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. |
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... dispositions as he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us. We shall further think on't. GONERIL We must do something, and i' the heat. (Exeunt.) SCENE II The Earl of GLOUCESTER'S castle EDMUND GLOUCESTER EDMUND.
... i ' the middle , and eat up the meat , the two crowns of the egg . When thou clovest thy crown i ' the middle , and gavest away both parts , thou borest thy ass on thy back o'er the dirt : thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown , when ...
... i ' the middle on's face ? No. FOOL Why , to keep one's eyes of either side's nose ; that what a man cannot smell out , he may spy into . KING LEAR I did her wrong- FOOL Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell ? KING LEAR No. FOOL Nor ...
... i' the night, i' the haste, And Regan with him: have you nothing said Upon his party 'gainst the Duke of Albany? Advise yourself. I am sure on't, not a word. I hear my father coming: pardon me: In cunning I must draw my sword upon you ...
... I' the mire. OSWALD Prithee, if thou lovest me, tell me. KENT I love thee not. OSWALD Why, then, I care not for thee. KENT If I had thee in Lipsbury pinfold, I would make thee care for me. OSWALD Why dost thou use me thus? I know thee ...