Lear and I represent the spirit of Shakespeare (5)
I believe the answer is:
ariel
'spirit of shakespeare' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'lear and i represent' is the wordplay.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'represent' is an anagram indicator.
'lear'+'i'='leari'
'leari' is an anagram of 'ARIEL'.
'the' is the link.
(Other definitions for ariel that I've seen before include "spirit of Shakespeare" , "Shakespearian spirit" , "Sycorax victim (Tempest)" , "Moon" , "Fairy in "The Tempest"" .)