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
Results 6-10 of 31
Page xv
... theater . The 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 ...
... theater . The 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 ...
Page xvi
... theater of the world . Lear becomes human when he stops caring about one kind of image ( the glorious trappings of monarchy ) and instead confronts another : the image of raw human being , of a fool and a Bedlam beggar , of poor naked ...
... theater of the world . Lear becomes human when he stops caring about one kind of image ( the glorious trappings of monarchy ) and instead confronts another : the image of raw human being , of a fool and a Bedlam beggar , of poor naked ...
Page xx
... theater . To be cut , added to , and altered . Until recently , editors were remarkably reluctant to admit this . From the eighteenth century until the 1980s , editions attempted to recover an ideal unitary text , to get as close as ...
... theater . To be cut , added to , and altered . Until recently , editors were remarkably reluctant to admit this . From the eighteenth century until the 1980s , editions attempted to recover an ideal unitary text , to get as close as ...
Page xxii
... Theater audi- ences tend to think most about the things that are mentioned : by drawing attention to the king's absence , the dramatist in a curious way establishes his presence . Better just to keep quiet about him , which is what ...
... Theater audi- ences tend to think most about the things that are mentioned : by drawing attention to the king's absence , the dramatist in a curious way establishes his presence . Better just to keep quiet about him , which is what ...
Page xxiii
... theater of cruelty . But now we know that Brook's cut was made in Shakespeare's own theater . A further intensification of the play's moral bleakness is brought about by a series of cuts to Albany's role : his castigations of Goneril in ...
... theater of cruelty . But now we know that Brook's cut was made in Shakespeare's own theater . A further intensification of the play's moral bleakness is brought about by a series of cuts to Albany's role : his castigations of Goneril in ...
Contents
Textual Notes | 122 |
ScenebyScene Analysis | 142 |
The RSC and Beyond | 156 |
Shakespeares Career in the Theater | 203 |
A Chronology | 218 |
References | 226 |
Other editions - View all
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