李尔 (Lǐ'ěr) is the standard Mandarin transliteration of "Lear," with
王 (wáng, "king") translating the title rather than transliterating it — a common pattern for foreign monarch names (compare
亚瑟王 "King Arthur"). Along with
哈姆雷特 (Hamlet),
麦克白 (Macbeth) and
奥赛罗 (Othello), 《
李尔王》 rounds out Shakespeare's
四大悲剧 ("four great tragedies").
