King Lear is one of the great roles for a mature actor, and it takes a very fine and accomplished actor to carry off a believable and sympathetic Lear. Several years ago I saw Anthony Hopkins play Lear at the National Theater in London. The performance was memorable. Particularly in the first three acts, Hopkins did a brilliant job of portraying a once distinguished and strong king who was losing his touch, who was not quite the man that he had once been. The style and manner are still there, but he is losing a step or two in judgment and mental quickness. As soon as that happens, and others realize it, the vultures begin to circle and it is only a question of time until the old man begins to go down....

Cordelia is Lear's youngest daughter appearing to be in her late teens or early twenties. In the opening scene, Lear announces his own retirement, but also plans to announce the future husband of Cordelia. Burgandy and France are rivals for her hand. When Burgandy sees Lear disown Cordelia, he loses interest and withdraws from the competition. France, however, recognizes that Cordelia is an honest woman, and he values that higher than land or riches. Cordelia disappears after I,1 and does not reappear until IV, 4 when she arrives in England with an army to rescue her father and restore him to his throne. ...

Edmund and Edgar are Gloucester's two sons, and though it is easy for students to confuse the names, their personalities and characters are diametrically different. Edmund is the renaissance machiaville and may be compared with Shakespeare's other baddies, Richard III and Iago.There are multiple motivations for his evil behavior: 1) he is of illegitimate birth, and in the renaissance, that was enough. A child born out of wedlock was destined to be at the very least devious and untrustworthy. 2) ...