The Role of the Mask in King Lear What is a mask? The dictionary defines a mask as "anything that disguises or conceals." Characters in King Lear use masks throughout the play. The masks are used for two main functions: to conceal one's true plans and actions and to provide a protective disguise. Goneril, Regan, and Edmund, corrupt individuals in the play, all use masks to hide their evil and vicious intents. Goneril and Regan …showed first 75 words of 2617 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2617 total…A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. Greenwich: Fawcett, (No year of publication, Preface written in November 1904.) "mask." Random House Webster's College Dictionary. New York: Random House, 1999. Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of King Lear." The Riverside Shakespeare. 2snd. ed. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. New York: Houghton, 1997. 1304-5, 1307, 1326, 1334, 1338, 1341. "William Shakespeare: King Lear", in Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events the Influenced Them. Literature Resource Center. Ed. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. 1997. 23 April 2001