Description
Have your students analyze characters from Shakespeare’s King Lear in a fun, collaborative, and engaging way with Character Collabs, a hands-on character analysis project that brings this complex tragedy to life.
In this activity, students use multiple characterization methods to develop a detailed profile of a chosen character from King Lear. Through close reading, inference, and textual evidence, students demonstrate a deep understanding of the play while presenting their analysis on a visually striking poster. This approach encourages students to think critically about power, loyalty, betrayal, and identity while fostering empathy for Shakespeare’s morally complex characters.
As students work together, they practice collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility, making this project ideal for group work, literature circles, stations, or a culminating assessment. The completed posters also serve as high-impact classroom displays that reinforce key characters and themes throughout the unit.
This resource includes Character Collabs posters for 12 major characters from King Lear, including Lear, Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, Edmund, Edgar, Gloucester, Kent, Albany, Cornwall, the Fool, and France. Each poster is composed of six pieces of paper that can be printed on standard copy paper or cardstock and assembled into a final display measuring 28” x 15”.
Everything you need for seamless implementation is included. You’ll receive a complete teacher guide, clear student directions, a detailed rubric, a brainstorm worksheet to support planning and analysis, blank coloring pages for each character, answer keys, examples of finished projects, and digitally colored sample posters for every character. Editable versions of the directions, rubric, and brainstorm worksheet are also provided so you can easily adapt the project to meet your classroom needs.
Perfect for middle school and high school ELA, this King Lear character analysis project transforms close reading into an interactive, creative, and collaborative learning experience students won’t forget.
