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No joke. Dark as King Lear may be, we actually found ourselves laughing our way through at least part of this play. (All the death and drama and blood and betrayal started to seem like black comedy after a while, you know?) But Act Five changed all that. Jenny’s got the scoop on the true tragedy of Lear in this Recap.

Video Transcription:

I want to see a show of hands. Between the evil scheming and the over-the-top cursing and the ridiculous disguises and nonsense songs and all the bad things that kept happening one after another after another, how many people found themselves laughing as they read this play? Come on. You can be honest.

So is King Lear a tragedy, or a really, really black comedy?

Let’s discuss.

If King Lear were made today, it wouldn’t be a tragedy. It would be a Coen Brothers movie. (A dark—very dark—comedy.)

And I was laughing at King Lear … until I got to Act Five. The nonsense songs are over. Most of the bad guys are dead. And all that’s left is King Lear, half-mad, crying over his beloved Cordelia’s body.

That’s what got me thinking that this might be a tragedy after all. Because Lear has been seriously humbled. I didn’t feel so bad for him at first because he kind of brought his downfall on himself by believing his scheming daughters.

But here, at the end of the play, he’s finally seen the error of his ways. He’s seen that he was wrong in banishing Cordelia. And he’s seen a more noble example of love in her love for him. He was a royal jerk, but she came back to save him.

The tragedy, of course, is that Lear is helpless to save her. And as the curtain closes, sure, a few good men are left standing. But the one shining example of true love and selflessness has been snuffed out.