King Lear

Shakespeare’s story of a king who divides his realm between his three daughters probes the depths of human suffering and despair. First staged in 1606, for centuries King Lear was thought too bleak to perform, but its nihilism has heavily influenced modern drama. Read King Lear here, with side-by-side No Fear translations into modern English.

Act 1

Scene 1
King Lear divides his land between his daughters based on how much each daughter loves him. Goneril and Regan lie and exaggerate. Lear casts out Cordelia.

Scene 2
Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, plots to ruin Edgar, who is Gloucester’s legitimate son. Edmund suggests to Gloucester that Edgar is plotting to kill him.

Scene 3
Goneril complains that Lear is a frustrating guest at her castle. She orders her servants to behave rudely toward Lear and his attendants.

Scene 4
The Earl of Kent goes to Goneril’s castle in disguise to serve and defend Lear. Lear leaves Goneril’s castle in anger after she tells him that he will have to get rid of his knights.

Scene 5
Lear sends Kent to deliver a message to Gloucester. The Fool scolds Lear about his bad decisions, foreseeing that Regan will treat Lear no better than Goneril did.

Act 2

Scene 1
Edmund convinces Edgar that he must flee his father’s home. Regan believes Edmund’s lies about Edgar, and suggests that Lear’s knights may be responsible for the "attempt" to kill Gloucester.

Scene 2
Regan and Cornwall put Kent in the stocks for attacking Oswald, the chief steward of Goneril’s household.

Scene 3
Edgar disguises himself as “Poor Tom,” a wandering beggar.

Scene 4
Lear arrives at Gloucester’s castle, and Regan and Goneril rebuke their father together. Lear goes out into the wild by himself during a storm, while the daughters lock the doors behind him.

Act 3

Scene 1
Kent searches for Lear in the storm and comes across one of his knights. He tells the knight to make arrangements with Cordelia to provide help in defending Lear.

Scene 2
Kent finds Lear along with his Fool wandering in the storm. He convinces Lear to go to a nearby hovel to seek shelter.

Scene 3
Gloucester reveals to Edmund that he is appalled by the way that Regan, Goneril, and Cornwall treated Lear, and that he is secretly In communication with the French. Edmund delights in the fact that he can now reveal Gloucester’s plans to Cornwall and hopefully inherent Gloucester’s fortune after Gloucester is put to death.

Scene 4
Lear and the others encounter the disguised Edgar, who strikes up a relationship with Lear immediately. Gloucester arrives and convinces everyone to go back to the castle despite the risks.

Scene 5
Edmund’s plan to manipulate Cornwall goes perfectly, with Cornwall conferring the title of Earl of Gloucester on Edmund. Cornwall sends Edmund to find Gloucester, and Edmund reasons that if he can catch his father in the act of helping Lear, Cornwall’s suspicions will be confirmed.

Scene 6
Gloucester, Kent, Lear, and the Fool take shelter. Lear descends further into madness. Gloucester says that he has heard of a plan to kill Lear, so the group heads for Dover.

Scene 7
Gloucester is captured and admits to helping Lear escape. Cornwall and Regan ridicule and torture Gloucester, gouging out his eyes and banishing him.

Act 4

Scene 1
Edgar sees his blinded father being led by an elderly man. Edgar agrees to take over leading his father, although he does not reveal his identity.

Scene 2
Goneril confronts Albany who has become furious with her after learning about the cruel treatment of Lear. When he further learns about the blinding of Gloucester and Cornwall's death, Albany resolves to take revenge upon Edmund and to assist Gloucester.

Scene 3
Kent arrives in Dover where he learns that Cordelia is now in charge of the French army, and that Lear has arrived safely, although still mentally unwell. Lear refuses to see Cordelia because he is ashamed of the way he treated her, and armies are on their way from both Regan and Goneril’s castles to fight the French.

Scene 4
Cordelia sends men into a cornfield to find her father who has covered himself with weeds and flowers and is singing madly. A doctor tells her that Lear needs to sleep.

Scene 5
Regan wants to marry Edmund now that she is a widow after Cornwall’s death. Goneril, who is also trying to start an affair with Edmund, would be forced to commit adultery since she is still married. Regan enlists Oswald’s help in trying to find and kill Gloucester.

Scene 6
Through a series of tricks, Edgar convinces his suicidal father that God does not want him to kill himself, and the two encounter an insanely raving Lear. Oswald spots Gloucester and attempts to kill him, but Edgar kills Oswald and takes the secret letter he was carrying to Edmund.

Scene 7
Lear and Cordelia are reunited, although he is too mad to fully understand the situation. The British forces draw near, and a battle is imminent.

Act 5

Scene 1
Goneril and Regan spar over their mutual interest in Edmund, while Edmund plans to see how the battle goes before he decides which of them he should marry. Meanwhile, Edgar passes along the secret letter to Albany who now knows that Goneril wants Edmund to kill Albany.

Scene 2
The battle occurs, and Edgar reports back to Gloucester that Cordelia’s army has lost and Cordelia and Lear have been captured.

Scene 3
Regan and Goneril spar over Edmund, but Edgar arrives to reveal his brother’s duplicity and challenge him to a duel. Edmund , Goneril, Regan, Gloucester, Cordelia, and Lear all die. Edgar becomes king.

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