Shakespeare: King Lear
This playlist brings together four courses on Shakespeare's King Lear. The first three look at the play directly, while the last provides historical, literary and cultural context.
What this playlist includes:
57 lectures across 4 courses.
All resources designed and delivered by university academics and researchers.
Self-marking quizzes for all lectures, as well as an end-of-topic quiz.
Reading lists, essay questions and extension activities.
Courses and Lectures
1. Shakespeare: King Lear
Prof. John McRae
Nottingham University
Nottingham University
1.1. Introduction – 10:46
1.2. Act 1, Scene 1: The Division of the Kingdom – 20:01
1.3. Act 1, Scene 1: Cordelia is Banished – 07:53
1.4. Act 1, Scene 2: Edmund’s Plot – 09:05
1.5. Act 1, Scene 3: Goneril and Oswald – 02:34
1.6. Act 1, Scene 4: Kent and the Fool – 10:26
1.7. Act 1, Scenes 4-5: Goneril, Lear, and the Fool – 09:37
1.8. Act 2, Scene 1: Gloucester, Edmund, Regan and C... – 02:42
1.9. Act 2, Scene 2: Oswald and Kent – 05:21
1.10. Act 2, Scene 3: Edgar Becomes Poor Tom – 02:03
1.11. Act 2, Scene 4: Reason Not the Need! – 16:14
1.12. Act 3, Scenes 1-2: The Storm – 11:28
1.13. Act 3, Scenes 3-4: The Heath – 11:15
1.14. Act 3, Scenes 5-6: A Tale of Two Plots – 06:08
1.15. Act 3, Scene 7: Gloucester is Blinded – 04:19
1.16. Act 4, Scene 1: Edgar and Gloucester – 05:41
1.17. Act 4, Scene 2: Goneril, Edmund and Albany – 05:52
1.18. Act 4, Scenes 3-5: Battle Preparations – 03:25
1.19. Act 4, Scene 6: The Cliff – 09:02
1.20. Act 4, Scene 6: The Return of Lear – 08:38
1.21. Act 4, Scene 6: Edgar Kills Oswald – 02:27
1.22. Act 4, Scene 7: Reconciliation – 06:26
1.23. Act 5, Scenes 1-2: The Battle – 02:51
1.24. Act 5, Scene 3: Edmund is Defeated – 09:02
1.25. Act 5, Scene 3: The Promised End? – 08:14
2. Shakespeare: King Lear
Prof. Grace Ioppolo
Reading University
Reading University
2.1. The Origins of King Lear – 09:07
2.2. Critical Reception – 04:44
2.3. The Opening Scene – 10:20
2.4. Gloucester, Lear and the Absent Mother – 09:42
2.5. Act III – Human Nature – 12:50
2.6. Act III – The Blinding of Gloucester – 08:26
2.7. Reconciliation and Reunion – 14:11
3. Shakespeare: King Lear
Prof. John Lennard
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
3.1. Textual Problems – 10:14
3.2. Comedic Structures – 07:14
3.3. Staging Problems – 09:50
3.4. The Role of Lear – 08:55
3.5. Crash and Burn – 08:16
4. Tragedy: A Complete History
Prof. John Lennard
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
4.1. Greeks 1: Stage, Function, Chorus, Masks – 11:00
4.2. Greeks 2: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides – 17:41
4.3. Greeks 3: Aristotle and Later Theory – 18:51
4.4. Romans: Seneca and the Circus Maximus – 15:27
4.5. Tragedy and God in the Middle Ages – 11:31
4.6. The Renaissance 1: The Jacobithine Theatre and ... – 15:09
4.7. The Renaissance 2: Shakespeare – 12:26
4.8. Renaissance 3: Besides Shakespeare: Marlowe, We... – 14:03
4.9. Restoration Tragedy and the Proscenium Arch – 13:19
4.10. Romanticism and Tragedy – 10:43
4.11. Tragedy and Technology 1: The Novel – 14:47
4.12. Tragedy and Technology 2: The Camera – 12:23
4.13. Ibsen and Naturalism – 13:08
4.14. Tragedy and Technology 3: Warfare, Poetry and M... – 14:16
4.15. Modernist Tragedy 1: Brecht and Faulkner – 16:57
4.16. Tragedy and the Sho'ah – 18:04
4.17. Modernist Tragedy 2: Lorca and Beckett – 14:32
4.18. Tragedy and Technology 4: Film – 18:05
4.19. Tragedy in Non-Western Cultures: Khushwant Sing... – 16:15
4.20. Tragedy Today – 16:16
What Next?
Check out these other playlists within English Literature:
