King Lear Cordelia. Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear": plot and history of creation

Cordelia

An angry Lear disowns his daughter and disinherits her, dividing the kingdom between his eldest daughters.

Having received the inheritance, Goneril and Regan humiliate their father, forcing him to abandon the last sign of his former greatness - his personal retinue. Lear has a bitter epiphany. He understands that he is deprived not only of power, but also of the love of Goneril and Regan. Cursing his older daughters, Lear retreats in despair into the bare steppe along with his faithful jester.

Look, gods! I'm a poor old man
I am depressed by the years, despised by them.
Once the daughter's hearts were restored
Against my father, I won’t bear any offense
Resignedly. Inspire the right anger,
Don't let a woman's tear
The men's cheeks were getting dirty. - No, witches,
I will take brutal revenge on both of you.
The world will shake!.. I don’t know yet
What will I do, but I will do this
What will become scary? Do you think I'm crying?
No, I won't pay:
There are many reasons for tears, but let your heart
In the chest it will break into pieces sooner,
How will I pay?

King Lear and the Jester in the Storm

In the steppe, Lear's transformation takes place - he begins to think not only about himself, but also about simple destitute vagabonds, like him, suffering from bad weather.

In this state, Lyra is found by Cordelia, who came from France to save her father.

Goneril and Regan order Lear and Cordelia to be captured and imprisoned.

But prison does not frighten Lear - after all, Cordelia is with him, whom he truly understood and appreciated only now:

Let's go to jail quickly:
We'll sing there like birds in a cage.
Ask for blessings - on your knees
I'll ask for forgiveness. We will live,
Pray, sing among fairy tales and smiles,
Like golden butterflies. We'll hear
There is a lot of gossip from the poor - the courtiers.
Who won, who didn't, who's up, who's down -
Then we will understand the secret of all things,
As God's spies. Let's tear it down
In prison there are intrigues of the strong who are attracted
Now up, now down with the moon.

But old man Lear is deprived of his last joy - communication with Cordelia. When Lear learns that Cordelia has been hanged, he is unable to believe in her death. Lear carries his daughter in his arms and hopes that she is still alive:

Howl! howl! howl! howl! - you stone people!
If I had so many eyes and so many mouths,
The vault of the sky would burst. - Gone forever!
I can tell the living from the dead.
Dead as clay. - Give me the mirror!
If its surface becomes clouded,
She is alive.

When Lear realizes that Cordelia is dead, he dies, unable to bear the suffering that has befallen him. Probably not a single Shakespeare hero endured as much suffering as King Lear.

Lear's ungrateful daughters also die: Regan is poisoned by Goneril, Goneril stabs herself.

The images of the heroes of "King Lear" were repeatedly embodied on the stage of theaters and in cinema. At one time, even Lewis Carroll's muse, Alice Liddell, played the role of Cordelia.

I watched two of the film adaptations of King Lear. Firstly, a 1971 English film directed by Peter Brook.

poster of the English film "King Lear" (1971): Paul Scofield as King Lear, Irene Worth as Goneril, Susan Engel as Regan

still from the English film "King Lear" (1971). Anne-Lise Gabold as Cordelia

I didn’t like the English film, but the 1970 Russian film directed by Grigory Kozintsev met all my expectations. Yuri Järvet plays King Lear wonderfully, Valentina Shendrikova looks very good as Cordelia. It is also worth noting Galina Volchek in the role of Regan and Oleg Dal in the role of the jester.

Still from the film "King Lear" (1970). King Lear (Yuri Yarvet) and Cordelia (Valentina Shendrikova)

Still from the film "King Lear" (1970). King Lear (Yuri Yarvet) and the jester (Oleg Dal)

Still from the film "King Lear" (1970). Goneril (Elsa Radzina)

Still from the film "King Lear" (1970). Regan (Galina Volchek)

One of the main characters is British King Lear, suffered because of his self-confidence, short-sightedness, love of flattery and boundless belief in his power. Besides him, the central characters are his three daughters, his heirs - Cordelia, Regan And Goneril. Their husbands, respectively - king of france, Duke of Cornwall And Duke of Albany. Loyal to the King - Earl of Kent, Earl of Gloucester, his son Earl Edgar. Also another son of Gloucester, illegitimate - Edmond.

Division of power and kingdom

Those closest to the king, as well as his daughters and sons-in-law, gathered in the throne room. Everyone is waiting for Lear's decision regarding the division of lands. He reports that he wants to divide the region into three parts, giving each of his daughters her share. He was already too old to bear the burden of power. But before he takes such an important step, he longs to hear from his daughters how much they love him. Goneril and Regan, counting on their father’s generosity, begin to praise him and utter sugary flattering words that the king really likes. And Cornelia, the youngest daughter, frankly answers that she does not know how to express her feelings in front of everyone, or express herself beautifully. She simply loves her father, without any pathos, and she has nothing more to say.

