King Lear: Analysis and Themes

"The theme of displacement from home is pre-eminent in King Lear, and thus the tragedy serves as a striking example of Bachelard's poetics of space. In King Lear, although castles appear to be shelters for people, Lear can neither possess nor have access to them after he divides his kingdom and bestows all his property on his two elder daughters, who then banish him and keep him away from both them and their castles ... "

"More than 400 years ago, as epidemics raged in London, forcing theaters and other public places to shutter, William Shakespeare was busy crafting stories of kings going mad and thanes coveting power. He was, scholars believe, in the midst of an astonishingly potent creative period, one that produced some of the most extraordinary tragedies ever written - "King Lear" and "Macbeth" among them ... "

" ... While King Lear foregrounds the role of experience in defining location, it invokes this intimacy between place and personhood precisely in order to stage its dissolution. Throughout the play, disorientation within physical and social space is both tragic and foundational for subsequent loss ..."

"Shakespeare's King Lear begins with a division of Britain between the King's daughters. Lear says he wishes to divest himself of ''interest of territory, cares of state.'' What follows is a remarkable play about the politics of space, not simply in terms of Lear's story but also in terms of the subplot concerning the legitimate and illegitimate sons of the Duke of Gloucester and the inheritance of land ... "

"The article examines references to religion and divine figures in William Shakespeare's play "King Lear." Subjects discussed include categories of readings of the religious dimension of "King Lear," the controversies concerning idolatry on the Elizabethan stage, and analysis of the proximity of natural order and the gods worshiped by the play's character."

"For many people today, reading Shakespeare’s language can be a problem—but it is a problem that can be solved. Those who have studied Latin (or even French or German or Spanish) and those who are used to reading poetry will have little difficulty understanding the language of poetic drama. Others, though, need to develop the skills of untangling unusual sentence structures and of recognizing and understanding poetic compressions, omissions, and wordplay. ... "

"It’s impossible to overstate the audacity of the vision at the heart of King Lear, which Shakespeare’s company, The King’s Men, staged for the entertainment of their patron, James I, at Christmas in 1606 ... "

"The tragedy of King Lear raises large religious, as well as political and social, questions, and there is a disposition in recent scholarship to treat the play as if it were an argument that gives unorthodox, if not revolutionary, answers to them ... "