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Abstract: William Shakespeare's King Lear is widely regarded as one of the greatest tragedies in English literature because of its profound exploration of human nature, power, justice, loyalty, and family relationships. The play presents a wide range of characters whose virtues and flaws significantly influence the tragic development of the narrative. This article examines the positive and negative traits of the principal characters in King Lear, including King Lear, Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, Edmund, Edgar, Gloucester, Kent, and the Fool. Using a qualitative literary analysis, the study investigates how Shakespeare portrays admirable qualities such as honesty, loyalty, compassion, wisdom, forgiveness, and courage alongside destructive characteristics including pride, vanity, greed, cruelty, deception, and ambition. The analysis demonstrates that Shakespeare deliberately creates psychologically complex characters whose strengths and weaknesses interact with social and political conflicts. The tragedy ultimately illustrates that moral blindness, uncontrolled pride, and selfish ambition lead to personal suffering and the collapse of family and political order. The findings emphasize that King Lear remains highly relevant to contemporary readers because it explores universal ethical values, leadership, justice, and human responsibility.References
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