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 vi
... justice.” Her death implied a wanton universe and so counseled philosophic despair. Today, Shakespeares relentless honesty and refusal to accept easy an1C ('1 FD CIA U1 U3 swers convince us that he was right to defy the. v i ii ...
... justice.” Her death implied a wanton universe and so counseled philosophic despair. Today, Shakespeares relentless honesty and refusal to accept easy an1C ('1 FD CIA U1 U3 swers convince us that he was right to defy the. v i ii ...
Page vii
... justice" on the pinioned Gloucester (3.6 and 3.7), we begin to measure the extent to which justice and injustice are inverted by cruelty. When at last the two old men come together, during the storm scenes and especially at Dover, the ...
... justice" on the pinioned Gloucester (3.6 and 3.7), we begin to measure the extent to which justice and injustice are inverted by cruelty. When at last the two old men come together, during the storm scenes and especially at Dover, the ...
Page xiii
... justice is visionary and utopian, utterly mad, in fact, but it is also spiritual wisdom dearly bought. Gloucester learns a similar truth and expresses it in much the same way. Like Lear, he has driven into exile a virtuous child and has ...
... justice is visionary and utopian, utterly mad, in fact, but it is also spiritual wisdom dearly bought. Gloucester learns a similar truth and expresses it in much the same way. Like Lear, he has driven into exile a virtuous child and has ...
Page xiv
... justice, for example, is portrayed in two sharply contrasting scenes: the mere “form of justice” by which Cornwall condemns Gloucester for treason (3.7.Z6) and the earnestly playacted trial by which the mad Lear arraigns Goneril and ...
... justice, for example, is portrayed in two sharply contrasting scenes: the mere “form of justice” by which Cornwall condemns Gloucester for treason (3.7.Z6) and the earnestly playacted trial by which the mad Lear arraigns Goneril and ...
Page xv
... justice on earth is personified by a madman (Lear), Edgar disguised as another madman (Tom o' Bedlam), and a Fool, of whom the latter two are addressed by Lear as “Thou robed man of justice" and “thou, his yokefellow of equity" (lines ...
... justice on earth is personified by a madman (Lear), Edgar disguised as another madman (Tom o' Bedlam), and a Fool, of whom the latter two are addressed by Lear as “Thou robed man of justice" and “thou, his yokefellow of equity" (lines ...
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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