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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... traitor . Bless thy five wits ! Tom's a - cold — O , do de , do de , do de . Bless thee from whirlwinds , star- blasting , and taking ! Do poor Tom some charity , whom the foul fiend vexes : there could I have him now - and there — and ...
... traitor ! nothing could have subdued nature To such a lowness but his unkind daughters . Is it the fashion , that discarded fathers Should have thus little mercy on their flesh ? Judicious punishment ! ' twas this flesh begot Those ...
... traitor Gloucester , Pinion him like a thief , bring him before us . ( Exeunt other Servants . ) Though well we may not pass upon his life Without the form of justice , yet our power Shall do a courtesy to our wrath , which men May ...
... traitor ! GLOUCESTER CORNWALL GLOUCESTER REGAN Unmerciful lady as you are , I'm none . To this chair bind him . Villain , thou shalt find— ( REGAN plucks his beard . ) By the kind gods , ' tis most ignobly done To pluck me by the beard ...
... to hear of that blind traitor , Preferment falls on him that cuts him off . Would I could meet him , madam ! I should show What party I do follow . Fare thee well . ( Exeunt . ) SCENE VI Fields near Dover . GLOUCESTER EDGAR GLOUCESTER (