King Lear

William Shakespeare · c. 1606 CE · Play · English · Renaissance

An ageing king divides his kingdom between the daughters who flatter him and disinherits the one who will not. Turned out onto the heath with a fool and a madman, he learns what he is without office, while a second family tears itself apart over a forged letter. Tragedy stripped down to weather, age and what a man is worth without his title.

Open King Lear in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Lineage

• alludes to ↑ The Book of Job
  Anonymous · c. 500 BCE · Scripture
• ↓ Cymbeline
  William Shakespeare · c. 1610 CE · Play — shares sources with this
• ↓ Père Goriot
  Honoré de Balzac · 1835 CE · Novel — parallels this
• ↓ Ran
  Akira Kurosawa · 1985 CE · Film — adapts this
• ↓ The Robbers
  Friedrich Schiller · 1781 CE · Play — influenced by this
• ↓ Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
  Robert Browning · 1855 CE · Poem — takes its title from this

Attributes

Closest analogues

• Julius Caesar
  William Shakespeare · c. 1599 CE · Play

  62% · 14 shared
  PlayTragedyPower & CorruptionJustice & RevengeDuty & HonorRenaissanceRuler / KingTragic HeroTragic ReversalThe Clockvs Selfvs PersonTragicEnglish
• Hamlet
  William Shakespeare · c. 1601 CE · Play

  59% · 14 shared
  PlayTragedyMadnessJustice & RevengeDuty & HonorRenaissanceWise FoolTragic HeroTragic ReversalFall (Tragedy)vs Selfvs PersonTragicEnglish
• The Godfather
  Francis Ford Coppola · 1972 CE · Film

  57% · 11 shared
  TragedyPower & CorruptionLoss of InnocenceDuty & HonorRuler / KingTragic HeroTragic ReversalFall (Tragedy)Power / The Thronevs SelfTragic
• Henry IV
  Luigi Pirandello · 1922 CE · Play

  50% · 11 shared
  PlayTragedyMadnessJustice & RevengeRuler / KingWise FoolTragic HeroTragic Reversalvs Selfvs PersonTragic
• Antony and Cleopatra
  William Shakespeare · c. 1607 CE · Play

  49% · 12 shared
  PlayTragedyPower & CorruptionDuty & HonorRenaissanceRuler / KingTragic HeroTragic Reversalvs Selfvs PersonTragicEnglish
• Weir of Hermiston
  R. L. Stevenson · 1896 CE · Novel

  47% · 10 shared
  TragedyJustice & RevengeDuty & HonorRuler / KingTragic HeroTragic Reversalvs Selfvs PersonTragicEnglish