King LearStandard Ebooks King Lear is a tragedy by Shakespeare, written about 1605 or 1606. Shakespeare based it on the legendary King Leir of the Britons, whose story is outlined in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudohistorical History of the Kings of Britain (written in about 1136). The play tells the tale of the aged King Lear who is passing on the control of his kingdom to his three daughters. He asks each of them to express their love for him, and the first two, Goneril and Regan do so effusively, saying they love him above all things. But his youngest daughter, Cordelia, is compelled to be truthful and says that she must reserve some love for her future husband. Lear, enraged, cuts her off without any inheritance. The secondary plot deals with the machinations of Edmund, the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester, who manages to convince his father that his legitimate son Edgar is plotting against him. After Lear steps down from power, he finds that his elder daughters have no real respect or love for him, and treat him and his followers as a nuisance. They allow the raging Lear to wander out into a storm, hoping to be rid of him, and conspire with Edmund to overthrow the Earl of Gloucester. The play is a moving study of the perils of old age and the true meaning of filial love. It ends tragically with the deaths of both Cordelia and Lear—so tragically, in fact, that performances during the Restoration period sometimes substituted a happy ending. In modern times, though, King Lear is performed as written and generally regarded as one of Shakespeare’s best plays. This Standard Ebooks edition is based on William George Clark and William Aldis Wright’s 1887 Victoria edition, which is taken from the Globe edition. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 18
... head bit off by it young . So , out went the candle , and we were left darkling . Are you our daughter ? Come , sir , I would you would make use of that good wisdom , Whereof I know you are fraught ; and put away These dispositions ...
... all love , And added to the gall . O Lear , Lear , Lear ! Beat at this gate , that let thy folly in , ( Striking his head . ) And thy dear judgment out ! Go , go , my people . ALBANY KING LEAR ALBANY GONERIL KING LEAR My lord ,
... head in ; not to give it away to his daughters , and leave his horns without a case . KING LEAR I will forget my nature . So kind a father ! Be my horses ready ? FOOL Thy asses are gone about ' em . The reason why the seven stars are no ...
... heads , dogs and bears by the neck , monkeys by the loins , and men by the legs : when a man's over- lusty at legs , then he wears wooden nether - stocks . What's he that hath so much thy place mistook To set thee here ? It is both he ...
... head So old and white as this . O ! O ! ' tis foul ! He that has a house to put's head in has a good head - piece . The cod - piece that will house Before the head has any , The head and he shall louse ; So beggars marry many . The man ...