King Lear's decision

Her statement infuriates Lear, and he denies his favorite inheritance. The applicant for her hand standing nearby, the Duke of Burgundy, hearing such a speech, renounces the bride. His rival, the French king, on the contrary, agrees to take Cornelia as his wife and take her to his court. A quarrel occurs between Lear and the Earl of Kent, who is trying to dissuade the monarch from a rash step. After which Kent is expelled from the country. But as a loyal subject, he does not leave his sovereign, but having changed his appearance, he begins to play the role of a servant.

At Gloucester Castle

The count is upset by the decision of the king, whom he served faithfully for many years. He does not know that soon, like Lear, he will renounce his own son, Edgar. Gloucester becomes a victim of an intrigue that his illegitimate son, Edmond, begins to weave. He wants to seize the rights of the heir by eliminating his unwanted brother. To do this, the cunning man slips a letter to his father, allegedly written by Edgar, in which he proposes to kill the count in order to divide his lands into two. Believing Edmond, Gloucester orders his son to be captured, but he manages to escape from the castle.

Visiting Goneril

Having divided the kingdom, King Lear decided to visit his daughters one by one. First he went to the castle of the Duke of Albany. Having agreed with her sister in advance, Goneril shows her father in every possible way that he has lost his power, and now she is the mistress here. The king feels rudeness and disobedience not only from his own daughter, but also from the servants. After the last dialogue, in which Goneril communicates too impudently with her father and demands that he reduce his retinue, the king realizes how much he was mistaken in her. He still hopes that he can calm down with Regan and is going to go to her. But Goneril also begins to act, sending a messenger to her sister.

Betrayal of daughters

Regan and her husband, while in Gloucester Castle, meet the king's envoy (the Earl of Kent in disguise). They order him to be put in stocks, thus showing disrespect for Lear. And soon the king himself arrives. He still hopes that he can complain to Regan about his sister. But she doesn’t want to listen to anything.

She sends her father to ask Goneril for forgiveness, calls him a grump and refuses to shelter him. At night, during a thunderstorm, he finds himself outside the castle gates, humiliated and shocked by his daughters’ cruelty. Kent goes into the storm after him, sending a servant to Cordelia with news of the king's trouble. And he takes Lear to the hut, where he is already hiding, pretending to be a wandering madman Edgar. Soon Gloucester finds them and takes them to the farm. There the king begins to delirium from a painful epiphany about his daughters.

Gloucester's Trouble

The Earl of Gloucester persuades Kent to take the king to the port so that he does not become a victim of a conspiracy. At the same time, Cornwall learns from a letter that Edmond gave him that his father was in correspondence with France. And now enemy troops have landed in the country, which means we need to let the Duke of Albany know about it.

Regan's husband sends a message to Goneril, who had previously arrived at the castle, and with her Edmond. He bestowed upon the latter the rank of count, which he had taken from his father for treason. Having learned that Gloucester also sheltered Lear and then helped him escape, the angry Duke orders him to be captured. They begin to mock the bound old man. And then they completely tear out the unfortunate man’s eyes.

The servants stand up for the old man. One of them mortally wounds the Duke during a fight. But he manages to tear out the count’s second eye. The old man finds out that Edgar was slandered by Edmond, after which Regan orders him to be thrown out of the gate. Faithful servants and Tom go with him as a guide, in whom the count did not recognize his son.

Suicide attempt

The blind Gloucester, feeling his guilt before Edgar, as well as the bitterness of betrayal, wants to commit suicide. He asks his guide to take him to the edge of a high cliff so he can throw himself off it. He brings his father to the plain, says that this is a cliff, puts him down and leaves. The old man jumps and immediately falls. His son approaches him, pretending to be a different person and reports that the count fell from a steep cliff, but managed to stay alive. Gloucester believes him and decides to submit to fate. They meet a king who has gone mad.

But he recognizes Gloucester, and he recognizes by his voice that this is Lear. Then a servant appears, devoted to the sisters. He wants to kill the blind count on Regan's orders. Edgar comes to his father’s defense and kills Oswald in a fair fight. In the pocket of his clothes he finds a letter written by Goneril. In it, she asks Edmond to kill her husband.

In the French camp

Kent arrives at the French camp, where he is told that the king was forced to return home, leaving his army to his wife. Cordelia learned of her father's misfortune and came to Britain to help him.

She turns to doctors, trying to find out if her father can be cured. He was placed in a tent, where he peacefully fell asleep. Waking up, at first he does not understand where he is, but through the efforts and care of his daughter, his mind returns to him. He asks Cordelia for forgiveness.

