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welcome plays sonnets analysis quotations sources biography theatres key dates plots faq books glossary scholars quiz search	King Lear Please see the bottom of this page for extensive King Lear resources. Dramatis Personae. Act 1 Scene 1. King Lear's palace. Scene 2. The Earl of Gloucester's castle. Scene 3. The Duke of Albany's palace. Scene 4. A hall in the same. Scene 5. Court before the same. Act 2 Scene 1. GLOUCESTER's castle. Scene 2. Before Gloucester's castle. Scene 3. A wood. Scene 4. Before GLOUCESTER's castle. KENT in the stocks. Act 3 Scene 1. A heath. Scene 2. Another part of the heath. Storm still. Scene 3. Gloucester's castle. Scene 4. The heath. Before a hovel. Scene 5. Gloucester's castle. Scene 6. A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castle. Scene 7. Gloucester's castle. Act 4 Scene 1. The heath. Scene 2. Before ALBANY's palace. Scene 3. The French camp near Dover. Scene 4. The same. A tent. Scene 5. Gloucester's castle. Scene 6. Fields near Dover. Scene 7. A tent in the French camp. LEAR on a bed asleep, Act 5 Scene 1. The British camp, near Dover. Scene 2. A field between the two camps. Scene 3. The British camp near Dover. ______ Related Articles  King Lear Overview  King Lear: Analysis by Act and Scene  Aesthetic and Textual Examination Questions on King Lear  Blank Verse in King Lear  King Lear Lecture Notes and Study Topics  The First Publication of King Lear  The Fool in King Lear and his Function in the Play  The Shakespeare Sisterhood: Cordelia  The Condition of Lear's Mind  Goneril: Physically, Intellectually, and Morally  Difficult Passages in King Lear  Scene-by-Scene Questions on King Lear with Answers  King Lear Summary  King Lear Essay Topics  King Lear Character Introduction  Shakespeare's Sources for King Lear  Representations of Nature in Shakespeare's King Lear  King Lear: FAQ  Famous Quotations from King Lear  Pronouncing Shakespearean Names  Shakespeare's Language  Shakespeare's Metaphors and Similes  Shakespeare's Reputation in Elizabethan England  Shakespeare's Impact on Other Writers  Why Study Shakespeare?  What is Tragic Irony?  Characteristics of Elizabethan Drama  Shakespeare Quotations (by Theme and Play) In the Spotlight Quote in Context My cue is villanous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o' Bedlam.                                  King Lear (1.2), Edmund In 1247 a convent was founded just outside the London wall for the order of St. Mary of Bethlehem. By 1330 the convent had become the General Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, ready to treat the gamut of common ailments. However, by 1403, Bethlehem had developed into a hospital for the mentally ill, the first such institution in England. In 1547 King Henry VIII granted Bethlehem Hospital, known by now as Bedlam, to the city of London as an asylum for the mentally deranged. Read on... _______ King Lear Fast Facts  King Lear was performed during the Christmas holidays for King James I at Whitehall Palace in 1606.  Shakespeare's friend and fellow actor, Richard Burbage, would have likely been the first Lear. Burbage was a legend in his own time, and originated the roles of many of Shakespeare's greatest characters, including Hamlet.  King Lear was first published in 1608.  The play has a total of 3298 lines, of which 903 are prose.  The historical time of King Lear is roughly 800 BC, making it the second-earliest setting of any of Shakespeare's plays. Click here to find out the first.  The list of characters, or the Dramatis Personae, is not found in the quartos or folios. Dramatist and Shakespearean scholar Nicholas Rowe was the first to organize the characters. He was also the first to write a critical (annotated) edition of Shakespeare's works. _______
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