King Lear
A tragedy by Shakespeare written around 1605–1606 and first performed in 1606. An aging king divides his kingdom among his daughters based on their flattery, banishes the one daughter who tells him the truth, and descends into madness and destitution as the consequences unfold. Widely considered the most relentless and metaphysically bleak of Shakespeare's tragedies, and, by many readers, the greatest.