Salvation, Perdition, and Redemption: The Genre of King Lear and His Three Daughters (thesis)

Abstract

In changing the ending of the play, then, Shakespeare was rewriting history in a bold fashion. This is not merely a question of characterization, like Richard III, or condensation for dramatic purposes, like Macbeth, but rather full revisionism on Shakespeare’s part. These revisions were not met with universal acclaim by later generations of Shakespeareans, either. Rather, depending on the particular point in time, the ending is either seen as Lear’s greatest strength or its biggest weakness, to the point where some generations have thought it impossible to perform. [From Introduction]