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 34
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... hear him warring verbally against Claudius. Hamlet's “less than kind” probably means (1) Hamlet is not of Claudius's family or nature, kind having the sense it still has in our word mankind; (2) Hamlet is not kindly (affectionately) ...
... hear him warring verbally against Claudius. Hamlet's “less than kind” probably means (1) Hamlet is not of Claudius's family or nature, kind having the sense it still has in our word mankind; (2) Hamlet is not kindly (affectionately) ...
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... hear much about crossdressing. Shakespeare himself in a very few passages calls attention to the use of boys in female roles. At the end of As You Like It the boy who played Rosalind addresses the audience, and says, “O men, ... if I ...
... hear much about crossdressing. Shakespeare himself in a very few passages calls attention to the use of boys in female roles. At the end of As You Like It the boy who played Rosalind addresses the audience, and says, “O men, ... if I ...
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... Hear'st thou of them? (5.3.47-56) Blank verse, then, can be much more than unrhymed iambic pentameter, and even within a single play Shakespeare's blank verse often consists of several styles, depending on the speaker and on the ...
... Hear'st thou of them? (5.3.47-56) Blank verse, then, can be much more than unrhymed iambic pentameter, and even within a single play Shakespeare's blank verse often consists of several styles, depending on the speaker and on the ...
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... hear Samuel Johnson on the dangers of emendation: “I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more honorable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy.” Some departures (in addition to spelling, punctuation, and lineation) from the ...
... hear Samuel Johnson on the dangers of emendation: “I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more honorable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy.” Some departures (in addition to spelling, punctuation, and lineation) from the ...
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... hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings.... And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them, for there be of them that will ...
... hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings.... And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them, for there be of them that will ...
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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