Young Richard has now been crowned King of Britain. Unfortunately, he wastefully spends his money, makes bad choices in advisors, and is detached from the common people. This causes his noble subjects to doubt his leadership. The king’s cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, learns that Richard has stolen his land and money that was supposed to be his inheritance. This causes Bolingbroke to decide that Richard is not a fit king. Slowly, Richard’s excessiveness as king drives away his closest allies and causes him to lose control of his country as it prepares for a war.

At this point, Richard decides to make Bolingbroke king as he knows he has lost his allies and his country. Not long after Bolingbroke is crowned, Richard is assassinated on Bolingbroke’s orders. Upon Richard’s demise, the reign of Bolingbroke, or the new Henry IV, begins.

King Lear, knowing he is growing old, decides to divide his king among his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. Lear asks his daughters how much they love him. Goneril and Regan flatter their way into winning his affection, but Cordelia, the youngest daughter, tells Lear there are no words to describe how much she loves him. Angered, Lear banishes her from the kingdom. However, Cordelia is courted by the King of France and they marry without his consent.

Later, there is a big storm brewing and Lear seeks shelter from his eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, but they refuse to shelter. This drives Lear mad and he runs off into the storm with Kent, a nobleman, following him disguised as a peasant. Gloucester, one of Lear’s nobleman, is blinded by Regan and her husband Cornwall. He is led by his son Edgar to a city where Lear resides. As France plans an invasion, Goneril and Edmund, Gloucester’s other son, conspire to kill Goneril’s husband Albany.

As this is happening, Lear later discovers that he was not a good king to his people and swears to change for the better. Meanwhile, he is discovered by Cordelia, who forgives him, and is captured by the English. Goneril poisons Regan, and then commits suicide when her treachery is discovered. Cordelia is then executed, and Lear, broken at the loss of his family, passes away from grief.

King Lear Photo (Ian McKellan)

https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/theatre/ian_mckellen_king_lear_london_2018/11008

Goneril Photo

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/King_Lear

Regan Photo

https://www.laineygossip.com/(F(f))/Gwyneth-Paltrow-to-star-as-Regan-in-King-Lear-with-Anthony-Hopkins-and-Keira-Knightley/9789

Cordelia Photo

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/romola-garai/images/6878951/title/king-lear-cordelia-photo

Kent Photo

http://www.kaliyuga.com/images/SPPhotos/StevenGalleryTest/kentinkinglear.html

Richard II Photo

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/king-richard-ii?alloweduse=availableforalluses&family=creative&license=rf&phrase=king%20richard%20ii&sort=best#license

Gaunt Photo

http://www.david-tennant.co.uk/2013/09/richard-ii-character-profile-john-of.html

Bolingbroke Photo

http://www.david-tennant.co.uk/2013/09/richard-ii-character-profiles-henry.html

Duke of York Photo

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-hollow-crown/images/38046686/title/duke-york-richard-ii-part-photo

Shakespeare Photo

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/william-shakespeare-royalty-free-illustration/168857108

Cordelia’s Death

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/act-5-scene-3-from-king-lear-by-william-shakespeare-19th-news-photo/804454982

Lear in the Storm

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/king-lear-storm?family=editorial&phrase=king%20lear%20storm&sort=best#license

Richard holding his Crown

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/king-richard-ii?family=editorial&phrase=king%20richard%20ii&sort=best#license

Lear and Richard were both given power over their kingdoms. They had mass armies and subjects ready at their beck and call. Any ordinary person would give anything to have such an incredible title and feel a crown on their heads. However, when they reach their darkest hour, they give in to their vulnerability.

It would be the moment when they express themselves; not as royal rulers, but as human beings. Lear and Richard learned about this when they allowed their decisions as rulers to tear their kingdom, or body politic, apart. As a result, they enter into moments of vulnerability and reveal the deep emotional turmoil inside them.

Here are the cast members of Richard II:

King Richard II: Title character of the play. He becomes king in the play, but soon feels the “burdens” of holding such a powerful title. With great power, comes a great change in character for Richard. The power of a king is causing him to provoke contempt from those around him. Richard’s newly vain personality causes Gaunt to think he is unfit to be king. In a moment of vulnerability, he begins to see the crown as being a burden. He realizes he is no different from anyone else and questions his mortality.

Henry Bolingbroke: Richard’s cousin. He is also the eventual recipient of Richard’s crown. Upon Richard’s realization of the crown being a burden to him, he gives the crown to Bolingbroke in an attempt to shift the responsibility of carrying the burden of being a king to him.

Gaunt: Richard’s royal subject. Unlike Richard’s other subject York, he does not believe that Richard will listen to reason. He feels Richard’s lust for flattery will destroy everyone around him. Gaunt is an example of the negative impact royal power can have on royal subjects. He is the first to display contempt for Richard because of his vain personality as a king; because of this, Gaunt feels Richard is an unfit king.

Duke of York: Like Gaunt, York is also Richard’s royal subject. But he does not share the same contempt for Richard as Gaunt does. An optimistic and loyal man, York believes that Richard can be a better king if he listens to him, but he does not think so.

Here is the cast list for Shakespeare’s King Lear:

King Lear: Title character, he is the king of a mighty kingdom which is about to be split among his three daughters. He undergoes the most character development out of everyone in the play. Lear is planning to divide his kingdom among his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. When Goneril and Regan flatter for their piece of the kingdom, they stay in the kingdom; however, he banishes Cordelia. This is when we begin to see Lear undergo a major transformation which causes him to look inside himself not only as a king, but as a person. Despite this transformation and reconciling with Cordelia, he dies having lost everything.

Goneril: She is Lear’s eldest daughter. Goneril and her sister Regan conspire to take the kingdom away from their father. She is the main antagonist of the play along with Regan. Goneril’s lust for power knew no bounds in the play, she was willing to poison Regan in order to have the entire kingdom. After the banishment of her youngest sister Cordelia, Goneril and her middle sister Regan begin a conspiracy to take the kingdom from her father. By turning their father away during a storm, their actions cause him to go mad and run off into a the storm.  She dies at the end of the play.

Regan: Lear’s middle daughter. She, along with her sister Goneril, conspire to take the kingdom away from Lear. She and Goneril are the two main antagonists of the play. Regan’s lust for power was so great, she was willing to blind one of her father’s subjects. She dies at the end of the play.

Cordelia: Lear’s youngest daughter and the most pure of the sisters. She was exiled from the kingdom by Lear at the start of the play. She plays a major role in Lear’s transformation and in the play.

Kent: Lear’s royal subject. He is exiled from the kingdom after disagreeing with Lear about Cordelia’s banishment. Despite his banishment, he remains loyal to Lear; he displays his loyalty when he arrives in the storm to give Lear shelter. At the end of the play, he declines and leaves the kingdom forever.  King Lear Cast

Kings Richard and Lear have great power, but it is through their vulnerability where we see the humanity of Shakespeare’s kings and the cost of so much royal power. When the two kings see for themselves how their decisions as monarchs affected everyone around them, they realize that their great power came at a tremendous price. Therefore, they fulfill Shakespeare’s goal of exposing the hurtful results of royal power.

King Richard, one of the titular kings whose play is one of the subjects of this site.

King Lear, like Richard, his play is also a subject of this site.