King Lear Study Guide Questions
Act 1, Scene 1
1. In this scene, what do we find out about Edmund’s birth? How do you suppose Edmund feels about his father’s comment on his birth?
2. What announcement does Lear make?
3. How and why is Lear dividing his kingdom? On what will he base this division?
4. What is the meaning of Cordelia’s asides regarding her sisters’ comments?
5. How does Lear respond to Cordelia’s comment?
6. What does Lear do about Cordelia? What does he do with her third of the kingdom?
7. What foolish action has Lear taken and what is his plan? What is the literary term that applies when he calls himself a “dragon?”
8. Why does Kent try to intervene, and how is he punished? What do Lear’s actions imply about the monarch?
9. Why does the Duke of Burgundy withdraw his offer of marriage to Cordelia?
10. How does Cordelia show presence of mind despite her stubbornness?
11. Why does the King of France agree to marry Cordelia?
12. Summarize the conversation between Cordelia and her sisters.
13. What is Cordelia’s final comment to her sisters, and how may this comment be an example of foreshadowing?
14. Goneril and Regan secretly converse at the end of the scene. What is their complaint against their father, and why does this bode ill for him?
Act 1, Scene 2
1. Why does Edmund resent his brother?
2. What does Edmund tell of his plans?
3. Who actually wrote the letter and why?
4. According to Elizabethan beliefs, when nature (i.e., the natural order of the world) is upset, unusual, sometimes horrible, events may occur. In what way does Gloucester relate unusual natural events to human life and, more specifically, to the events in the previous scene?
5. Gloucester is upset with Edgar, and Edmund says that he will seek Edgar out and get to the bottom of the letter. When he sees Edgar, though, what does Edmund tell him?
6. How does Edmund sum up his father and brother?
7. In what ways does this subplot mirror the main plot?
Act 1, Scene 3
1. Why is Goneril angry with Lear, and what does she tell Oswald?
Act 1, Scene 4
1. What does Kent, in disguise, request of Lear? Why does he want to be near Lear?
2. How have Oswald and the other servants been following Goneril’s directions?
3. Why is the fool been sad?
4. What point does the fool make about Lear’s actions?
5. What does Goneril tell Lear?
6. What is Lear’s response?
7. Explain the fool’s short poem about the cuckoo.
8. What is Albany’s response to Lear’s complaints? What does this response say of Albany?
9. Lear says, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is/To have a thankless child!” His comment is one of the most frequently quoted lines in this play. What does it mean?
10. What impressions do you get of Albany during his exchange with Goneril?
11. Is Goneril’s complaint about the behavior of Lear and his knights legitimate? Why or why not?
Act 1, Scene 5
1. Why does the fool call Lear a fool?
2. What is the purpose of this short scene?
Act 2, Scene 1
1. Why does Edmund stab himself in the arm?
2. What does Edmund say he and Edgar fought over?
3. Why does Edmund describe Edgar’s alleged suggestion as “unnatural”? According to Edmund, how does killing a father disrupt the world?
4. Why is Edmund going to the trouble of discrediting his brother in their father’s eyes?
5. How does Edmund protect himself in case of Edgar’s capture?
6. What does Gloucester promise Edmund?
7. How do the Duke of Cornwall and Regan view Edmund?
Act 2, Scene 2
1. What makes this scene humorous? What literary term would apply?
2. Describe Kent’s character, and explain how it contrasts with Oswald’s.?
3. Why does Gloucester say that Kent should not be put in stocks?
Act 2, Scene 3
1. Since he cannot escape the country, what appearance does Edgar assume?
Act 2, Scene 4
1. Why is Lear shocked that his son-in-law and daughter have put Kent in the stocks?
2. The fool’s song touches on what motifs?
3. What is the fool’s answer to Kent as to the whereabouts of Lear’s entourage?
4. Lear, still calling himself the king, tells Gloucester that he commands his son-in-law and daughter to speak with him, but what excuse does the king then make for them?
5. What is the next comment that Lear makes concerning insanity?
6. In Act I, most readers have little sympathy for Lear because he seems headstrong in banishing Kent, denying Cordelia her dowry, and passing everything on to his two flattering daughters. Why, at this point in Act II, might many readers start feeling some sympathy for him?
7. As Lear starts attacking Goneril, Regan interrupts him and takes Goneril’s side. How does Lear respond when Regan tells him to ask for Goneril’s forgiveness?
8. How does Lear view Regan in comparison with Goneril?
9. What question does Lear keep asking that Regan will not answer?
10. Whose side does Cornwall appear to be on when he answers Lear’s question?
11. What is Regan’s response when Lear says that he and his knights plan to move to her house?
12. Lear says that he will go to Goneril’s home with fifty followers. Both sisters now ask Lear why he needs any attendants at all, since the daughters have numerous servants to wait on him. What is his response?
13. What makes the sisters’ actions at the end of this act seem particularly cruel?
Act 3, Scene 1
1. What does Kent say is happening between Cornwall and Albany? What does he say about the King of France?
Act 3, Scene 2
1. In Lear’s first speech in this scene, how does Shakespeare portray the great emotional upheaval going on within Lear’s mind?
2. What comment does the fool make about women?
3. What is Kent’s opinion of the storm?
4. Lear says, “I am a man/More sinned against than sinning.” In the context of the play, what does he mean?
5. Identify “Albion.”
Act 3, Scene 3
1. Gloucester tells Edmund about the “dangerous” letter and exits. What information does Edmund then share with the audience?
