JH Academic Bowl Practice Test

The ending in this question is about a tragedy where two key figures—Lear and the Earl of Gloucester—are left in a deeply troubled state, highlighting how the play’s moral order collapses. In King Lear, the closest to a cathartic closure comes only after Lear’s mind is shattered by filial ingratitude and loss, and Gloucester’s body and expectations are brutalized by betrayal and blindness. The final scenes underscore a world stripped of power and comfort, with both main characters bearing the weight of suffering as the curtain falls. The other Shakespeare plays listed don’t bring these two figures together in their endings: Macbeth ends with a toppled tyrant and a fragile restoration, Othello ends in jealous tragedy and revenge, and Hamlet ends with a grim, fatal culmination for several characters but not the same pair and mood as Lear’s finale. So, the play that fits the description is King Lear.