King LearRandom House Publishing Group, 2009 M08 4 - 272 pages A king foolishly divides his kingdom between his scheming two oldest daughters and estranges himself from the daughter who loves him. So begins this profoundly moving and disturbing tragedy that, perhaps more than any other work in literature, challenges the notion of a coherent and just universe. The king and others pay dearly for their shortcomings–as madness, murder, and the anguish of insight and forgiveness that arrive too late combine to make this an all-embracing tragedy of evil and suffering. Each Edition Includes: • Comprehensive explanatory notes • Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship • Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English • Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories • An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography |
From inside the book
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Page x
... Kent and France - but Lear , too long used to having his own way and hearing only the words of flat- terers , has blinded himself . Only when he has been stripped of the fine clothes and fine words of the court , has heard truth in the ...
... Kent and France - but Lear , too long used to having his own way and hearing only the words of flat- terers , has blinded himself . Only when he has been stripped of the fine clothes and fine words of the court , has heard truth in the ...
Page xii
... Lear - and he promptly dies . Then he tries to persuade Kent and Edgar to divide the kingdom , and Kent promptly goes off to die . The final lines of the play - given to different speakers in the Quarto and Folio versions of the text ...
... Lear - and he promptly dies . Then he tries to persuade Kent and Edgar to divide the kingdom , and Kent promptly goes off to die . The final lines of the play - given to different speakers in the Quarto and Folio versions of the text ...
Page xiv
... Lear says that she has cause to do him wrong , and she replies , " No cause ... Lear in his madness . The fundamental folly of Christianity is its demand ... KENT Bless thy five wits ! O pity ! Sir , where is the patience now That you ...
... Lear says that she has cause to do him wrong , and she replies , " No cause ... Lear in his madness . The fundamental folly of Christianity is its demand ... KENT Bless thy five wits ! O pity ! Sir , where is the patience now That you ...
Page xv
... Lear enters with his beloved daughter dead in his arms , loyal Kent asks , " Is this the promised end ? " He is thinking of Doomsday , but the line is also a sly allusion on Shakespeare's part : in all previous ver- sions of the Lear ...
... Lear enters with his beloved daughter dead in his arms , loyal Kent asks , " Is this the promised end ? " He is thinking of Doomsday , but the line is also a sly allusion on Shakespeare's part : in all previous ver- sions of the Lear ...
Page xviii
... Lear ? According to the conventions of Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy , the senior remain- ing character speaks the final speech . That is the mark of his assumption of power . Thus Fortinbras rules Denmark at the end of Hamlet ...
... Lear ? According to the conventions of Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy , the senior remain- ing character speaks the final speech . That is the mark of his assumption of power . Thus Fortinbras rules Denmark at the end of Hamlet ...
Contents
Textual Notes | 122 |
ScenebyScene Analysis | 142 |
The RSC and Beyond | 156 |
Shakespeares Career in the Theater | 203 |
A Chronology | 218 |
References | 226 |
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Common terms and phrases
Act 4 Scene actor Adrian Noble Alack Albany Albany's Antony Antony Sher audience bastard beggar blind Brian Cox Burgundy Cordelia Corin Redgrave CORNWALL daughters death disguised dost Dover Duke Duke of Cornwall Edgar editors Edmund Enter Lear Exeunt Exit eyes father feel Following fortune France GENTLEMAN give gods Goneril Goneril and Regan grace hath heart human Ian McKellen Jonathan Bate KENT KENT LEAR King Lear kingdom knave LEAR FOOL LEAR KENT Lear's letter Lines look lord madam messenger Michael Gambon nature night nuncle performance Peter Brook pity played Lear poor Pray production Q corrected Q uncorrected Quarto text Regan role Royal Shakespeare Company running scene sense servant Shake Shakespeare sister speak speech stage storm tell theater thee there's thine things Tragedy traitor Trevor Nunn trumpet villain