King Lear Critics’ Reviews

King Lear, Shakespeare's masterpiece, is one of the towering works of world literature. In no other play is Shakespeare's tragic vision more terrifyingly clear—and nowhere in his canon does he create a richer or more complex set of characters. When King Lear divides his kingdom among his three daughters, he sets in motion a cascade of violence that sweeps the civilized world to the brink of chaos, and Lear to the edge of madness.