King Lear Characters
- On the Dramatic Character of King Lear (excerpt)" ... Lear, in his good intentions, was without deceit; his violence is not the effect of premeditated malignity; his weaknesses are not crimes, but often the effects of misruled affections ... "
- "Look, Her Lips": Softness of Voice, Construction of Character in King Lear" This essay presents an interpretation of the value of one character, Cordelia, and the final relation of that value to Lear's last speeches over her body. My concern lies with a relation between characters at or near points of death and the issue of aesthetic closure.
- Tragedies within Tragedies: Kent's Unmasking in "King Lear""Kent's last speech in King Lear, taken out of context, sounds like a couplet in a morality play. The outspoken earl turned loyal servant has been defined almost entirely by his relationship with others throughout the play, and his final lines reinforce the audience's sense of him as a character who exists only to serve the king he loves.