Denouement

The French are captured, the king and his beloved daughter are placed in prison. Edmond gave the order to kill them. Regan, left a widow, harbors hopes of marrying Edmond. She is jealous of him for Goneril, suspecting that they are having an affair. Goneril, realizing that her sister has a better chance, plans to poison her. The Duke of Albany learns that his wife wants to kill him and do it with the hands of her lover, Edmond.

He accuses the scoundrel of treason and demands that Lear be given to him. Edgar challenges the traitor to a duel, having previously revealed himself to his father and received his blessing. Before he dies, Edmond reveals his plan to kill the king and his daughter. It is not possible to save them. Cordelia died after being hanged in prison. King Lear also failed to survive her death. Regan was poisoned by Goneril, who then stabbed herself. The Duke of Albany becomes the head of the country.

Quiz on the tragedy King Lear

William Shakespeare

"King Lear"

The location is Britain. Time period: 11th century. The powerful King Lear, sensing the approach of old age, decides to shift the burden of power onto the shoulders of his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, dividing his kingdom between them. The king wants to hear from his daughters how much they love him, “so that during the division we can show our generosity.”

Goneril speaks first. Scattering flattery, she says that she loves her father, “as children / Until now have never loved their fathers.” She is echoed by the sweet-tongued Regan: “I don’t know other joys other than / My great love for you, sir!” And although the falseness of these words hurts the ear, Lear listens to them favorably. It’s the turn of the youngest, beloved Cordelia. She is modest and truthful and does not know how to publicly swear her feelings. “I love you as duty dictates, / No more and no less.” Lear can’t believe his ears: “Cordelia, come to your senses and correct the answer so that you don’t regret it later.” But Cordelia cannot express her feelings better: “You gave me life, good sir, / Raised and loved. In gratitude / I pay you the same.” Lear is furious: “So young and so callous in soul?” “So young, my lord, and straightforward,” Cordelia replies.

In a blind rage, the king gives the entire kingdom to Cordelia's sisters, leaving her only her integrity as a dowry. He provides himself with a hundred guards and the right to live with each of his daughters for a month.

The Earl of Kent, a friend and close associate of the king, warns him against such a hasty decision and begs him to cancel it: “Cordelia’s love is no less than theirs.”<…>Only that which is empty from within thunders...” But Lear had already bitten the bit. Kent contradicts the king, calls him an eccentric old man - which means he must leave the kingdom. Kent responds with dignity and regret: “Since there is no rein on your pride at home, / Then exile is here, but freedom is in a foreign land.”

One of the contenders for Cordelia's hand - the Duke of Burgundy - refuses her, who has become a dowry. The second contender, the King of France, is shocked by the behavior of Lear, and even more so by the Duke of Burgundy. Cordelia’s whole fault “is the timid chastity of feelings that are ashamed of publicity.” “A dream and a precious treasure, / Be a beautiful queen of France...” he says to Cordelia. They are removed. In parting, Cordelia turns to her sisters: “I know your properties, / But, sparing you, I will not name you. / Look after your father, Him with anxiety / I entrust to your ostentatious love.”

The Earl of Gloucester, who served Lear for many years, is upset and puzzled that Lear “suddenly, on the spur of the moment” made such a responsible decision. He does not even suspect that Edmund, his illegitimate son, is weaving an intrigue around him. Edmund planned to denigrate his brother Edgar in the eyes of his father in order to take over his part of the inheritance. He, having forged Edgar's handwriting, writes a letter in which Edgar allegedly plans to kill his father, and arranges everything so that his father reads this letter. Edgar, in turn, he assures that his father is plotting something evil against him; Edgar assumes that someone has slandered him. Edmund easily wounds himself, and presents the matter as if he was trying to detain Edgar, who had attempted to kill his father. Edmund is pleased - he deftly entwined two honest people with slander: “The father believed, and the brother believed. / He is so honest that he is above suspicion. / It’s easy to play with their simplicity.” His machinations were a success: the Earl of Gloucester, believing in Edgar’s guilt, ordered to find him and capture him. Edgar is forced to flee.

For the first month Lear lives with Goneril. She is just looking for a reason to show her father who is boss now. Having learned that Lear killed her jester, Goneril decides to “restrain” her father. “He himself gave up power, but wants to rule / Still! No, old people are like children, / And a lesson in rigor is required.”

Lyra, encouraged by her mistress, is openly rude to Goneril's servants. When the king wants to talk to his daughter about this, she avoids meeting with her father. The jester bitterly ridicules the king: “You cut off your mind on both sides / And left nothing in the middle.”

Goneril arrives, her speech is rude and impudent. She demands that Lear dismiss half of his retinue, leaving a small number of people who will not “be forgotten and riotous.” Lear is smitten. He thinks that his anger will affect his daughter: “Insatiable kite, / You lie! My bodyguards / A proven people of high qualities...” The Duke of Albany, Goneril’s husband, tries to intercede for Lear, not finding in his behavior what could cause such a humiliating decision. But neither the father’s anger nor the husband’s intercession touches the hard-hearted woman. The disguised Kent did not leave Lear, he came to hire himself into his service. He considers it his duty to be close to the king, who is obviously in trouble. Lear sends Kent with a letter to Regan. But at the same time Goneril sends her messenger to her sister.

