Hurricanes, Atlantic Weather, and Global Time in King Lear

Abstract: The word "hurricane" entered the English language via early modern Atlantic travelers. Shakespeare uses hurricane twice in his oeuvre: in King Lear and Troilus and Cressida . Together with other references in King Lear , the term suggests that Shakespeare had Atlantic travel narratives in mind for his play about a tempestuous king. These references add a global dimension to the multiple British temporalities with which King Lear is known to engage. The Atlantic functions as a supplementary space to read King Lear as a tragedy in which the spiraling motion of the hurricane characterizes both the protagonist and the play's theatrical design.