A tragedy of consuming force, King Lear is widely regarded as William Shakespeare's crowning artistic achievement. Presenting a dramatic version of the relationships between parents and their children, this work is demanding on the reader or spectator, with so many prominent figures suffering so much for so long, only, in the end, to find so little redemption.

William Shakespeare, perhaps the greatest English playwright ever, was born in 1564. By 1592 he was sufficiently established as a playwright to be criticized in print. He was a leading member of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which became the King's Men on the accession of James I in 1603. He died in April 1616 and is buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon.