King Lear’s Emotional Stages Throughout the play King Lear, Shakespeare portrays King Lear as a normal human being with a very complex and fragile character. In this very sentimental play, Shakespeare places Lear through the worst anguish of his life (Bruhl 312). The anguish Lear goes through helps him finally realize that human nature is not always loving, caring, and giving as his kingship disguises him to think. One may describe the mental states Lear …showed first 75 words of 709 total…

…showed last 75 words of 709 total…York: Scribner’s Son, 1964. Dominic, Catherine C. Shakespeare’s Characters for Students. Detroit: Gale Publishers, 1997. Halio, Jay L. “ Double Plot of King Lear.” Readings on the Tragedies of William Shakespeare. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: The Greenhaven Press Literary Companion Series, 1996. 189-193. Ribner, Irving. Patterns in Shakespearean Tragedy. London: MacMillan, 1960. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Ed. Russell Fraser. New York: Penguin Group, 1963. Siegel, Paul N. Shakespearean Tragedy and the Elizabethan Compromise. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.