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
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... less educated than themselves, but it was respectable enough; players, if prosperous, were in effect members of the bourgeoisie, and there is nothing to suggest that Stratford considered William Shakespeare less than a solid citizen ...
... less educated than themselves, but it was respectable enough; players, if prosperous, were in effect members of the bourgeoisie, and there is nothing to suggest that Stratford considered William Shakespeare less than a solid citizen ...
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... less than a month before he died, he sought to leave his property intact to his descendants. Of small bequests to relatives and to friends (including three actors, Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell), that to his wife of ...
... less than a month before he died, he sought to leave his property intact to his descendants. Of small bequests to relatives and to friends (including three actors, Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell), that to his wife of ...
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... less syllable than they now have are needle (pronounced neel) and violet (pronounced vilet). Among rhymes now lost are one with loan, love with prove, beast with jest, eat with great. (In reading, trust your sense of metrics and your ...
... less syllable than they now have are needle (pronounced neel) and violet (pronounced vilet). Among rhymes now lost are one with loan, love with prove, beast with jest, eat with great. (In reading, trust your sense of metrics and your ...
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... less than kind!” (1.2.64-65). These are Hamlet's first words in the play, and we already 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 ...
... less than kind!” (1.2.64-65). These are Hamlet's first words in the play, and we already 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 ...
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... Less overtly troublesome than the technical words but more treacherous are the words that seem readily intelligible to us but whose Elizabethan meanings differ from their modern ones. When Horatio describes the Ghost as an “erring ...
... Less overtly troublesome than the technical words but more treacherous are the words that seem readily intelligible to us but whose Elizabethan meanings differ from their modern ones. When Horatio describes the Ghost as an “erring ...
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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