The Lunar Calendar of Shakespeare’s King Lear
Sohmer, Steve
Early Modern Literary Studies 5.2 (September, 1999)
Abstract
From his reading of Hall, William Shakespeare knew the historical King Leir had flourished before the founding of Rome.This paper suggests that the playwright conformed the action of his King Lear to a pre-Roman lunar calendar which he found in Plutarch. Further, the writer demonstrates that Shakespeare drew upon his knowledge of Ovid’s Fasti to memorialize several important Roman festivals in text of Lear. Finally, the paper detects a connection between the Roman Terminalia and Saint Stephen’s night, and suggests that Shakespeare wrote (or extensively revised) the Q1 Lear for performance before King James on 26 December 1606.
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