One of the Greatest Poets

William Shakespeare one of the greatest poets was around during the renaissance. He was born on April 23rd 1564 and died April 23rd 1616 at the age of 52. He has wrote 37 plays and about 154 sonnets. Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, he was the third child out of six they would have. His father was a high placed official it was kind of like he was the mayor. Since shakespeare's father was in that position, he got to go to school without having to play the tuition. At the age of 18 he was married to Anne Hathaway, they had three children together. Susan was the oldest judith and hamnet were twins. But unfortunately Hamnet died at the age of 11 the cause of his death is unknown. In shakespeare's life there are seven years that have not been documented. The play was written from the legend in england. The play is kind of in the medieval times.

The text is organized form the different parts of the play. The play consists of 5 parts and 3 scenes in total. Since its a play there is no chapters. While reading some scenes will go on with the previous or they will go to another place with different people leaving no part left out to where a person will get a better understanding. The plot/storyline would have to have something to do with how king lear disowned the daughter he actually really truly cared about, then his other kin try to get rid of him and he wanders around lost trying to find the daughter he disowned. But there is not just one plot to king lear there are multiple. Having one being someone trying to blame a death on a person when they were not in the area at the time.

Another is is trying to take over a kingdom for their own needs. The play doesn't tell the reader exactly how much time is passed, but the reader can infer that it goes on to be 2 week or more which the play passes through. The beginning starts out with being in the palace of King Lear, with three characters talking about how king Lear felt about the Dukes. And it goes into asking gloucester that one other they were speaking to/about was his son. Having him say yes he is of my kin. The ending is when King lear passes away from the grief of his daughter dying. Also Kent and Albany talk about grieving for the losses that have just occured.

The narrative POV of a play is called the dramatic point-of-view, or fly on the wall. They say this because it's as if the narrator would be a fly on the wall only watching what takes play in that scene but could add no comment to what's going on. The whole play is written in a recent perspective. For the play the narrator is more observing. The play does not shift to different narrators,there is only one. The effect the author takes is that he does not leave any stone unturned and while you read you feel the emotions of the characters. The certain words that the author uses to where you can feel the emotions. It is as almost that you start to feel as you yourself are there. There is a lot of emotions that you can relate to and the feelings of having lost someone too. The purpose of this play would be so we could get a more complex understanding of emotions and the legend in history.

Round characters :

King lear- round, the king has two daughters more or so likes when they daughters practically worship him. Only really loves cordelia but got mad when she said she could not tell him how much she loved him. Dies from grieving for his daughter Cordelia at the end of the book. About in his late 50s.

Cordelia- round, youngest of all three of Lear's daughters, gets disowned because she wouldn't tell her father how much she loved him, was suppose to marry the price of france, he still weds her even without the money of getting for marrying her, marries her because supposedly he loves her, ends up getting executed at the end of the play. About at least 18 years old.

Goneril- Round, the eldest of the daughters, she wants to rule and get the kingdom, has an affair even tho she is already married, is very jealous because her younger sister is loved by the king more, when her younger sister gets disowned and is told to leave she sees it as a way to start with her plan and try to take over the kingdom. One of the villains in the play. About in her late 30s early 40s.

Regan- Round, the second eldest of the sisters, also having an affair with the same due her sister is doing, also married wants the guy all to herself though is very very jealous. She's more concerned tho with over throwing her father to take over england as the ruler. One of the villains in the play. About 36 to 40 years old .

Gloucester- Round, is the earl to the king, cheated on his wife to where he had a bastard son which makes him have a crime against adultery, does have a son that is with his wife, seems like a coward doesn't really know which of his sons he should actually trust, starts going down the wrong path, is the reason why king lear gets removed from the castle. At almost the end of play he starts to show that he is brave in some sorts of ways. About 55 years old or older.

Edgar- Round, the real son of gloucester,takes on many different characters throughout the play. Despite having him portrayed as someone who believed his other brother that he was the one that did the crime, decides to be someone who ends up at the aid of his father and king lear, acts like he's a knight during a certain point in time, but being all these different characters you could qualify him as a whole lot of things and they don't really the real characteristics of him. About 26 years old.

Flat characters

Edmund- flat, A kind of villain in the play, hates that he is a bastard child and he hates his father wants to take everything that his dad has, does a lot of tricks towards people in the play that usually end up working, messes with a lot of the characters. About 21 years old.
Kent- Flat, he's a noble that is very loyal to the king, even tho the king banishes him he disguises himself as a peasant, hes keeps on helping king lear throughout the play but gets in trouble a lot because he's very straight forward with everything he says and does. About 25 to at least 30 years old.

Albany- Flat, very kind person has a great heart tries to expose his wife her sisters husband and her sister because of what they are trying to do, is tired of how his wife treats him so cruel, his allies are actually trying to work against him but he does not realize any of that until its way too late in the play to do anything about it. About 46 years old.

Cornwall- Flat, he's a very bad man who is really mean and very very cruel to people, he helps with their plan to take the kingdom and rule over it, they are all trying to get king lear and his earl prosecuted for something they did no do at all. About 40 years old.

The Fool- Flat, is the one who always talks to king lear , always trying to bring up the mood making jokes and new songs he can sing throughout the play is loyal to the king. About 16 years old.
Oswald-Flat, obeys his mistress despite anything he gets told to do, he is more of like the manager to all of the servants in that household is very close to goneril is her servant. Kind of like a steward in a way. About 57 years old.

The settings of this play takes place in England, mainly around Britain. To understand why it would take place here is also the fact that is is based off of a legend that happened to be in england. Usually Shakespeare would put the settings where it came from. But also shakespeare came from england so in a lot of the plays he had written he would base them off of it or the surrounding countries like Scotland.

Cite this page