A king trades his crown for flattery and learns what love costs.
Who drives the story
A king who mistakes flattery for love and divides his kingdom on a whim. Stripped of power, knights, and sanity, he learns what poverty and madness teach before dying of grief over Cordelia's body.
The youngest daughter, honest where her sisters flatter. Banished for refusing to exaggerate her love, she returns with a French army to save her father — and is hanged on Edmund's orders.
The eldest daughter, ruthless and ambitious. She strips Lear of his retinue, falls for Edmund, poisons Regan over him, and kills herself when exposed.
The middle daughter, equally cruel and now widowed. She helps blind Gloucester, vies with Goneril for Edmund, and dies on stage from her sister's poison.
Gloucester's illegitimate son, resentful of his stigma and hungry for legitimacy. He frames Edgar, betrays Gloucester, orders Lear and Cordelia's deaths, and repents too late.
Gloucester's legitimate son, disinherited on false charges. He survives as the mad beggar Poor Tom, guides his blinded father, and defeats Edmund in combat to reclaim his name.
An earl who misjudges his sons as badly as Lear misjudges his daughters. Blinded for aiding Lear, he finds wisdom only after losing his sight.
Lear's blunt, loyal earl, banished for honesty and returning disguised as Caius to serve him. He outlasts the king only to expect his own death shortly.
Lear's jester, licensed to tell the truth through jokes. He mocks the king's folly, vanishes after the storm scenes, and is never mentioned again.
Regan's husband, the enforcer who puts Kent in the stocks and gouges out Gloucester's eyes. A wounded servant mortally wounds him mid-atrocity.
Goneril's smug steward, rude to the king and devoted to his mistress. He carries her treasonous letter and dies at Edgar's hand.
Also in the story
Goneril's husband, slow to see his wife's cruelty but decisive once shown the letter. He survives to offer shared power at the end.
How they are connected
Stripped of power, knights, and sanity, he learns what poverty and madness teach before dying of grief over Cordelia's body.
Banished for refusing to exaggerate her love, she returns with a French army to save her father — and is hanged on Edmund's orders.
She strips Lear of his retinue, falls for Edmund, poisons Regan over him, and kills herself when exposed.
She strips Lear of his retinue, falls for Edmund, poisons Regan over him, and kills herself when exposed.
She strips Lear of his retinue, falls for Edmund, poisons Regan over him, and kills herself when exposed.
She helps blind Gloucester, vies with Goneril for Edmund, and dies on stage from her sister's poison.
She helps blind Gloucester, vies with Goneril for Edmund, and dies on stage from her sister's poison.
Gloucester's illegitimate son, resentful of his stigma and hungry for legitimacy.
He frames Edgar, betrays Gloucester, orders Lear and Cordelia's deaths, and repents too late.
He frames Edgar, betrays Gloucester, orders Lear and Cordelia's deaths, and repents too late.
Gloucester's legitimate son, disinherited on false charges.
An earl who misjudges his sons as badly as Lear misjudges his daughters.
Go deeper
Flattery vs. honesty · Blindness and insight · Madness as clarity · Nature and ingratitude
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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