Aspects of tragedy - Set texts: Shakespeare: William Shakespeare: King Lear

The idea

King Lear is a tragedy of division, authority and suffering. Lear's abdication and his demand for declarations of love set in motion a chain of betrayals, while Gloucester's parallel story explores blindness, loyalty and recognition. Study how Shakespeare uses the storm, the heath, disguise and the Fool to expose human vulnerability and the abuse of power. Track Lear's movement from imperious command to compassion and self-knowledge, and consider how the ending's bleakness shapes tragic response. A useful method is to compare the two family plots, noting how each illuminates the other's themes of sight, truth and justice.

What earns the marks

• Shows detailed knowledge of the play's double plot, including the love test, the banishment of Kent and Cordelia, the storm scenes, Dover and the final deaths.
• Analyses how Shakespeare's language conveys Lear's psychological disintegration and partial renewal, for example through imperatives, animal imagery and patterns of negation.
• Explores the dramatic function of the Fool, Edgar's disguise as Poor Tom and the heath, connecting them to themes of folly, madness and social inversion.
• Examines Gloucester's storyline as a parallel and counterpoint, especially the symbolism of blindness and the recognition of Edgar.
• Discusses how staging, entrances, exits and the bare stage contribute to the play's emotional and moral impact on an audience.
• Uses contextual ideas about kingship, inheritance, family duty and early modern beliefs about madness and nature to deepen textual analysis.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Reading the play as a simple morality tale in which good characters are rewarded.

  Put it right by examining the ambiguous and devastating ending closely.

• Ignoring the Gloucester plot as a mere subplot.

  Put it right by showing how its themes of blindness and recognition mirror and complicate Lear's journey.

• Describing Lear's madness in general terms without tracing the language.

  Put it right by analysing specific speeches for their imagery, syntax and shifts in register.

Exam tips

• Organise your answer around a clear line of argument about tragedy, using the two plots to develop rather than repeat your points.
• Select quotations that allow close word-level analysis, and comment on how Shakespeare's choices position the audience.
• Keep context purposeful: use it to sharpen your reading of power, family or suffering, not as a separate history lesson.