The Tragedy of King Lear

Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude intensity and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts engage in violence or try to alleviate the suffering of others. Lear himself rages until his sanity cracks. What then keeps bringing us back to King Lear? For all the force of its language King Lear is almost equally powerful when translated suggesting that it is the story in large part that draws us to the play.