King Lear4

A Fairy Tale Family Families aren’t perfect. When one thinks of fairy tales, he thinks of the perfect princes and princesses living happily ever after, similar to Cinderella finding her Prince Charming. However, life was not always perfect for Cinderella; before finding her prince her stepmother and stepsisters tortured her life. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the play presents a happy and loving royal family, almost like a fairy tale. Nevertheless, the families in …

…their fathers have done to them and instead recognize the suffering that their siblings have done to their fathers. The royal families in King Lear parallel many aspects of a fairy tale, specifically Cinderella. Both have their wicked siblings who plot against the protagonists. Although fairy tales have their villains, just as King Lear had Edmund, Regan and Goneril, they also contain the heroes of the story who make the fairy tale a happy ending.