An aging king creates a succession plan that divides Britain between his three daughters. Requiring each child to flatter hm in order to receive her gift, Lear is surprised when his youngest, most beloved, child refuses. Publicly embarrassed, Lear disinherits her and splits the country between his two eldest daughters, setting of a chain of events that leads England into civil war and the elderly king into exile and madness. The greatest tragedy in the English language, King Lear examines the often self-destructive relationships between parents and their children, the danger of absolute power on the human psyche and the universal challenge of senility and providing care for our elders.