A happy ending for King Lear? Trauma of plague caused Shakespeare to change play’s finale

Culture | The Guardian: The ravages of the plague are the true source of the dark sorrow driving Shakespeare’s later work, a leading authority on the playwright has claimed – and were even behind his decision to change the traditional ending of the King Lear story for his own play. According to the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Greg Doran, the national trauma behind this masterpiece has always been hiding in plain sight.