King LearPenguin, 1998 M06 1 - 352 pages The Signet Classics edition of one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Full of cruelty and betrayal, King Lear is the timeless and tragic story of a kingdom held in the thrall of an aging ruler’s descent into madness. Desperate for praise, he banishes those who would guide him with honesty and surrounds himself with sycophants—an action that leads to his ultimate downfall.... This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: • An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater • A special introduction to the play by the editor, Russell Fraser • Selections from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and The True Chronicle History of King Lear, the sources from which Shakespeare derived King Lear • Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, A. C. Bradley, John Russell Brown, and others • A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text • And more... |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 54
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... Albany, Lear's surviving son-in-law, but in the First Folio version (1623), the speech is given to Edgar. The Quarto version is in accord with tradition—usually the highest-ranking character in a tragedy speaks the final words. Why does ...
... Albany, Lear's surviving son-in-law, but in the First Folio version (1623), the speech is given to Edgar. The Quarto version is in accord with tradition—usually the highest-ranking character in a tragedy speaks the final words. Why does ...
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... Then Edgar reenters and speaks again: “Away, old man.... King Lear hath lost” (5-6). The optimism of Albany, as it is even more extravagant, is more sternly reproved. All friends shall taste The wages of their virtue, and.
... Then Edgar reenters and speaks again: “Away, old man.... King Lear hath lost” (5-6). The optimism of Albany, as it is even more extravagant, is more sternly reproved. All friends shall taste The wages of their virtue, and.
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... Albany, rather cruelly, is made to supply the missing feet: “O, see, see!” It is the last agony of Lear to which his attention is directed. Albany, as he presents the hopeful man who insists, a little too suavely, that God's in His ...
... Albany, rather cruelly, is made to supply the missing feet: “O, see, see!” It is the last agony of Lear to which his attention is directed. Albany, as he presents the hopeful man who insists, a little too suavely, that God's in His ...
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... construe that fitness to which Albany appeals, in declining to let his hands obey his blood; or that pleasure, a more intriguing word, which inclines the Old Man to succor the blinded Gloucester, “Come on't what will”? What point.
... construe that fitness to which Albany appeals, in declining to let his hands obey his blood; or that pleasure, a more intriguing word, which inclines the Old Man to succor the blinded Gloucester, “Come on't what will”? What point.
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... Albany's characterization of Oswald, as Oswald reports it: he called me sot, And told me I had turned the wrong side out; (4.2.8-9) and in what manner does it comment on the Captain's decision to collaborate in the killing of the King ...
... Albany's characterization of Oswald, as Oswald reports it: he called me sot, And told me I had turned the wrong side out; (4.2.8-9) and in what manner does it comment on the Captain's decision to collaborate in the killing of the King ...
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Common terms and phrases
action actors Albany audience better characters comedy Cordelia Cornwall costumes daughters death dost doth drama Duke Duke of Cornwall Edmund Elizabethan Enter Edgar Enter Lear evil Exeunt Exit eyes F omits F prints father feel Folio follow Fool fortune Gentleman give Gloucester’s gods Goneril Hamlet hast hath heart heavens honor i’th Kent King Lear king’s knave lady Lear’s Leir lines look lord Macbeth madam man’s master Merchant of Venice Midsummer Night’s Dream mind nature never night noble Nuncle o’th Oswald Othello performance perhaps Perillus pity play’s playwright poor pray prose Q corrected Quarto Regan roles Romeo and Juliet s.d. Enter Scena scene seems servant Shakespeare Shakespeare’s plays sister speak speech stage direction storm tell theater theatrical thee there’s thine things thought tragedy trumpet Twelfth Night villain William Shakespeare words