Roots and Stems of King Lear

For centuries, scholars and critics have questioned the inspiration and originality of Shakespeare's plays. Rumor has it that he did not write them at all and others say it is all his work because even though he copied from others he made it uniquely his own. In a PBS documentary summary researchers claim, "Shakespeare borrowed plots and ideas from other materials for the bulk of his writing...Such practice was commonplace in English Renaissance, whose 'rebirth' was often realized by imitating classical work or borrowing from more contemporaneous work....His [Shakespeare's] imitations often turned into things entirely new..." and thus he deserves to earn credit for them. When talking about authorship and influence T.S. Eliot says, "one of the surest test is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good ones make it into something better, (that) welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn." So we shall set out of prove that Shakespeare is a mastermind and not just a petty thief.

            Shakespeare wrote King Lear between 1603 and 1606. Many say "the most proximate sources" for the play came from Geoffrey of Monmouth written around 1136, Holinshed's Chronicles, and Philip Sidney's Arcadia published in 1590. These texts and Shakespeare's piece "implicitly raises some of the same issues (royal succession, class, disguise, connection between domestic and civic turmoil, aging, loyalty, and the vagaries of written word)." But instead of the "religious, burlesque, and bawdy overtones" Shakespeare tuned the story in a more sophisticated fashion by creating fools out of Kent and Edgar instead. Nonetheless, everything was written for entertainment and profit.

            It is also believed that Shakespeare was also inspired by The Mirror for Magistrates published in 1559.  Another publication is The Faerie Queen written by Edmund Spenser. Shakespeare researcher, Amanda Mabillard asserts that "the primary source for King Lear was The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters, Gonoril, Ragan, and Cordella published in 1605 but acted and performed since 1594. For the sub-plot of King Lear, Shakespeare relied on Arcadia, which is evident when analyzing the characters of Edgar and Gloucester and how Sidney's take of the king of Paphlagonia and his two sons sparked the Bard's own imagination."

            Upon further reading, I discovered a detailed list of Shakespeare's sources and what Shakespeare used or changed from them in order to sculpt his complete version that we know today. Upon the alterations that Shakespeare made to these preceding works I believe it is what makes him a true artist. He was able to extract the best from each and compile them in a way that is not plagiarism but he made them better. He was able to take bits and pieces and put them together into something that is whole and remarkable. 

• The True Chronicle History of King Leir, and His Three Daughters (1605). This play, presumably that staged by the Queen’s Men and the Earl of Sussex’s Men as early as April 1594, was Shakespeare’s major source for his King Lear. He probably used the printed version rather than recalling earlier performances.
• Raphael Holinshed, The First and Second Volumes of Chronicles (1587). Shakespeare used Holinshed’s account of the Lear story, taking such details as the titles Duke of Albany and Duke of Cornwall (married to Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan respectively in the play).
• John Higgins, The First Parte of the Mirour for Magistrates (1574). Shakespeare drew on Higgins for Goneril’s marriage to the Duke of Albany, and Cordelia’s to the King of France, as well as such details as the successive reductions in Lear’s retinue by Goneril and Regan.
• Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (1596). Spenser’s work provided Shakespeare with the name Cordelia, and the manner of her death (by hanging).
• Sir Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (1590). Book 2, chapter 10 of Sidney’s work influenced the scene in which the blinded Earl of Gloucester asks the help of his son Edgar (in disguise as Poor Tom) to commit suicide.
• Samuel Harsnett, A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1603). Harsnett’s work not only influenced Shakespeare’s language in King Lear, but also his characterization of Edgar as Poor Tom.
• Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses (1603). Florio’s translation of Montaigne influenced Shakespeare’s language in King Lear.

Work Cited

Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare's Sources for King Lear. Shakespeare Online. (day/month/year you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/kinglearsources.html >

"King Lear - Shakespeare in Quarto." THE BRITISH LIBRARY - The World's Knowledge. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/kinglear.html>.

"King Lear ~ Summary | Great Performances | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/king-lear/background-on-king-lear/sources-for-king-lear/summary/636/>.