Act 3, Scene 4
1. How does Lear’s comment on “Filial ingratitude” echo what occurs in Scene 3?
2. How does Lear try to collect himself?
3. What two metaphoric comparisons does Lear use?
4. As Edgar, disguised as a madman, exits the hovel, what question does Lear ask him?
5. Find an instance of alliteration in something Edgar says.
6. Why does Gloucester appear at the hovel? In what way does he relate to Lear’s suffering?
Act 3, Scene 5
1. As Edmund speaks of loyalty, to whom is he being loyal?
2. What is Edmund’s reward?
Act 3, Scene 6
1. Edgar, who has been feigning madness, makes a sober aside regarding Lear. What is his meaning?
2. Gloucester returns with what news? What does he encourage the group to do? Why?
3. What is a soliloquy? After everyone leaves the stage, what is Edgar’s conclusion?
Act 3, Scene 7
1. What is the sense of Cornwall’s second comment regarding Gloucester?
2. As Gloucester points out, what makes his guests’ behavior in his home a sin against nature?
3. Why does one of Cornwall’s servants argue with him, and what happens to the servant?
4. What horrible truth does Gloucester learn?
5. Which of Regan’s lines about Gloucester’s condition shows her to be ruthless?
6. One of the motifs of King Lear is that of sight. Find the ironic statement Goneril makes when first asked how much she loves Lear, and compare that to what she says about Gloucester in this scene.
7. What ironic foreshadowing does Gloucester use as an answer to Regan’s question, “Wherefore to Dover?”
Act 4, Scene 1
1. Explain what Edgar means when he says, “The worst is not/So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’ ”
2. How does Gloucester return to the theme of blindness and lack of vision?
3. What sentiment about fate and the gods does Gloucester express?
4. At this point, why does Edgar not reveal himself to his father?
5. What can you infer from Gloucester’s last comments?
Act 4, Scene 2
1. How does Albany react to Oswald’s news?
2. To what does Goneril attribute Albany’s motives?
3. What does Goneril seem to feel about Edmund?
4. When Albany comes on stage, he lets Goneril know what he thinks of her machinations.
1. What does he expect will come of her actions?
5. What news does the messenger bring, and how is this news received by Albany and by Goneril?
6. What further news does the messenger give Albany regarding Edmund? What vow does Albany make?
Act 4, Scene 3
1. What conclusion does Kent draw about life and living?
2. Why will Lear not go to see Cordelia?
Act 4, Scene 4
1. Why do you suppose Shakespeare has the King of France return home and leave Cordelia as the major force opposing her sisters?
Act 4, Scene 5
1. Why does Regan think it necessary for Edmund to seek out and kill Gloucester?
2. Why does Regan try to detain Oswald?
3. What is Regan’s parting comment to Oswald regarding Gloucester? What is his response?
Act 4, Scene 6
1. In an aside, why does Edgar admit that he is going through this pretense with his father?
2. What is Gloucester’s resolve after going through the pretense with Edgar?
3. Gloucester recognizes Lear’s voice; what observation does the blind Gloucester then make?
4. Why does Edgar observe, “O, matter and impertinency mix’d! Just a spare reason in madness”?
5. What does Oswald ask Edgar after they fight and Oswald is mortally wounded?
6. What statement does Edgar make over Oswald’s body?
7. Edgar shows more wisdom than he has previously when he reads the letter from Goneril to Edmund. What does Goneril want Edmund to do, to whom, and why?
Act 4, Scene 7
1. What is the essence of Lear’s first statements? What are they reminiscent of?
2. How is Cordelia portrayed?
3. Find a simile in what Lear says.
4. What statement shows that Lear may be slightly better?
5. What is the substance of Lear’s apologetic speech to Cordelia? What is her reply?
Act 5, Scene 1
1. Edmund asks an officer to determine if the Duke of Albany is still with them since “he’s full of alteration/And self-reproving.” Why do you suppose Albany stays on the side of three people (Edmund, Regan, and Goneril) he despises?
2. How does the audience see that both sisters are in love with Edmund and jealous of each other? Does this situation tell you anything about these women?
3. Why does Edgar, still in disguise, wish to speak to Albany?
4. Alone on stage, what plans does Edmund reveal?
Act 5, Scene 2
1. Edgar, after leading his father to a safe place, leaves for a short time. When he returns, what information does he relay?
Act 5, Scene 3
1. Compare Lear’s reaction to Cordelia’s being captured.
2. What is the substance of Edmund’s comments to the captain?
3. Edmund says that he wants the job done instantly; the captain says that if it is man’s work, he will do it. What do you suppose the job is? Do you think the captain will do it?
4. Albany enters and, after a brief exchange, reprimands Edmund. How does he do this and why?
5. How does Regan stand up for Edmund?
6. How does Goneril react?
7. After the sisters argue, of what does Albany accuse Edmund?
8. What is the substance of Goneril’s aside?
9. Edmund calls for his soldiers, but what does Albany tell him?
10. How does Edgar, still in disguise, make a dramatic entry?
11. They fight, and Edmund falls, wounded. How does Goneril take up his side? How does Albany silence her?
12. What prompts Edmund to say to Edgar, “Thou hast spoken right, ’tis true;/The wheel is come full circle”? What about Edgar’s speech to Edmund strikes you as odd?
13. Albany says that he loves both Edgar and Gloucester, and Edmund acknowledges this loyalty. What news does Edgar then give Albany and the audience? How is it ironic?
14. What news does the gentleman with the knife bring?
15. What one good thing does Edmund try to do before he dies?
16. Lear, who regained his sanity in prison, returns and seems mad again. What has happened in the interim?
17. How does Albany try to make things right?
18. What is Kent’s response? What is Edgar’s?
19. What is suggested by this ending?