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
Page xii
... gives it" (lines 74-5). Beneath his mocking, the Fool expresses the deeper truth that it is better to be a “fool” and suffer than to win on the cynical world's terms. The greatest fools truly are those who prosper through cruelty and ...
... gives it" (lines 74-5). Beneath his mocking, the Fool expresses the deeper truth that it is better to be a “fool” and suffer than to win on the cynical world's terms. The greatest fools truly are those who prosper through cruelty and ...
Page xiii
... give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21 ); “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree" (Luke 1:52). Cordelia's vision of genuine love is of this exalted spiritual order ...
... give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21 ); “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree" (Luke 1:52). Cordelia's vision of genuine love is of this exalted spiritual order ...
Page xvii
... give the lie to Edmund's “natural” or amoral view of humanity; a few people, at least, are capable of charity, even when it does not serve their own material self-interest. Conversely, the play suggests that villainy will at last ...
... give the lie to Edmund's “natural” or amoral view of humanity; a few people, at least, are capable of charity, even when it does not serve their own material self-interest. Conversely, the play suggests that villainy will at last ...
Page xviii
... give them absolutely nothing. The power of love, though learned too late to avert catastrophe, is at last discovered in its very defeat. King Lear exists in two early texts, the quarto of 1608 and the considerably changed folio version ...
... give them absolutely nothing. The power of love, though learned too late to avert catastrophe, is at last discovered in its very defeat. King Lear exists in two early texts, the quarto of 1608 and the considerably changed folio version ...
Page xxiv
... give plausibility to Goneril's impatience with her father. Cuts and rearrangement of some speeches are calculated to add to rather than relieve the horror. Lear and Gloucester, together on the beach at Dover in Act 4, scene 6 ...
... give plausibility to Goneril's impatience with her father. Cuts and rearrangement of some speeches are calculated to add to rather than relieve the horror. Lear and Gloucester, together on the beach at Dover in Act 4, scene 6 ...
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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