A drama, said Coleridge, “is not a copy, but an imitation, of nature” which indeed became the “universal principle of the fine arts”. Although a poet is said to be a ‘semblance’ maker of the natural ‘forms’, there is always an attempt to present imitation not as a distortion but as an universal representation, particularly with an emphasis on excellence. It is perhaps to capitalize on this felicity that Indian aestheticians introduced into dramaturgy the concepts of sadharanikarana—the process of universalization, and tanmayibhavana, the process of becoming one with the aestheticized universal being, for it is hoped to liberate a being from his/her narrow self and become one with universal consciousness or Being. Against this backdrop, Kalidasa’s Abhijnanasakuntalam, a play that ‘depicts the beauty of human life, the splendor of art and the glory of the senses’ true to the conventions of Indian dramaturgy, is being examined critically along with King Lear, a play written true to the Greek tradition by Shakespeare, who is known for his ‘unparalleled demiurgic fury’, to understand how these poets scripted their characters, particularly, heroes and heroines, to ‘enact’ their nobility and for what purpose.