在18世纪和19世纪许多人批评这个悲剧性的结尾,一些改写的剧作中,使重要人物在最後都幸存下来,取消法兰西国王的角色和寇蒂莉亞去法国的情节,寇蒂莉亞与爱德迦结婚。劇中最重要的名言是"Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones!"出現在劇末(中譯:哭吧!哭吧!你們這些鐵石心腸的人們,為我而哭吧!!!)
莎士比亚最重要的来源可能是拉法埃尔·贺林歇德(Raphael Holinshed)於1587年发表的《英格兰、苏格兰和爱尔兰历表》(The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande)。贺林歇德自己的来源是12世纪蒙茅斯的杰弗里写的《不列颠诸王史》(Historia Regum Britanniae)。
虽然戏剧没有给定精准的创作时间,但许多学术编辑认为《李尔王》应该在1603-1606年间完成。戏剧最晚的完成时间是1606年,因为戏剧注册(英语:Stationers' Register)记录了1606年12月26日的演出。1603年的定位来自与爱德伽的台词,台词可能来自山姆·哈斯内特(英语:Samuel Harsnett)的《严重欺诈行为之宣言》(Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures, 1603)。[6]在阿登版中(Arden edition),R.A.福克斯(Foakes)认为时间应该在1605–6年,因为莎士比亚的一份参考资料《李尔王的真实编年史》(The True Chronicle History of King Leir)直到1605年才出版;戏剧的近人以及莎士比亚自己暗示他可能从文字稿那里编写而成,而非从演出那里积累改编。[7]相反地,法兰克·克莫德(Frank Kermode)在《溪畔莎翁》(Riverside Shakespeare)中提出“李尔”(Leir)可能是受莎士比亚戏剧的影响写作而成的;他注意到威廉·斯特雷奇(William Strachey)的一首十四行诗与“李尔”十分相似,克莫德断定“1604-5年是最可能的时期”。[8]纳塞伯·沙欣博士(Naseeb Shaheen)通过1.2.103行将戏剧定位在1605-6年间,“最近的日食和月食”应该与1605年9月27日的月食和1605年10月12日的日食有关。[9]
文辞“自然”、“自然的”、“不自然”("nature," "natural" and "unnatural")在剧中出现了40多次。在莎士比亚的时代,自然的本质是一大辩题;该辩题在文中多次出现,而李尔对雷暴的态度也随之改变着。约翰·丹比(John F. Danby)在他的著作《莎士比亚的自然教条 — 对李尔王的研究》(Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature – A Study of King Lear 1949)中,辩称“李尔”将“自然”的含义戏剧化。剧中有两个争锋相对的自然观:李尔一方(李尔、葛罗斯特、奥本尼、肯特),代表了弗兰西斯·培根和理查德·胡克的哲学;爱德蒙一方(爱德蒙、康华尔、高纳里尔、里根),其观点后由托马斯·霍布斯整理。在两种自然观中,“李尔”给出了两种逻辑,并在葛罗斯特和爱德蒙的星相学致辞中(1.2)体现出来。爱德蒙一方的理性对于现代观众们并不陌生。但是他们在这种理性上走了极端,以致疯癫,即理性的疯癫,成为李尔王“理性疯癫”(IV.6.190)和弄人大智若愚的反衬。这种理性的背叛在戏剧后部分着重强调了“感性。”
^Danby, p.50. For B. S. Stephan's summary of John Danby’s Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature: A Study of King Lear (1949), see CCHS.co.uk互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期2011-09-30.
^Kahn, Coppèlia. "The Absent Mother in King Lear". Rewriting the Renaissance: The Discourses of Sexual Difference in Early Modern Europe. Eds. Margaret Ferguson, Maureen Quilligan, and Nancy Vickers. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. p. 33-49.
^Writings on Art and Literature by Sigmund Freud, Foreword by Neil Hertz, Standford University Press (page 120)
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