The Origins of King Lear

Shakespeare: King Lear

In this course, Professor Grace Ioppolo (University of Reading) explores Shakespeare’s King Lear. We begin in the first module by thinking about Shakespeare’s sources for King Lear – what he took from earlier versions of the story, and what he invented for himself. After that, we think about the critical reception of the play, focusing in particular on Peter Brook’s 1962 production and the influence of Jan Kott’s ‘Shakespeare Our Contemporary’ (1961). In the third module, we explore the opening scene of the play, before turning in the fourth module to the theme of the absent mother in the play. In the fifth and sixth modules, we focus on the long central act of the play, thinking first about Act III as an exploration of human nature, and then about what Act III tells us about the kind of tragedy King Lear is. Finally, in the seventh module, we think about the final two acts of the play, focusing in particular on the very end of the play, and the meaning of the play as a whole.

The Origins of King Lear

In this module, we think about Shakespeare’s sources for King Lear, focusing in particular on: (i) Shakespeare’s use of King James’ Basilikon Doron (1st ed. 1599, 2nd ed. 1603), The True Chronicle History of King Leir (published in 1605, but performed during the 1590s), and Philip Sidney’s Arcadia (1590); (ii) the parts of the play that were Shakespeare’s own invention – especially the ending; and (iii) the presentation of the love test in Holinshed’s Chronicles compared with the scene in Shakespeare’s play.