Male Authorship and The Idealized Daughter in The Adaptation of William Shakespeare’s "King Lear"

This article examines the extent to which Edward St․ Aubyn’s Dunbar can be read as a King Lear adaptation through the lens of gendered authorship‚ the figure of the “good daughter,” and the reworking of Shakespeare’s Lear․ Through retaining the father figure but altering the model of what the “good daughter” is from being subservient and morally upstanding to being bright and financially independent‚ Edward St․ Aubyn offers a new perspective on Lear’s tragedy․ The author expresses his critique while retaining the power of men in this way․ This is the only study that analyzes the ideal daughter in this way․ This work maintains the backlash to feminist adaptation of St․ Aubyn’s Dunbar‚ with the poll suggesting the final transformation of the patriarchal narrative and its gender-based rules toward a more egalitarian structure‚ relative to contemporary life․ Part of this is accomplished by applying feminist adaptation theory to Edward St. Aubyn’s Dunbar to demonstrate that he adopts a distinct approach to the gender dynamics of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The reason Dunbar has grown to be a significant Shakespearean adaptation, despite its flaws, is partly due to this distinction and the novelty of the adaptation. While these works explore the patriarchal and familial roles of these two texts, no work has yet to approach Dunbar’s work through the perspective of feminist adaptation theory.