Essay on William Shakespeares Plagiarism of King Lear -- Biography Bi

Shakespeares Plagiarism of baron Lear In creating the cataclysm mash King Lear, William Shakespeare plagiarized many sources in getting the base-line story, but it undeniable his originator and intellect to place them together to bring on the true tragedy with its multiple plot lines that his play turned out to be in the end. The story of King Lear (or as it started, King Leir) is first seen in literary productions in the year 1135, contained in Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae. Other authors placed King Leir into their stories including tail Higgins in A Mirror for Magistrates (1574), by Warner in Albions England (1586), by Holinshed in The Second Book of the Historie of England (1577), and by Spencer in The Faerie Queen (1590). The about influential of all was probably The True Chronicle History of King Leir, which was anonymous. This play was performed as early as 1594, which is when it showed up in the Stationers Register. Kenneth Muir thus far suggested that Shakespeare may have acted in it (Muir 141). Shakespeare took the best of all the sources of King Leir, added his touches and personality, and created the masterpiece we enjoy today. Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae, gave us the description of King Lear and his three daughters, and withal the basis for the love test. One major difference is that unlike Shakespeares Lear, Geoffreys Leir does not appear to be insane and has not lost control of his mind. In fact, he regains control of the kingdom, with the help of the King of France. According to Geoffrey Bullough, This is no time-honored man (Bullough 273). Whether Shakespeare actually read this account of the daughters and the love test or read it in a later version cannot be proven, but... ...ly persisting was masterful. Despite the use of all the sources, the additions of the Fool, the earlier death of Cordelia, the plot of Edmund to arrest over the kingdom, and the blindness of Gloucester (literally) and Lear (emotionally) was pure genius of Shakespeare. The blending of both the sources and his genius led to a complete and amazing story of redemption, the same focal point that Jane Smiley used Shakespeares King Lear as a source to help create her Pulitzer Prize winning A Thousand Acres about a twentieth-century farm. Works Cited Bullough, Geoffrey. King Lear. Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. London Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. Muir, Kenneth. Great Tragedies I King Lear. Shakespeares Sources. London Methuen & Co Ltd, 1957. Satin, Joseph. King Lear. Shakespeare and His Sources. Boston Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966.