King Lear

Front Cover
Penguin UK, 2005 M04 7 - 368 pages

'The most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world' Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shakespeare's bleak and brutal tragedy begins when an ageing king, seeking a successor, rejects the young daughter who loves him and misplaces his trust in her malevolent sisters. In return they strip him of his power and condemn him to a wretched wasteland of horror and insanity. Set in a pitiless universe, King Lear is a towering, elemental masterpiece of fierce poetry and vast imaginative scope.

Used and Recommended by the National Theatre

General Editor Stanley Wells
Edited by George Hunter
Introduction by Kiernan Ryan

From inside the book

 

Selected pages

Contents

General Introduction
The Play in Performance
An Account of the Text
Words for Music in King Lear
Copyright

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Common terms and phrases

ALBANY arms bastard beggar Burgundy Cordelia Cornwall daughters death dost Dover Dr Johnson Duke Duke of Albany Duke of Cornwall Edmund Elizabethan Enter Edgar Enter Lear Exeunt Exit eyes F reading father fear feel Folio follow Fool fortune foul fiend France GENTLEMAN give Gloucester's gods Gonerill and Regan grace Harsnet's hast hath heart Henry VI honour i’the justice KENT KENT LEAR King Lear kingdom knave knights Lear's letter look lord madam matter means nature noble nuncle omitted Oswald play poor Poor Tom Pray prose in Q Q and F Q corrected Quarto REGAN LEAR Richard III scene seems sense servant Shakespeare sister speak speech stand storm sword tears theatrical thee There’s thine things thou art Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Tom o'Bedlam tragedy trumpet Twelfth Night villain William Shakespeare words wretches

About the author (2005)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain), a collection of sonnets and a variety of other poems.


Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Kiernan Ryan is Professor of English at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Fellow of New Hall, University of Cambridge. He is the author of Shakespeare (3rd edn, 2002) and the editor of King Lear: Contemporary Critical Essays (1992) and Shakespeare: The Last Plays (1999).

Bibliographic information

TitleKing Lear
Penguin Shakespeare
AuthorWilliam Shakespeare
EditorGeorge Hunter
ContributorKiernan Ryan
PublisherPenguin UK, 2005
ISBN0141900997, 9780141900995
Length368 pages
  
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