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
Results 1-5 of 65
Page xv
... play ends on a note of apocalypse , millennial doom . A trum- pet sounds three times to announce the final showdown . Then when Lear ... Lear story , several of which would have been familiar to members of his audience , Cordelia survives and ...
... play ends on a note of apocalypse , millennial doom . A trum- pet sounds three times to announce the final showdown . Then when Lear ... Lear story , several of which would have been familiar to members of his audience , Cordelia survives and ...
Page xviii
... plays , editors also have to make decisions about the rela- tive authority of the early printed editions . Half of the sum of his plays only appeared posthumously , in the elaborately produced First Folio text of 1623 , the original ...
... plays , editors also have to make decisions about the rela- tive authority of the early printed editions . Half of the sum of his plays only appeared posthumously , in the elaborately produced First Folio text of 1623 , the original ...
Page xx
... roles had turned out , so various adjustments were made . Shake- speare's plays were not polished for publication ; they were designed as scripts to be worked upon in the theater . To be cut , added to , and altered . Until recently ...
... roles had turned out , so various adjustments were made . Shake- speare's plays were not polished for publication ; they were designed as scripts to be worked upon in the theater . To be cut , added to , and altered . Until recently ...
Page xxi
... Lear was not a bad text based on actors ' mem- ories but an authoritative one , almost certainly deriving from Shakespeare's own holograph ( The Texts of " King Lear ... play , Folio his second . The textual variants give us a unique ...
... Lear was not a bad text based on actors ' mem- ories but an authoritative one , almost certainly deriving from Shakespeare's own holograph ( The Texts of " King Lear ... play , Folio his second . The textual variants give us a unique ...
Page xxiii
... play his own theater of cruelty . But now we know that Brook's cut was made in Shakespeare's own theater . A further intensification of the play's moral bleakness is brought about by a series of cuts to Albany's role : his castigations ...
... play his own theater of cruelty . But now we know that Brook's cut was made in Shakespeare's own theater . A further intensification of the play's moral bleakness is brought about by a series of cuts to Albany's role : his castigations ...
Contents
Textual Notes | 122 |
ScenebyScene Analysis | 142 |
The RSC and Beyond | 156 |
Shakespeares Career in the Theater | 203 |
A Chronology | 218 |
References | 226 |
Other editions - View all
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