The third of Shakespeare’s “great” tragedies, King Lear is the story of a king who gradually loses his crown and kingly power out of blindness and “folly”. It is often regarded as the playwright’s masterpiece and one of the most profound literary explorations of the human condition. This course will aim to examine the play’s main themes and motifs, with special emphasis given to the topics of ordinariness and destitution and the important questions they both raise in the play, such as: What gives a person worth? Are kings of more worth than ordinary people? Is “man’s life” as “cheap as beast’s”? Students will be given the opportunity to examine the play’s language and analyse its key passages, as well as look into its stage history and some of its most prominent productions.
- Leraar: Mylène Lacroix