

* TriangRelations: Apparently just ''happen'' around Edmund.
** Goneril, Albany, and Edmund are a Type 7 with attempted MurderTheHypotenuse.
** It's very possible to put a Type 6 spin on the interactions between Regan, Cornwall, and Edmund, with the 2018 BBC film version taking it to a strongly implied Type 8.
** Goneril, Regan, and Edmund can play as either a Type 7 or a Type 8, depending on how emotionally attached to one another the sisters are implied to have been before the events of the play. In the end, Edmund is killed in an unrelated duel shortly after Goneril poisons her sister and then stabs herself, and on his deathbed proposes a somewhat [[TogetherInDeath novel]] [[OneTrueThreesome take]] on the classic Shakespearean sex/death innuendo:
--->'''Edmund''': I was contracted to them both; all three
---> Now marry in an instant.

* NakedNutter: A couple of Lears - such as Ian Holm and Ian McKellen - strip naked completely (and even more take off some of their clothes) in the heath scene where they bemoan the "naked wretches" and the "unaccommodated man" literally, when Lear is abandoned by Regan and Goneril outside in the storm.

* NoPronunciationGuide:
** Gloucester can be a tricky one for any productions outside England. Despite the spelling, it's 'gloss-ter'. Getting it wrong into 'glow-ster' or 'gloss-chess-ter' is quite common.
** Regan too. 'Ree-gan' is the correct way, but it's not uncommon to also hear 'ray-gan' or [[Film/TheExorcist 'reggan']].
** And Albany can either be 'all-bany' or 'al-bany'.
** Goneril, pronounced as 'GAHN-eh-ril', with accent stress on the first syllable.

* HateSink: Oswald is a manipulative liar, a sycophant, and a coward. While Lear's elder daughters and Edmund do many despicable things, they have their VillainHasAPoint and FreudianExcuse moments as well as a certain grandeur and bravery behind their villainy. Oswald in contrast has nothing but the most base traits.

''King Lear'' is an extremely powerful play, and for quite some time was unpopular with critics and audiences because it made what was once a traditional HappilyEverAfter FairyTale ending massively depressing instead. Honest children are punished while villains prosper, the good characters suffer through madness and despair and are forced to extreme measures merely to survive, a king is forced to face his own sins, and one character is tortured brutally on-stage. The kingdom is left a shattered mess, and, if done right, so is the audience. The ending is so depressing that it was fully rewritten in 1681, so Cordelia survives and [[PromotionToLoveInterest marries Edgar]]; the revision was more popular than the original for over than a hundred years. After World War II and the horrors people saw in it, the original story of Lear made a comeback. Today, it is considered one of Shakespeare's great tragedies, along with ''Hamlet'', ''Macbeth'', and ''Othello''.

** On the other hand, Albany and Edgar survive, so that at least two decent men are left to rule, and all of the worst individuals: Regan, Goneril, Edmund, Cornwall, and Oswald are defeated and killed off, which, together with the deaths of many of the sympathetic characters, gives it aspects of a BittersweetEnding.

* FreudianExcuse: Edmund's resentment towards his legitimate brother and his father is understandable, even if it doesn't excuse his murderous actions. It certainly doesn't help that Gloucester makes jokes about Edmund's illegitimacy right in front of his face, and Edmund's monologues often focus on how society sees him as a low status bastard in spite of being as capable as his legitimate elder brother.

* KillEmAll: This play has one heck of a body count. But it's a Shakespearian tragedy, so it was to be expected. By the end of it only Edgar, Albany and Kent are left alive. Even then it's hinted that Kent may kill himself too.

** Shakespeare was no stranger to anachronism, but this play takes it UpToEleven. The legendary King Leir of Britain is supposed to have lived around the 8th century BC. At that time, there was no "King of France", "Duke of Cornwall", "Duke of Albany", "Duke of Burgundy, "Earl of Gloucester" or "Earl of Kent". Nor, for example, was there a St Mary Bethlehem (Bedlam) Hospital, from which Edgar takes his madman's identity. One of the most egregious anachronisms is when Kent professes "to eat no fish", implying that he is declaring himself to be a Protestant and not a Catholic - [[PresentDayPast centuries before even the most rudimentary Christianity existed]].

## Offering some vague clue, enabling the production to stay true to the script but also offering the audience a degree of closure; for example, in TheMovie adaptation starring Ian Holm, the Fool is shown having trouble breathing in the scene just after the thunderstorm, suggesting hypothermia. This, coupled with the fact that the actor playing the Fool is obviously well into his sixties, implies that the Fool has died between acts.

* HateSink: Oswald is a manipulative liar, a sycophant, and a coward. While Lear's elder daughters and Edmund do many despicable things, they have their VillainHasAPoint and FreudeianExcuse moments as well as a certain grandeur and bravery behind their villainy. Oswald in contrast has nothing but the most base traits.

** The Fool vanishes from the play after Act 3, Scene 6, and his whereabouts are never accounted for. Many speculate that the character probably was meant to have died and that the scene explicitly stating or depicting this was lost. His final line about "Going to bed at noon," has been interpreted as {{foreshadowing}} his demise. Another theory is that the Fool and Cordelia may have been depicted by the same actor in the original production, necessitating the disappearance of one when the other reenters the play. Some productions have Lear, while mad, accidentally killing him. Since he is a comic character, The Fool's disappearance may very well indicate the play's shift to the subsequent tragedies that befall Cornwall and his servant, Oswald, Gloucester, Goneril, Regan, Edmund, Cordelia, and Lear. A line in the fifth act from Lear says "my poor fool is hanged", but the "f" is lowercase - leading to doubt as to whether The Fool was hanged offscreen.

