Class dates: Wednesdays, September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14 (5 weeks)

Class time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm

Location: Assumption, Kennedy 119

Shakespeare’s King Lear , written between 1603 and 1605, set in an ancient British past, continues to speak to our times. The play intertwines the stories of a dysfunctional family, an old man slipping into dementia, a seriously flawed national leader, and dangerous internal power struggles. Its themes include madness, the plight of the poor, the nature of love, the danger of deception, and the call to endure suffering until we end it. Though with this play Shakespeare shows the temptations of despair, he still dares us to hope. This course will study The Tragedy of King Lear and its implications both when written and now.

Required reading: King Lear , Folger Library edition, Simon and Schuster, ISBN-13:978-0743482769

Instructor: Helen Whall earned her Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature from Yale University and then taught Shakespeare and modern drama at the College of the Holy Cross. She has written on both subjects and worked as a theater reviews editor for Theater Journal. Since retirement, she has brought numerous courses to WISE, often and happily partnering with Clark Shakespearean Viriginia Vaughan.

Instructor: Virginia Mason Vaughan is Professor Emerita and Research Professor of English at Clark University, and the author of numerous works on Shakespeare. Her most recent publication, Shakespeare and the Gods (Arden Shakespeare, 2020), studies Shakespeare’s mythological allusions. Long known as an instructor at WISE, she taught Othello in the fall of 2025. She now looks forward to offering another course with her Holy Cross colleague, Helen Whall.