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
... sisters and is married to her princely wooer. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniac (c. 1136), the earliest known version of the Lear story, records that, after Lear is overthrown by his sons-in-law (more than by his ...
... sisters and is married to her princely wooer. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniac (c. 1136), the earliest known version of the Lear story, records that, after Lear is overthrown by his sons-in-law (more than by his ...
Page vii
... sisters, whereas Gloucester falls prey to Edmund's deceptions and disinherits his loyal son Edgar; Lear is turned out into the storm by his false daughters, While Gloucester is branded as a traitor by Edmund and deprived of his eyesight ...
... sisters, whereas Gloucester falls prey to Edmund's deceptions and disinherits his loyal son Edgar; Lear is turned out into the storm by his false daughters, While Gloucester is branded as a traitor by Edmund and deprived of his eyesight ...
Page ix
... sisters, or between Edgar and Edmund, is something we accept as a convention of storytelling, because it expresses vividly the psychic truth of rivalry between brothers and sisters. We identify with Cordelia and Edgar as virtuous ...
... sisters, or between Edgar and Edmund, is something we accept as a convention of storytelling, because it expresses vividly the psychic truth of rivalry between brothers and sisters. We identify with Cordelia and Edgar as virtuous ...
Page xxi
... -improbable suicide by the timely arrival of Lear. ('0 U': Ch >-1 T-7 U7 (I7 /,Cordelia, and later his brother Charles as Edmund and then as. ]ohn Philip Kemble (with his sister, Sarah Siddons, as. xxiv KING LEAR ON STAGE.
... -improbable suicide by the timely arrival of Lear. ('0 U': Ch >-1 T-7 U7 (I7 /,Cordelia, and later his brother Charles as Edmund and then as. ]ohn Philip Kemble (with his sister, Sarah Siddons, as. xxiv KING LEAR ON STAGE.
Page xxxi
... sister Regan before hurling her own head against a rock face. At the same time, the characters with whom we might sympathize are stripped of heroic stature. Cordelia, in the opening scene, is sullen and bitter. The old Lear who imposes ...
... sister Regan before hurling her own head against a rock face. At the same time, the characters with whom we might sympathize are stripped of heroic stature. Cordelia, in the opening scene, is sullen and bitter. The old Lear who imposes ...
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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