King Lear
King Lear is 25,339 words — about 1h 41m at 250 words per minute, across 28 chapters. Measure your own speed and read it free, here.
How long does it take to read King Lear?
1h 41m at 250 words per minute
25,339 words · 28 chapters · counted from the full text, not estimated from a page count. Measure your own speed and this becomes your number.
Read King Lear
How it opens
ACT I Scene I. A Room of State in King Lear’s Palace Scene II. A Hall in the Earl of Gloucester’s Castle Scene III. A Room in the Duke of Albany’s Palace Scene IV. A Hall in Albany’s Palace Scene V. Court before the Duke of Albany’s Palace…
Details
- AuthorWilliam Shakespeare
- SourceProject Gutenberg #1532
- Length25,339 words · 1h 41m of reading
- Chapters28
- DictionaryNot yet generated
- CopyrightPublic domain in the United States
- Source checked2026-08-28
Contents
28 chapters
Recovered from the original source text, so you can open the book at any of them.
- 01THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR
- 02Dramatis Personæ
- 03SCENE I. A Room of State in King Lear’s Palace
- 04SCENE II. A Hall in the Earl of Gloucester’s Castle
- 05SCENE III. A Room in the Duke of Albany’s Palace
- 06SCENE IV. A Hall in Albany’s Palace
- 07SCENE V. Court before the Duke of Albany’s Palace
- 08SCENE I. A court within the Castle of the Earl of Gloucester
- 09SCENE II. Before Gloucester’s Castle
- 10SCENE III. The open Country
- 11SCENE IV. Before Gloucester’s Castle; Kent in the stocks
- 12SCENE I. A Heath
- 13SCENE II. Another part of the heath
- 14SCENE III. A Room in Gloucester’s Castle
- 15SCENE IV. A part of the Heath with a Hovel
- 16SCENE V. A Room in Gloucester’s Castle
- 17SCENE VI. A Chamber in a Farmhouse adjoining the Castle
- 18SCENE VII. A Room in Gloucester’s Castle
- 19SCENE I. The heath
- 20SCENE II. Before the Duke of Albany’s Palace
- 21SCENE III. The French camp near Dover
- 22SCENE IV. The French camp. A Tent
- 23SCENE V. A Room in Gloucester’s Castle
- 24SCENE VI. The country near Dover
- 25SCENE VII. A Tent in the French Camp
- 26SCENE I. The Camp of the British Forces near Dover
- 27SCENE II. A field between the two Camps
- 28SCENE III. The British Camp near Dover
More from the library

"De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries

A Child's Garden of Verses

A Modest Proposal: For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Tale of Two Cities

Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and the Seven Against Thebes
King Lear is free to read on Liminanotio, a word-at-a-time speed reader that runs in your browser, alongside the rest of the public-domain library.