Lear still hopes - he has a second daughter. He will find understanding with her, because he gave them everything - “both life and the state.” He orders the horses to be saddled and angrily says to Goneril: “I’ll tell her about you. She / With her nails, she-wolf, will scratch / your face! Don’t think, I will return / To myself all the power / Which I lost, / As you imagined...”

In front of Gloucester Castle, where Regan and her husband arrived to resolve disputes with the king, two messengers collided: Kent - King Lear, and Oswald - Goneril. In Oswald, Kent recognizes Goneril's courtier, whom he reprimanded for disrespect to Lyra. Oswald screams. Regan and her husband, the Duke of Cornwall, come out to hear the noise. They order Kent to be put in stocks. Kent is angry at Lear’s humiliation: “Even if I were / Your father’s Dog, and not an ambassador, / You wouldn’t need to treat me like that.” The Earl of Gloucester unsuccessfully tries to intercede on Kent's behalf.

But Regan needs to humiliate his father so that he knows who has the power now. She is cut from the same cloth as her sister. Kent understands this well; he foresees what awaits Lear at Regan’s: “You were caught out of the rain and under the drops...”

Lear finds his ambassador in the stocks. Who dared! It's worse than murder. “Your son-in-law and your daughter,” Kent says. Lear does not want to believe, but understands that it is true. “This attack of pain will suffocate me! / My melancholy, don’t torment me, go away! / Don’t approach your heart with such force!” The jester comments on the situation: “A father in rags on his children / Brings blindness. / A rich father is always nicer and has a different attitude.”

Lear wants to talk to his daughter. But she is tired from the road and cannot accept him. Lear screams, is indignant, rages, wants to break down the door...

Finally Regan and the Duke of Cornwall come out. The king tries to tell how Goneril kicked him out, but Regan, not listening, invites him to return to his sister and ask her for forgiveness. Before Lear had time to recover from his new humiliation, Goneril appeared. The sisters vied with each other to defeat their father with their cruelty. One proposes to reduce the retinue by half, the other - to twenty-five people, and, finally, both decide: not a single one is needed.

Lear is crushed: “Do not refer to what is needed. The poor and those / In need have something in abundance. / Reduce all life to necessity, / And man will become equal to an animal...”

His words seem capable of squeezing tears from a stone, but not from the king’s daughters... And he begins to realize how unfair he was to Cordelia.

A storm is coming. The wind howls. Daughters abandon their father to the elements. They close the gate, leaving Lear on the street, “...he has science for the future.” Lear no longer hears these words of Regan.

Steppe. A storm is raging. Streams of water fall from the sky. Kent, in the steppe in search of the king, encounters a courtier from his retinue. He confides in him and tells him that there is “no peace” between the Dukes of Cornwall and Albany, that in France it is known about the cruel treatment “of our good old king.” Kent asks the courtier to hurry to Cordelia and tell her “about the king, / About his terrible fatal misfortune,” and as proof that the messenger can be trusted, he, Kent, gives his ring, which Cordelia recognizes.

Lear walks with the jester, beating the wind. Lear, unable to cope with mental anguish, turns to the elements: “Howl, whirlwind, with might and main! Burn lightning! Let down the rain! / Whirlwind, thunder and downpour, you are not my daughters, / I do not blame you for heartlessness. / I didn’t give you kingdoms, I didn’t call you children, I didn’t oblige you with anything. So let it be done / All your evil will is done to me.” In his declining years, he lost his illusions; their collapse burns his heart.

Kent comes out to meet Lear. He persuades Lear to take refuge in the hut, where poor Tom Edgar is already hiding, pretending to be crazy. Tom engages Lear in conversation. The Earl of Gloucester cannot abandon his old master in trouble. The sisters' cruelty disgusts him. He received news that there was a foreign army in the country. Until help arrives, Lear must be covered. He tells Edmund about his plans. And he decides to once again take advantage of Gloucester’s gullibility in order to get rid of him too. He will report him to the Duke. “The old man is missing, I’ll move forward. / He’s lived and that’s enough, it’s my turn.” Gloucester, unaware of Edmund's betrayal, searches for Lear. He comes across a hut where the persecuted have taken refuge. He calls Lear to a refuge where there is “fire and food.” Lear does not want to part with the beggar philosopher Tom. Tom follows him to the castle farm where their father is hiding. Gloucester goes to the castle for a while. Lear, in a fit of madness, arranges a trial of his daughters, inviting Kent, the jester and Edgar to be witnesses and jurors. He demands that Regan's chest be opened to see if there is a heart of stone there... Finally, Lyra manages to be put to rest. Gloucester returns, he asks the travelers to quickly go to Dover, since he “overheard a plot against the king.”

