King LearRandom House Publishing Group, 2009 M08 4 - 272 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 xii
... play - given to different speakers in the Quarto and Folio versions of the text - suggest that the lesson has been learned that Stoic comfort will not do , that it is better to speak what we feel than what we ought to say . The Folio's ...
... play - given to different speakers in the Quarto and Folio versions of the text - suggest that the lesson has been learned that Stoic comfort will not do , that it is better to speak what we feel than what we ought to say . The Folio's ...
Page xiii
... play ? " asks Erasmus ' Folly . Lear echoes the sentiment : " When we are born , we cry that we are come / To this great stage of fools . " In the great theater of the world , with the gods as audience , we are the fools on stage ...
... play ? " asks Erasmus ' Folly . Lear echoes the sentiment : " When we are born , we cry that we are come / To this great stage of fools . " In the great theater of the world , with the gods as audience , we are the fools on stage ...
Page xiv
William Shakespeare Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen. the play , but Cordelia - who has a special bond with the Fool - has to learn to lie . At the beginning , she can only tell the truth ( hence her banishment ) , but later she lies ...
William Shakespeare Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen. the play , but Cordelia - who has a special bond with the Fool - has to learn to lie . At the beginning , she can only tell the truth ( hence her banishment ) , but later she lies ...
Page xv
... play ends on a note of apocalypse , millennial doom . A trum- pet sounds three times to announce the final showdown . Then when Lear enters with his beloved daughter dead in his arms , loyal Kent asks , " Is this the promised end ? " He ...
... play ends on a note of apocalypse , millennial doom . A trum- pet sounds three times to announce the final showdown . Then when Lear enters with his beloved daughter dead in his arms , loyal Kent asks , " Is this the promised end ? " He ...
Page xvi
... play that has more time for a language of ordinary things garden waterpots , wrens , and toasted cheese - than for the " glib and oily art " of courtly speech . So is the whole play , like the " Dover cliff " scene , an elaborate game ...
... play that has more time for a language of ordinary things garden waterpots , wrens , and toasted cheese - than for the " glib and oily art " of courtly speech . So is the whole play , like the " Dover cliff " scene , an elaborate game ...
Contents
Textual Notes | 122 |
ScenebyScene Analysis | 142 |
The RSC and Beyond | 156 |
Shakespeares Career in the Theater | 203 |
A Chronology | 218 |
References | 226 |
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Common terms and phrases
Act 4 Scene actor Adrian Noble Alack Albany Albany's Antony Antony Sher audience bastard beggar blind Brian Cox Burgundy Cordelia Corin Redgrave CORNWALL daughters death disguised dost Dover Duke Duke of Cornwall Edgar editors Edmund Enter Lear Exeunt Exit eyes father feel Following fortune France GENTLEMAN give gods Goneril Goneril and Regan grace hath heart human Ian McKellen Jonathan Bate KENT KENT LEAR King Lear kingdom knave LEAR FOOL LEAR KENT Lear's letter Lines look lord madam messenger Michael Gambon nature night nuncle performance Peter Brook pity played Lear poor Pray production Q corrected Q uncorrected Quarto text Regan role Royal Shakespeare Company running scene sense servant Shake Shakespeare sister speak speech stage storm tell theater thee there's thine things Tragedy traitor Trevor Nunn trumpet villain