* FreudianExcuse: Edmund's resentment towards his legitimate brother and his father doesn't really excuse his murderous actions, but one can at least understand the long-suppressed hatred he feels towards a father who (however affably) reminds him of his bastardy and lower status.

* HateSink: Oswald is a manipulative liar, sycophant, and coward. While Lear's elder daughters and Edmund do many despicable things, they have their VillainHasAPoint and Freudian excuse moments as well as a certain grandeur and bravery behind their villainy. Oswald in contrast has nothing but the most base traits.

* AntiVillain: The Duke of Albany. From his point of view, all he is doing is defending England from an invasion of France. He knows damn well that Edmund is an untrustworthy bastard and that neither his wife nor sister-in-law are much better, but he feels forced to work with them by circumstance in case the French are here to conquer, which pits him against Cordelia and Lear. This changes near the end when he discovers Goneril's letter intended for Edmund which is an attempted plot on Albany's life, which leads Albany to arrest Edmund and Goneril.

* SpannerInTheWorks: If Edgar had been caught and killed, or just remained in hiding, Edmund would have become ruler of at least half, if not all, of England. Instead, Edgar accidentally stumbled upon his blinded father Gloucester, who he then saved from Goneril's henchman Oswald. And Oswald just happened to be carrying a letter that implicates Edmund and Goneril in a scheme, giving Edgar a chance to challenge Edmund in public.

** Lear's elder daughters, Cornwall, and Edmund are also technically correct in referring to Lear's followers (including Gloucester) as traitors for seeking out an alliance with a foreign army (France) against England.

## Being blatant about it: the recent Royal Shakespeare Company run with Creator/IanMcKellen had an execution scene that served to explain his disappearance and emphasise the growing cruelty of England under Regan and Goneril. The Fool's last words were made into his "Merlin prophecy" in Act 3 Scene 2, making for some fun thoughts of terror. (Lear does say, "And my poor fool is hanged," in the final scene, but it's not clear exactly what this means.)

* HateSink: Oswald, a manipulative liar, sycophant, and coward. While Lear's elder daughters and Edmund do many despicable things, they have their VillainHasAPoint and Freudian excuse moments as well as a certain grandeur and bravery behind their villainy. Oswald in contrast has nothing but the most base traits.

* FreudianExcuse: Edmund's resentment towards his legitimate brother and his father. While it doesn't really excuse his murderous actions, one can at least understand that long-suppressed hatred he feels towards a father who (however affably) reminds him of his bastardy and lower status.

* ServileSnarker: When Lear arrives at Goneril's palace and the servants ignore him, Oswald's impudent speech to Lear treats him as an ordinary father instead of a king, and Lear immediately takes offense:

* VillainHasAPoint: While Goneril and Regan are clearly nasty characters who abuse their father, it's hard ''not'' to agree with some of their complaints about Lear: he insists on a retinue of 100 knights to travel around with him, then goes to their castles (the idea being he'll live with Goneril for one month, then Regan for the next, then back to Goneril, and so on), spends his days hunting and feasting with the men, and then demands to be waited on hand and foot whenever he wants. They obviously go too far in banishing him fully, but contemporary audiences will likely understand that Lear refusing to budge even an inch and acting like the world's worst house guest would make ''anyone'' upset, let alone two Queens who are trying to run a kingdom.

*** Albany delivers one to Goneril, telling her that karma will get her in the end. She laughs it off but it's ultimately played straight.

* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: Albany delivers one to Goneril, telling her that karma will get her in the end. She laughs it off but it's ultimately played straight.

It's also been adapted into literature, such as Jane Smiley's 1991 novel ''A Thousand Acres'', itself adapted into a movie. A reimagining of the story from the [[PerspectiveFlip perspective]] of the Fool was written by [[Literature/{{Fool}} Christopher Moore]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Regan's response to Gloucester's EyeScream is often portrayed as... excitable today the least.

## Being blatant about it: the recent Royal Shakespeare Company run with Creator/IanMcKellen had an execution scene that served to explain his disappearance and emphasise the growing cruelty of England under Regan and Goneril. The Fool's FamousLastWords were made into his "Merlin prophecy" in Act 3 Scene 2, making for some fun thoughts of terror. (Lear does say, "And my poor fool is hanged," in the final scene, but it's not clear exactly what this means.)

* This trope very much informs the play's premise (and is deconstructed to some extent). Lear wishes to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, but before doing so asks them to declare publicly how much they love him. Goneril and Regan, who don't seem to actually care for Lear, oblige him and shower him with flattery. Cordelia, who actually does care for her father, refuses to make an oral exposé of her love, stating rather tactlessly that she loves Lear as much as her duty requires her to. Lear interprets Cordelia's words as coldness, becomes furious, disowns her, and divides the whole kingdom between the two other daughters, with the stipulation that he shall maintain the title of king and that he and his knights will be alternately supported by Goneril and Regan. These, however, find Lear's retinue annoying and both in turn insist that he dismiss some of his knights as a condition of their continued support. Disillusioned, Lear exiles himself into the wild, where he meets "Tom O'Bedlam", actually the young nobleman Edgar disguised as a madman. Lear, who is descending into a fit of madness himself, insists that nothing other than betrayal by his daughters could have made "Tom" so. The latter briefly repeats injunctions of stock wisdom, including "Obey thy parents." Lear is impressed, and considers him a wise philosopher. Ultimately, however, it's Cordelia who rescues Lear, and upon waking up in her care, he is very humble and conciliatory.