The Duke of Cornwall learns of the landing of French troops. He sends Goneril and Edmund with this news to the Duke of Albany. Oswald, who spied on Gloucester, reports that he helped the king and his followers escape to Dover. The Duke orders the capture of Gloucester. He is captured, tied up, and mocked. Regan asks the earl why he sent the king to Dover, contrary to orders. “Then, so as not to see / How you tear out the old man’s eyes / With the claws of a predator, like a boar’s tusk / Your fierce sister will plunge / into the body of the anointed one.” But he is sure that he will see “how thunder will incinerate such children.” At these words, the Duke of Cornwall tears out an eye from the helpless old man. The earl's servant, unable to bear the sight of the old man being mocked, draws his sword and mortally wounds the Duke of Cornwall, but is also wounded himself. The servant wants to console Gloucester a little and encourages him to look with his remaining eye at how he is avenged. The Duke of Cornwall, before his death, in a fit of anger, tears out his second eye. Gloucester calls on Edmund's son for revenge and learns that it was he who betrayed his father. He understands that Edgar has been slandered. Blinded and grief-stricken, Gloucester is pushed out into the street. Regan sees him off with the words: “Drive him to the neck! / Let him find his way to Dover with his nose.”

Gloucester is escorted by an old servant. The Count asks to leave him so as not to incur anger. When asked how he will find his way, Gloucester bitterly replies: “I have no way, / And I don’t need eyes. I stumbled / when I was sighted.<…>My poor Edgar, unfortunate target / of blind anger / of a deceived father...” Edgar hears this. He volunteers to become a guide to a blind man. Gloucester asks to be taken to a cliff “large, hanging steeply over the abyss” to commit suicide.

Goneril returns to the palace of the Duke of Albany with Edmund; she is surprised that the “peacemaker-husband” did not meet her. Oswald talks about the Duke’s strange reaction to his story about the landing of troops and Gloucester’s betrayal: “What is unpleasant makes him laugh, / What should please him makes him sad.” Goneril, calling her husband “a coward and a nonentity,” sends Edmund back to Cornwall to lead the troops. Saying goodbye, they swear their love to each other.

The Duke of Albany, having learned how inhumanely the sisters acted with their royal father, meets Goneril with contempt: “You are not worth the dust / Which the wind showered you in vain... Everything knows its root, and if not, / It dies like a dry branch without juice " But the one who hides “the face of an animal under a woman’s guise” is deaf to her husband’s words: “Enough! Pathetic nonsense! The Duke of Albany continues to appeal to her conscience: “What have you done, what have you done, / Not daughters, but real tigresses. / An aged father, whose feet / A bear would reverently lick, / Driven to madness! / Satan’s ugliness / Nothing compared to an evil woman’s ugliness...” He is interrupted by a messenger who reports the death of Cornwall at the hands of a servant who came to the defense of Gloucester. The Duke is shocked by the new atrocities of the sisters and Cornwall. He vows to repay Gloucester for his loyalty to Lear. Goneril is concerned: her sister is a widow, and Edmund stayed with her. This threatens her own plans.

Edgar leads his father. The Count, thinking that there is a cliff edge in front of him, rushes and falls in the same place. Comes to his senses. Edgar convinces him that he jumped off the cliff and miraculously survived. Gloucester henceforth submits to fate until she herself says: “Go away.” Oswald appears and is tasked with taking out old man Gloucester. Edgar fights him, kills him, and in the pocket of the “flatterer, servile evil mistress” he finds a letter from Goneril to Edmund, in which she offers to kill her husband in order to take his place herself.

In the forest they meet Lear, intricately decorated with wildflowers. His mind left him. His speech is a mixture of “nonsense and sense.” A courtier appears calling for Lear, but Lear runs away.

Cordelia, having learned about her father's misfortunes and the hard-heartedness of her sisters, rushes to his aid. French camp. Lear in bed. The doctors put him into a life-saving sleep. Cordelia prays to the gods for the “father who fell into infancy” to return his mind. In the dream, Lyr is dressed again in royal robes. And then he wakes up. Sees Cordelia crying. He kneels in front of her and says: “Don’t be strict with me. / Sorry. / Forget. I'm old and reckless."

Edmund and Regan are at the head of the British army. Regan asks Edmund if he is having an affair with his sister. He pledges his love to Regan. The Duke of Albany and Goneril enter with the beating of drums. Goneril, seeing his rival sister next to Edmund, decides to poison her. The Duke proposes to convene a council in order to draw up a plan of attack. Edgar, in disguise, finds him and gives him a letter from Goneril that was found on Oswald. And he asks him: in case of victory, “let the herald<…>He will call me to you with a trumpet.” The Duke reads the letter and learns about the betrayal.

