2 quotations linked to King Lear by or associated with William Shakespeare, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Family rupture, ingratitude, reversal, suffering, power, consequence and the language characters use while confronting catastrophic changes in status and relationship.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“The wheel is come full circle.”
The image describes consequences returning to their starting point and fortunes reversing over time.
King Lear, Act V, Scene III, reviewed against the scan-backed First Folio facsimile. Edmund says 'The Wheele is come full circle, I am heere' after Edgar identifies himself and describes their father's suffering; the retained quote modernizes spelling and trims the following clause.
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!”
The image captures the particular hurt of care being answered by ingratitude within a close family bond.
King Lear, Act I, Scene IV, reviewed against the scan-backed First Folio facsimile. Lear's serpent's-tooth line occurs inside his curse against Goneril after the reduction of his retinue; it is angry dramatic speech, not a neutral rule about children or family relationships.
