King LearSimon and Schuster, 2015 M10 20 - 384 pages The authoritative edition of King Lear from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the suffering of others. Lear himself rages until his sanity cracks. What, then, keeps bringing us back to King Lear? For all the force of its language, King Lear is almost equally powerful when translated, suggesting that it is the story, in large part, that draws us to the play. The play tells us about families struggling between greed and cruelty, on the one hand, and support and consolation, on the other. Emotions are extreme, magnified to gigantic proportions. We also see old age portrayed in all its vulnerability, pride, and, perhaps, wisdom—one reason this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps his most moving. This edition includes: -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further reading Essay by Susan Snyder The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 24
Page xv
... stage action, is at least felt. When we are reading on our own, we must do what each actor does: go over the lines (often with a dictionary close at hand) until the puzzles are solved and the lines yield up their poetry and the ...
... stage action, is at least felt. When we are reading on our own, we must do what each actor does: go over the lines (often with a dictionary close at hand) until the puzzles are solved and the lines yield up their poetry and the ...
Page xxvii
... stage action is described in what are called “stage directions”; some is suggested within the dialogue itself. We must learn to be alert to such signals as we stage the play in our imaginations. When, in the xxviii King Lear second ...
... stage action is described in what are called “stage directions”; some is suggested within the dialogue itself. We must learn to be alert to such signals as we stage the play in our imaginations. When, in the xxviii King Lear second ...
Page xxviii
... stage action repays one many times over when one reaches a crucial scene like that of the blinding of Gloucester (3.7) or the play's final scene with its sequence of duels, exits, entrances, and deaths, in both of which scenes implied stage ...
... stage action repays one many times over when one reaches a crucial scene like that of the blinding of Gloucester (3.7) or the play's final scene with its sequence of duels, exits, entrances, and deaths, in both of which scenes implied stage ...
Page xxxii
... for comedy, and calls him “the most excellent in both kinds for the stage.” He also names him “Mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare”: “I say,” writes Meres, “that the Muses would speak with Shakespeare's fine filed phrase,
... for comedy, and calls him “the most excellent in both kinds for the stage.” He also names him “Mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare”: “I say,” writes Meres, “that the Muses would speak with Shakespeare's fine filed phrase,
Page xlii
... spectators paid extra to sit or stand in the two or three levels of roofed galleries that extended, on the upper levels, all the way around the theater and surrounded an open space. In this space were the stage and, perhaps, the.
... spectators paid extra to sit or stand in the two or three levels of roofed galleries that extended, on the upper levels, all the way around the theater and surrounded an open space. In this space were the stage and, perhaps, the.
Contents
ix | |
xxix | |
xxxix | |
The Publication of Shakespeares Plays | xlviii |
Textual Notes | 263 |
1 2146 | 287 |
A Modern Perspective | 293 |
Further Reading | 305 |
Key to Famous Lines and Phrases | 337 |
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Common terms and phrases
acting action actors ALBANY answer appear arms attend bear begin bring comes Cordelia CORNWALL course daughter death Dover Draw Duke earlier early EDGAR edition Edmund Enter example exits eyes father fear Folio follow Fool Fortune France GENTLEMAN give GLOUCESTER Gloucester’s gods Goneril grace hand hath head hear heart hold honor keep KENT kind King Lear language Lear’s less letter lines live London look lord madam master means messenger nature never night notes offer OSWALD perhaps play poor Pray present printed Q1 corr Q1 uncorr quarto readers REGAN scene SD F seek servant Shake Shakespeare shows sister sound speak speech stage stand suffering tell theater thee thing thou thought true turn University versions