The French are defeated. Edmund, who came forward with his army, takes King Lear and Cordelia prisoner. Lear is happy that he has found Cordelia again. From now on they are inseparable. Edmund orders them to be taken to prison. Lear is not afraid of imprisonment: “In a stone prison we will survive / All the false teachings, all the greats of the world, / All their changes, their ebb and flow<…>We will sing like birds in a cage. You will stand under my blessing, / I will kneel before you, asking for forgiveness.”

Edmund gives a secret order to kill them both.

The Duke of Albany enters with an army, he demands that the king and Cordelia be handed over to him in order to decide their fate “in accordance with honor and prudence.” Edmund tells the Duke that Lear and Cordelia have been captured and sent to prison, but refuses to hand them over. The Duke of Albany, interrupting the sisters' obscene squabble over Edmund, accuses all three of treason. He shows Goneril her letter to Edmund and announces that if no one comes to the call of the trumpet, he himself will fight Edmund. At the third call of the trumpet, Edgar comes out to duel. The Duke asks him to reveal his name, but he says that for now it is “contaminated with slander.” Brothers fight. Edgar mortally wounds Edmund and reveals to him who the avenger is. Edmund understands: “The wheel of fate has completed / Its turn. I am here and defeated.” Edgar tells the Duke of Albany that he shared his wanderings with his father. But before this fight he opened up to him and asked for his blessing. During his story, a courtier comes and reports that Goneril stabbed herself, having previously poisoned her sister. Edmund, dying, announces his secret order and asks everyone to hurry up. But it’s too late, the crime has been committed. Lear enters carrying the dead Cordelia. He endured so much grief, but he cannot come to terms with the loss of Cordelia. “My poor girl was strangled! / No, he’s not breathing! / A horse, a dog, a rat can live, / But not you. You are gone forever...” Lear dies. Edgar tries to call the king. Kent stops him: “Don’t torture me. Leave his spirit alone. / Let him go. / Who do you have to be to yank him again / onto the rack of life for torment?”

“No matter how much melancholy the soul is struck by, / Times forces us to be persistent” - the final chord is the words of the Duke of Albany.

The British King Lear, in his old age, decides to place the burden of the throne on his daughters: Regan, Cordelia and Goneril. In return, their father wants to hear how much they love him.

Goneril is the first to say the word, showering her father with flattery, and behind her, Regan, it seems, repeats her sister’s words. But Lear was really looking forward to the words of the third, youngest Cordelia: “I love you as duty dictates,” she said, which greatly shocked his father. For such straightforwardness of the youngest, the father gives the kingdom only to her older sisters, taking for himself a hundred guards and the right to visit each of the daughters for one month. The king's friend Earl of Kent asked him to change his mind about the younger one, but Lear did not want to change his decision. The King of France is flattered by Cordelia's words and proposes to her to be queen. They leave together.

Lear chooses Goneril's first home. In the house, the servants who were ordered by the mistress are openly rude to him; the daughter does not want to talk to him, avoiding the meeting. Thus, the daughter wants to show her father who is in charge now. Goneril's husband, the Duke of Albany, comes to Lear's defense, but this did not stop his daughter, and the father leaves for the second - Regan, to whom he had already sent a messenger from Kent.

At Gloucester Castle, Kent meets Goneril's messenger, Oswald, who recognizes Kent and meets Regan and the Duke of Cornwall, who order the messenger Lear to be put in shackles. When Lear comes to his second daughter, he receives the same attitude as from the first. Regan, too, along with Goneril, who has arrived, are trying to show their father who is in charge now. Now he understands that he senselessly offended his youngest daughter then, and leaves his daughters.

Kent sends an envoy to France to the king's youngest daughter, and he himself goes in search of him. The Earl of Gloucester respects the old king and also goes to look for him. Kent finds a hut where Lear and the beggar philosopher Tom were sitting, where Gloucester soon comes. Gloucester takes everyone to his farm, and he himself goes into the castle. Everyone settled down to rest, when Gloucester returns with information about a conspiracy against the king, and insists that they immediately set off on the road to Dover. A spy who was nearby the king told everything to the Duke of Cornwall, who orders Gloucester to be captured and the king to be spied on further. Gloucester is cruelly mocked, he is deprived of one eye, but the old man is saved by Edgar.

When the Duke of Albany finds out how his daughters behaved with their father, he is filled with contempt for his wife when she returned from her sister. Goneril learns that Gloucester is alive. Realizing that she needs to kill her husband, she sends the messenger Oswald to find and kill old man Gloucester, and convey a secret message to Edmund that he must kill the Duke. The messenger finds the old man, fights Edgar and dies.

