Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

KING LEAR begins like a folktale: There was a king who had three daughters. He wished to retire and divide his kingdom among them, so he asked which loved him best. Two daughters, dishonest and greedy, flattered him, while the third refused, so he banished her. The divided kingdom descended into violence, while the king, expecting still to be treated as such, is shuffled back and forth, finally homeless. The story’s themes resonate with any age. Audiences will see in the play reflections of their own time: reckless aging leaders in a bleak world brightened occasionally by the compassion of the oppressed. What were some of the divisions in Shakespeare’s time that may have inspired the play, and resonated most with its first audiences? FLATTERY OF FAVORITES: Leaders are always tempted to surround themselves with those who say what they want, instead of need, to hear. England was no different. James was known to have charming, flattering favorites rewarded with wealth and status but w...

"A house divided" is a phrase famously associated not only with Abraham Lincoln and the US Civil War, but also with King David and divisions with his sons. - It could describe England, split between Catholics and Protestants. - But it could also describe Christianity more basically, divided between some like St. Francis of Assisi who preached and lived nonviolence and love of enemies, and others like St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who helped found the Knights Templar and preached in favor of the Second Crusade. - The fact that Shakespeare named his sentinels after two Catholic saints may not indicate a Catholic allegiance, but instead, attention to the "house divided" of Christianity, where some wished to follow the path of Francis, willing to "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," and others preferring to follow the path of Bernard, and to "take up arms against a sea of troubles."  QUESTION: Why would Shakespeare - at a time of English...