Specialised approaches, key words, scenes and metaphors

Abstract

Introducing a collection of critical essays on King Lear in 1984, Kenneth Muir remarks that during the twentieth century criticism has become more specialised: ‘Although there have been notable attempts to provide an overall view of the play, most books and articles are devoted to more limited topics’ (1984, p. xii). This is hardly surprising, given the difficulty, in criticism as in performance, of doing justice to every single aspect of the play, however desirable that might be in theory. In practice every work of criticism, like every performance, is bound to be selective and partial, highlighting some elements of the play at the expense of others.