At this time, Cordelia finds out about everything that is happening to her father and immediately goes to his aid. Edmund and his army capture Cordelia and Lear in the French camp, and secretly give the order to kill them. Then the Duke of Albany appears with an army. He demands that the captive king and his daughter be given to him, but Edmund refuses. Based on the letter that Goneril wrote, which Edgar intercepted and gave to the Duke, Albansky accuses the sisters and Edmund of conspiracy and high treason. The sisters commit suicide, but then the king appears with the dead Cordelia in his arms. He endured so much humiliation and grief, but the death of his daughter broke him.

Essays

The tragic humanism of Shakespeare's King Lear Lear - characteristics of a literary hero Lear The plot of Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear"

How was William Shakespeare's King Lear created? The great playwright borrowed the plot from the medieval epic. One of them tells about a king who divided his possessions between his eldest daughters and left the youngest without an inheritance. Shakespeare put a simple story into poetic form, added several details, an original plot line, and introduced a couple of additional characters. The result was one of the greatest tragedies of world literature.

History of creation

Shakespeare was inspired to write King Lear by a medieval legend. But the history of this legend begins in ancient times. Around the 14th century, the legend was translated from Latin into English. Shakespeare wrote his tragedy in 1606. It is known that at the end of the 16th century, the premiere of the play “The Tragic Story of King Lear” took place in one of the British theaters. Some researchers believe that this is Shakespeare's work, which he later renamed.

One way or another, the name of the author who wrote the tragedy at the end of the 16th century is unknown. However, according to some historical sources, Shakespeare completed work on King Lear in 1606. It was then that the first performance took place.

Division of inheritance.
In exile.
War.
Death of Lear.

Division of inheritance

The main character is a king who is tired of ruling. He decided to retire, but first he should hand over the reins to his children. King Lear has three daughters. How to divide the possessions between them? The main character makes what he thinks is a wise decision. He is going to bequeath to each of his daughters a property in proportion to her love, that is, the one who loves him the most will receive the largest part of the kingdom.

The older daughters begin to compete in flattery. The youngest, Cordelia, refuses to be a hypocrite and declares that love does not need proof. Foolish Lear is angry. He drives Cordelia out of the court, and divides the kingdom between his eldest daughters. The Earl of Kent, who tried to stand up for his youngest daughter, also finds himself in disgrace.

Time passes, King Lear realizes that he has made a terrible mistake. The daughters' attitude changes dramatically. They are no longer as courteous to their father as before. In addition, a political conflict is brewing in the kingdom, which also upsets Lear a lot.

In exile

The daughters drive away their father just as he once drove Cordelia away. Accompanied by the jester, Lear sets off to the steppe. Here he meets Kent, Gloucester and Edgar. The last two heroes are absent from British legend; they are characters created by Shakespeare. The ungrateful daughters, meanwhile, are developing a plan to eliminate their father. In addition to the main storyline, there is another one in the Shakespearean tragedy - the story of Gloucester and his son Edgar, who diligently pretends to be crazy.

War

Cordelia learns how cruelly the sisters treated their father. She gathers an army and leads it to the sisters' kingdom. The battle begins. King Lear and his youngest daughter are captured. Suddenly Edmund appears, Gloucester’s illegitimate son, whom the author mentions at the beginning of the tragedy. He tries to arrange the murder of Cordelia and her father. But he manages to carry out only part of the plan, namely to kill the youngest daughter of Lear. Edmund then dies in a duel with his brother Edgar.

Death of Lear

All of King Lear's daughters die in the finale. The eldest kills the middle one and then commits suicide. Cordelia is strangled in prison. King Lear is released and dies of grief. By the way, Gloucester also dies. Edgar and Kent remain alive. The latter also does not feel love for life, but thanks to the persuasion of the Duke of Albany, he gives up the idea of stabbing himself with a dagger.

The location is Britain. Time of action - XI century. The powerful King Lear, sensing the approach of old age, decides to shift the burden of power onto the shoulders of his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia, dividing his kingdom between them. The king wants to hear from his daughters how much they love him, “so that during the division we can show our generosity.”

Count Kent, a friend and close associate of the king, warns him against such a hasty decision, begs him to cancel it: “Cordelia’s love is no less than theirs. Only that which is empty from within thunders...” But Lear has already bitten the bit. Kent contradicts the king, calls him an eccentric old man - which means he must leave the kingdom. Kent responds with dignity and regret: “Since there is no rein on your pride at home, / Then exile is here, but freedom is in a foreign land.”

One of the contenders for Cordelia's hand - the Duke of Burgundy - refuses her, who has become a dowry. The second contender - the king of France - is shocked by the behavior of Lear, and even more so by the Duke of Burgundy. Cordelia’s whole fault “is the timid chastity of feelings that are ashamed of publicity.” “A dream and a precious treasure, / Be a beautiful queen of France...” he says to Cordelia. They are removed. In parting, Cordelia turns to her sisters: “I know your properties, / But, sparing you, I will not name you. / Look after your father, Him with anxiety / I entrust to your ostentatious love.”

