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  King Lear

Plot Sequencer

The order of events in Shakespeare's plays is very carefully structured. The plot sequence is crucial to building up the story and the action, before the eventual resolution.

Drag and drop the play's events to put them in order (or disrupt them!).

Use the activities on the right to further explore the intricacies of the plot.

King Lear – the plot

Kent has news that Cordelia wept to hear about her father's treatment at the hands of her sisters and that the French army has assembled to come to his aid.
Lear's Fool warns Lear against foolish behaviour and Lear becomes increasingly concerned that his daughters' disrespectful behaviour will make him go mad.
Gloucester tells Edmund privately that he has had news of a French invasion and that he will leave the castle to help Lear.
Lear is brought to the French camp and left in the care of a doctor under Cordelia's instructions.
Lear confronts Cornwall and Regan after Kent has been put in the stocks and they try to convince him to ask Goneril's forgiveness, but he refuses and is driven out into a wild storm.
Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, plots against his brother Edgar and convinces his father that Edgar wants to usurp his authority.
Poor Tom encounters Lear on the heath and Gloucester does not recognise him as his son when he arrives to help lead Lear to a safer place.
Edgar tricks the blind Gloucester into believing that he has led him up to the edge of a cliff and when Gloucester throws himself down, he describes his miraculous escape from death.
Edgar finds a way to escape from the men who have been sent to catch him and disguises himself as a lunatic beggar called Poor Tom.
Albany rebukes Goneril for her fiendish behaviour, but she has transferred her affections to Edmund and Albany swears to revenge old Gloucester.
Edmund convinces his father that Edgar intends to murder him and Gloucester vows to bring him to justice, making Edmund his legitimate son and causing Edgar to flee for his life.
Cornwall and Regan punish Gloucester by gouging out his eyes and Cornwall is injured by a servant who tries to stop him.
Edmund and Edgar fight and as Edmund dies, after Goneril has poisoned Regan and then taken her own life, he tries to save Lear and Cordelia, but Cordelia has already been hung in the prison and Lear dies of a broken heart while carrying her dead body.
Goneril's servant, Oswald, gets into a fight with Kent and Kent is put in the stocks by Cornwall and Regan.
Lear holds a mock-trial of his two daughters, Gloucester arranges for him to be taken to Dover and Edgar determines to help the king escape.
On the heath, Lear rages against the storm and against his unkind and ungrateful daughters, refusing to find shelter.
Kent hears of a French invasion and sends news to Cordelia of all that is happening to Lear.
Goneril begins to be disrespectful towards her father and demands that he reduce his train of followers if he wants to live with her.
The banished Kent disguises himself and, offering his services to Lear, observes how Goneril and her servants mistreat the king.
Cordelia and Lear meet and are reconciled as Lear tries to kneel to ask for her forgiveness.
On the eve of the battle, Edmund considers whether to marry Goneril or Regan and decides to get rid of Albany after the battle while making sure that Lear and Cordelia receive no mercy.
Edgar finds a safe place for his father while he joins the battle, but soon returns with news that the battle has been lost and Lear and Cordelia have been taken prisoner.
Edmund tells Cornwall of his father's plans and of the French invasion and is made the new Earl of Gloucester by Cornwall.
Regan convinces Goneril's servant, Oswald, to help her to win Edmund's affections and kill his father Gloucester.
Poor Tom encounters his blinded father on the heath and Gloucester asks him to lead him to a high cliff so he can end his life.
King Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters and subjects them to a love-test to find out which one loves him the most.



Teacher Resources

There are teacer resources available for each of the activities.

You can access them from the Teacher Resource Hub here.

BUY THE PLAY

King Lear cover

The latest Cambridge School Shakespeare play editions are now available to buy directly from Cambridge University Press.

With extended glossaries, a running synopsis of the action for every page of script, and boxed features focusing on core areas, these plays are the ideal text with which to study Shakespeare's work.

To purchase your copy, click here.