The Most-Read Classics

Catalogue Method

Catalogue / No. 71

King Lear

William Shakespeare

PlayEnglish 1606 28k words

Start reading → 5 acts, no sign-up, no paywall

Contents

1Act I 2Act II 3Act III 4Act IV 5Act V

Why it is here

The tragedy critics most often call Shakespeare's greatest — and audiences find hardest to watch.

Readership record

Global readership rank#71 of 100

Readership score33.9 / 100

Goodreads ratings147,282

Average rating3.89 / 5

First published1606

FormPlay

OriginEnglish

Length28k words

Appears on

No syllabus list matched — ranked on readership volume alone.

Lists used: NEH 1984 core reading list, a 1,000-voter US school-reading survey, and a consolidated current-curriculum survey.

Texts come from free resources available on the internet and are in the public domain. Readership figures blend Goodreads rating volumes, Project Gutenberg download rankings, and documented syllabus and canon lists. · Catalogue · How the ranking works