Lear

legendary British king and central character of William Shakespeare's King Lear. One of the most moving of Shakespeare's tragic figures, Lear grows in self-awareness as he diminishes in authority and loses his illusions. Lear at the outset presents the very picture of foolish egotism and is tricked out of what he has expected to be a carefree retirement by his own need for flattery. Believing his treacherous daughters to be sincere in their extravagant expressions of love and devotion and spurning his daughter Cordelia, who expresses only her natural sense of love and filial duty, he rashly divides his kingdom between Regan and Goneril.

By this act he loses not only his land and authority but his entourage and dignity as well. Regan, herself surprised at his response to Cordelia, remarks to Goneril, “Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself.” As the plot unfolds and the extent of his folly becomes ever clearer, Lear rages at his impotence and goes mad. A changed man, he meets up with Cordelia and is able to say simply, “You must bear with me. / Pray you now, forget and forgive. / I am old and foolish.”