In this section you will find suggestions for further reading and a selection of web sites offering resources for students and teachers.



Oliver Ford Davies, Playing Lear (Nick Hern Books, London, 2003)

Daniel Rosenthal, Shakespeare on Screen (Hamlyn, 2000)

Jonathan Bate, The Genius of Shakespeare Picador, 1997)

Jonathan Bate and Russell Jackson Shakespeare An illustrated stage History

Robert Bearman, Shakespeare in the Stratford Records (Alan Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1994)

Harold Bloom, Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human (Riverhead Books, 1998)

MC Bradbrook, Themes and Conventions of Elizabethan Tragedy (CUP, 1980)

Colin Chambers, Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company

Colin Chambers, Other Spaces

Brian Cox, The Lear Diaries (Methuen, London 1992)

John Drakakis, Shakespearean Tragedy (Longman, London 1992) Rex Gibson, Shakespearean and Jacobean Tragedy (Contexts in Literature series, CUP Cambridge, 2000)

Frank Kermode, King Lear Casebook (Macmillan, Basingstoke 1992)

Jan Kott, Shakespeare, Our Contemporary (University Paperbacks, 1967)

Kiernan Ryan, King Lear New Casebook (Macmillan, 1997)

Antony Sher, Year of the King (Methuen, 1985)

EMW Tillyard, The Elizabethan World Picture (Pelican Books, 1972)


Foakes, R.L., ed. King Lear. Arden Shakespeare. London: Thomson Learning, 2003. Reprint.

Halio, Jay L., ed. First Quarto of King Lear. New Cambridge Shakespeare: The Early Quartos. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

Halio, Jay L., ed King Lear. New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: CUP, 2003. Reprint.

Hunter, G.K., ed. King Lear. New Penguin Shakespeare. London: Penguin Books, 1996. Reprint.

Wells, Stanley, ed. King Lear. Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford: OUP, 2000.


Bain, Elspeth, Jonathan Morris, and Rob Smith, eds. Cambridge School Shakespeare: King Lear. Cambridge: CUP, 1996. Reprint.

Flower, Celeste. Cambridge Student Guide: King Lear. Cambridge: CUP, 2003. Reprint.

Gill, Roma, ed. Oxford School Shakespeare: King Lear. Oxford: OUP, 2002. Reprint.

McCallum, Alistair. King Lear by William Shakespeare: A Guide. The Shakespeare Handbooks. Berwick, East Sussex: Upstart Crow Publications, 2003.





- Lear from MIT's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

- Electronic facsimile of the First Folio edition of Lear


- SparkNotes.Com: King Lear Study Guide
Features context, plot overview, character list, analyses of major characters, and a discussion of themes, motifs, and symbols. It also features scene-by-scene summaries of the play's action.

- BookRags.Com: King Lear Study Guide
Features scene-by-scene summaries, character analyses, biography of Shakespeare, and a discussion of major topics such as "Age," "Vision," and "The Natural Order."


Penguins' Classics Teachers' Guides: King Lear
Exhaustive guide featuring play overview, lesson plans, and activities for students.

Courseworkbank.co.uk: King Lear
Offers suggestions for GCSE coursework and sample A-level essays about the play's themes and characters

King Lear Study Guide prepared by Michael J. Cummings
Brief guide featuring plot summary, character guide, discussion of major themes, and suggested essay topics and discussion questions.

EducETH: The English Page King Lear
Resource for teachers offering synopsis, lesson plans, character analyses, background information, links to audio performances of the play, and a list of film adaptations of Lear.

Course syllabus for English239 course at University of Alberta, prepared by Professor Mark Morris and members of the Class. The King Lear link offers discussion of key themes and images of recent productions.

Love Like Salt
A website featuring the original folk tales which inspired the King Lear story.


Folger Shakespeare Library Teaching Shakespeare Lesson Plan Archive
Exhaustive archive of lesson plans for most of Shakespeare's plays, features extensive Lear section.

Online Poetry Classroom: King Lear, Every Inch a King
Detailed lesson plan developed for American secondary school students.


King Lear in Film. Graduate Project prepared by Jefferson A. Gaskin, Joy C. Hohnstine, A. Digger Stolz, and r.mata.
Well-presented site prepared by graduate students at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Discusses various film adaptations and the problems of adapting the play to film. Features extensive audiovisual material, including comparative images of the characters from various adaptations and video captures of key scenes.

ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: King Lear
In depth exploration of the film version starring Ian Holm. Features images, an interview with Ian Holm, links to other Lear sites, and a bibliography. PBS archive of King Lear on film
Fantastically comprehensive list of film versions of the play.


Profile of Michael Kahn's production [1999] at the Shakespeare theatre in Washington DC and essays on the play.