Download or read book King Lear and the Gods written by William R. Elton and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many critics hold that Shakespeare's King Lear is primarily a drama of meaningful suffering and redemption within a just universe ruled by providential higher powers. William Elton's King Lear and the Gods challenges the validity of this widespread optimistic view. Testing the prevailing view against the play's acknowledged sources, and analyzing the functions of the double plot, the characters, and the play's implicit ironies, Elton concludes that this standard interpretation constitutes a serious misreading of the tragedy.