خلاصه داستان : شاه لیر شاه لیر پادشاهی خود را بین دخترانش تقسیم می‌کند و به اعتراض‌های آنها به عشق به او اهمیت زیادی می‌دهد. وقتی کوردلیا از تملق بیهوده به پیرمرد امتناع می ورزد، او را تبعید می کند و برای حمایت از دختران باقی مانده اش روی می آورد...

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.