Lear finds his ambassador in the stocks. Who dared! It's worse than murder. "Your son-in-law and your daughter," Kent says. Lear does not want to believe, but understands that it is true. “This attack of pain will suffocate me! / My melancholy, don’t torment me, go away! / Don’t approach your heart with such force!” The jester comments on the situation: “A father in rags on his children / Brings blindness. / A rich father is always nicer and has a different attitude.”

Lear wants to talk to his daughter. But she is tired from the road and cannot accept him. Lear screams, is indignant, rages, wants to break down the door...

Lear is crushed: “Do not refer to what is needed. The poor and those / In need have something in abundance. / Reduce all life to necessity, / And man will become equal to an animal...”

His words seem capable of squeezing tears from a stone, but not from the king’s daughters... And he begins to realize how unfair he was to Cordelia.

Kent comes out to meet Lear. He persuades Lear to take refuge in the hut, where poor Tom Edgar is already hiding, pretending to be crazy. Tom engages Lear in conversation. The Earl of Gloucester cannot abandon his old master in trouble. The sisters' cruelty disgusts him. He received news that there was a foreign army in the country. Until help arrives, Lear must be covered. He tells Edmund about his plans. And he decides to once again take advantage of Gloucester’s gullibility in order to get rid of him too. He will report him to the Duke. “The old man is missing, I’ll move forward. / He has lived - and that’s enough, it’s my turn.” Gloucester, unaware of Edmund's betrayal, searches for Lear. He comes across a hut where the persecuted have taken refuge. He calls Lear to a refuge where there is “fire and food.” Lear does not want to part with the beggar philosopher Tom. Tom follows him to the castle farm where their father is hiding. Gloucester goes to the castle for a while. Lear, in a fit of madness, arranges a trial of his daughters, inviting Kent, the jester and Edgar to be witnesses and jurors. He demands that Regan's chest be opened to see if there is a heart of stone there... Finally, Lyra manages to be put to rest. Gloucester returns, he asks the travelers to quickly go to Dover, since he “overheard a plot against the king.”

Gloucester is escorted by an old servant. The Count asks to leave him so as not to incur anger. When asked how he will find his way, Gloucester bitterly replies: “I have no way, / And I don’t need eyes. I stumbled / when I was sighted. My poor Edgar, unfortunate target / of blind anger / of a deceived father...” Edgar hears this. He volunteers to become a guide to a blind man. Gloucester asks to be taken to a cliff “large, hanging steeply over the abyss” to commit suicide.

The Duke of Albany, having learned how inhumanely the sisters acted with their royal father, meets Goneril with contempt: “You are not worth the dust / Which the wind showered you in vain... Everything knows its root, and if not, / It dies like a dry branch no juices." But the one who hides “the face of an animal under a woman’s guise” is deaf to her husband’s words: “Enough! Pathetic nonsense! The Duke of Albany continues to appeal to her conscience: “What have you done, what have you done, / Not daughters, but real tigresses. / An aged father, whose feet / A bear would reverently lick, / Driven to madness! / Satan’s ugliness / Nothing compared to an evil woman’s ugliness...” He is interrupted by a messenger who reports the death of Cornwall at the hand of a servant who came to the defense of Gloucester. The Duke is shocked by the new atrocities of the sisters and Cornwall. He vows to repay Gloucester for his loyalty to Lear. Goneril is concerned: her sister is a widow, and Edmund stayed with her. This threatens her own plans.

In the forest they meet Lear, intricately decorated with wildflowers. His mind left him. His speech is a mixture of “nonsense and sense.” A courtier appears calling for Lear, but Lear runs away.

Edmund and Regan are at the head of the British army. Regan asks Edmund if he is having an affair with his sister. He pledges his love to Regan. The Duke of Albany and Goneril enter with the beating of drums. Goneril, seeing his rival sister next to Edmund, decides to poison her. The Duke proposes to convene a council in order to draw up a plan of attack. Edgar, in disguise, finds him and gives him a letter from Goneril that was found on Oswald. And he asks him: in case of victory, “let the herald call me to you with a trumpet.” The Duke reads the letter and learns about the betrayal.

The French are defeated. Edmund, who came forward with his army, takes King Lear and Cordelia prisoner. Lear is happy that he has found Cordelia again. From now on they are inseparable. Edmund orders them to be taken to prison. Lyra is not afraid of imprisonment: “We will survive in a stone prison / All the false teachings, all the greats of the world, / All their changes, their ebb and flow, Like birds in a cage we will sing. You will stand under my blessing, / I will kneel before you, asking for forgiveness.”

Edmund gives a secret order to kill them both.

“No matter how much melancholy the soul is struck by, / Times forces us to be persistent” - the final chord is the words of the Duke of Albany.

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