Tragedy of King Lear (version 3)

King Lear decides to retire, but first he must divide his kingdom. He asks his three daughters to profess their love for him in public. Goneril and Regan offer elaborate flattery. Cordelia, the youngest and only one who truly loves him, can only say she loves him according to her duty, no more, no less. Enraged by her plainness, Lear disinherits Cordelia and banishes her. He soon discovers that his two eldest daughters, now granted power, have no intention of honoring him. Stripped of his retinue, his dignity, and eventually his sanity, Lear wanders the storm-swept heath while his kingdom collapses into civil war. What follows is devastation: betrayal, torture, the deaths of those he most loved and those he wronged. The play asks what remains when every comfort is stripped away, and whether a man can find any meaning in his ruin. It is not a story of redemption or justice. It is a story about what happens when pride blinds us to the truth of those who love us most.