King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare based on the legend of King Leir of Britain.

When Lear, the King of the Britons, decides to step down and divide his kingdom up between his three daughters he puts them through a test to determine their love for him. His two older daughters, Goneril and Regan flatter the King, but his youngest and most favored, Cordelia, refuses, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father and cannot be compelled to do so in dishonestly. Enraged by her response, Lear disowns Cordelia and divides his kingdom between Goneril and Regan only. The main action of the play follows this fateful decision by Lear, which leads to his betrayal by Goneril and Regan, Lear's gradual fall into insanity, a cataclysmic war between the forces of Britain and France, and the eventual death's of Lear's entire family.

1. King Lear: ruler of Britain whose misjudgment of his daughters brings about his downfall.
2. Cordelia: Lear's youngest daughter, she is disowned by her father for refusing to flatter him.
3. Goneril: Lear's treacherous eldest daughter and wife to the Duke of Albany.
4. Regan: Lear's treacherous second daughter, and wife to the Duke of Cornwall.
5. Earl of Gloucester: A nobleman loyal to King Lear, is also Edgar's father, and the father of the bastard, Edmund.
6. Edmund: The Earl of Gloucester's illegitimate son. The play's main villian, he schemes to usurp his father's title from his half-brother Edgar.
7. Edgar: the legitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester is deceived by Edmund and flees. Under disguise he blinds his father and assumes rule of the kingdom and restores the 'Divine Right of Kings' at the end of the play.
8. The Fool: a jester who is devoted to Lear and Cordelia. Maintains and close personal relationship to Lear.

• "Blow, Winds and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!"

• "Howl, howl, howl,howl! O! you are men of stones"

• "Nothing will come of nothing:speak again"

• "Come not between the dragon and his wrath"

• "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."

• "Although the last, not least."

• "Who is it that can tell me who I am?"

• "Mend your speech a little, lest it may mar your fortunes."

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• 1909: King Lear (Silent)

• 1916: King Lear (Silent)

• 1948: King Lear (TV) First English Sound Production

• 1953: King Lear (TV) (Orson Welles)

• 1971: King Lear

• 1974: King Lear (TV) (James Earl Jones)

• 1976: King Lear

• 1982: King Lear (TV) (Brenda Blethyn)

• 1983: King Lear (TV) (Laurence Olivier) (John Hurt)

• 1998: King Lear (TV) (Ian Holm)

• Note: These links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• 1983: The Dresser (Albert Finney)

• 1985: Ran (Akira Kurosawa)

• 1997: A Thousand Acres (Michelle Pfeiffer) (Jessica Lange)

• 2001: My Kingdom (Richard Harris)

• 2002: King of Texas (TV) (Patrick Stewart)