King LearRandom House Publishing Group, 2013 M06 12 - 352 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 v
... fools,” an endless torment: “the first time that we smell the air / We wawl and cry” (4.6.179—83). Gloucester's despair takes the form of accusing the gods of gleeful malice toward humanity: “As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods ...
... fools,” an endless torment: “the first time that we smell the air / We wawl and cry” (4.6.179—83). Gloucester's despair takes the form of accusing the gods of gleeful malice toward humanity: “As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods ...
Page vi
... Fool as indecorous for a tragedy and united Edgar and Cordelia in marriage, placing Lear once again on his throne, held the English stage for about 150 years. David Garrick restored some of Shakespeare's lines, and Edmund Kean restored ...
... Fool as indecorous for a tragedy and united Edgar and Cordelia in marriage, placing Lear once again on his throne, held the English stage for about 150 years. David Garrick restored some of Shakespeare's lines, and Edmund Kean restored ...
Page xii
... Fool knows, as indeed any fool could tell, that Goneril and Regan are remorseless and unnatural. The real fool, therefore, is Lear himself, for having placed himself in their power. In a paradox familiar to Renaissance audiences as in ...
... Fool knows, as indeed any fool could tell, that Goneril and Regan are remorseless and unnatural. The real fool, therefore, is Lear himself, for having placed himself in their power. In a paradox familiar to Renaissance audiences as in ...
Page xiii
... Fool, who is his companion in the storm. Lear senses coinpanionship with a fellow mortal who is cold and outcast as he is. In his madness, he perceives both the worth of this insight and the need for suffering to attain it: “The art of ...
... Fool, who is his companion in the storm. Lear senses coinpanionship with a fellow mortal who is cold and outcast as he is. In his madness, he perceives both the worth of this insight and the need for suffering to attain it: “The art of ...
Page xv
... Fool, of whom the latter two are addressed by Lear as “Thou robed man of justice" and “thou, his yokefellow of equity" (lines 36-7). They are caught up in a pastime of illusion, using a footstool to represent Lear's ungrateful daughters ...
... Fool, of whom the latter two are addressed by Lear as “Thou robed man of justice" and “thou, his yokefellow of equity" (lines 36-7). They are caught up in a pastime of illusion, using a footstool to represent Lear's ungrateful daughters ...
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Common terms and phrases
Alack ALBANY bastard blind brother Burgundy Charles Dickens Child Rowland Cordelia CORNWALL D. H. Lawrence daughters dear death disguised doth Dover Duke Duke of Cornwall Edith Wharton Edmund Enter Edgar Enter Lear Exeunt Exit eyes father fear film flatter folio follow FOOL fortune France Fyodor Dostoevsky GENTLEMAN give Gloucester's gods GONERIL Goneril and Regan grace hast hath hear heart heavens honor horse i'th Jane Austen justice KENT King Lear kingdom knave Lear's Leir Leonatus letter lord madam master means MESSENGER nature never night noble nuncle Perillus pity play play's Plexirtus poor pray princes quarto RAGAN REGAN royal scene servants Shakespeare sister Skalliger speak stage stand storm Stratford-upon-Avon suffering sword Telenor tell theater thee There's thine thou art traitor trumpet unto villain wicked sisters William Shakespeare wretched