Product Description

Folger Shakespeare Library

The world's leading center for Shakespeare studies

Each edition includes:

• Freshly edited text based on the best early

printed version of the play

• Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

• Scene-by-scene plot summaries

• A key to famous lines and phrases

• An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language

• An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

• Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books

Essay by Susan Snyder

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8094 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

All's cheerless, dark and deadly
Lear starts his tragedy with a lie. He has divided his kingdom into one larger and two smaller equal parts and promises to give the larger part to that of his daughters who vows the strongest love for him. Yet after Goneril speaks he immediately awards her one of the smaller parts, instead of listening to her sisters and then deciding the fate of the largest bounty. He thus negates his word and turns the auction into a formality for his pre-arranged plan of giving Cordelia the largest part and her sisters the two smaller parts. The whole scene is crass and the king is doubly crass (once for the auction, once more for the lie). He gives his word on the auction on line 52, breaks it on line 69 and forgets about his lie on line 193 where he rages at Kent for urging him to renege on his allegedly never broken word.

Lear starts his tragedy a crazy man. Cordelia's attempt at expressing that she "obeys, loves and most honors" the king only earns her being disowned half a page later. This precipitous fall from being the favorite daughter slated to receive the largest part of the kingdom to the one who "better ... hadst not been born" is incredible.

Most of all, this is a tragedy of detachment. Lear and Cornwall obviously do not have a relationship with their children and know nothing about their children's true feelings for them. Lear does not hear Cordelia and Gloucester does not try to hear Edgar out. Both have to face devastating atrocities before they see their children for who they are. "To willful men the injuries that they themselves procure must be their schoolmasters". They both suffer when they feel unloved by their offspring, they both die before they can enjoy their children's love. The suffering of the two old men is unrelenting, and in this sense "Lear" is as heartbreaking as "Macbeth" is macabre and "Othello" is insidious.

The balance of power, 4:4 (Cordelia, Fool, Kent and Edgar against Gonereil, Reagan, Edgar and Cornwall, with Lear and Glocester in the middle and Albany largely on the fence), is tilted towards the higher ranked evil four. In a game of chess, the former four would have been pawns, knights and bishops and the latter queens and rooks. In the end, Kent and Edgar, a knight and a pawn, save the day.

And yet, the end of the play offers no redemption. The two old men are dead. All those devoted to them are either dead or despondent. The Fool, his spirit giving out as he urged Lear to go back to the two evil daughters and ask their blessing, disappears from the play without a grace. Kent is preparing to follow Lear into the world of shadows. Cordelia is murdered and Edgar predicts an uninspiring future for himself and the young that remain. There is no consolation for dead or living.

The tragedy of Lear.
I recently re-read KING LEAR prior to attending The Denver Theatre Company's performance of this play. Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote this emotionally-moving tragedy between 1603 and 1606, and it was performed for the first time in 1606. With its insights into the nature of human suffering and kinship, and its theme of human blindness, it is regarded as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies.

KING LEAR is based on the legend of King Leir, a king of pre-Roman Britain. It tells the story of King Lear's decision to abdicate the throne and divide his kingdom among his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. In a moment of vanity, Lear decides to divide his lands according to how much each daughter demonstrates her love for him. Because Cordelia refuses to engage such a contest of flattery with her elder sisters, Lear divides his kingdom between Goneril and Regan, banishing Cordelia. Despite her disinheritance, the King of France marries her. Soonafter abdicating his throne, Lear discovers that Goneril and Regan's feelings for him have grown cold. Meanwhile, Goneril and Regan also have a falling out with one another while defending Cordelia's army from France, sent to restore Lear to his throne. Goneril poisons Regan, then stabs herself.

In a subplot, involving the Earl of Gloucester two sons, Edmund concocts false stories about his legitimate half-brother, Edgar, who is forced into exile. Edmund then aligns himself with Goneril and Regan, and his father is blinded by Regan's husband. Edgar, disguised as a lunatic, finds his blinded father out wandering in a storm, trying to find his the way to Dover.

In Dover, Lear, who has gone raving mad, is reunited with Gloucester, Edgar, and Cordelia before the battle between Britain and France. When the French lose, Edmund orders the execution of Lear and Cordelia. Edgar, still in disguise, reveals himself to Edmund before killing his evil half brother. Although Edmund stays the execution of Lear and Cordelia, unfortunately, the reprieve comes too late as Lear enters the scene carrying Cordelia's dead body in his arms. Then he dies.

As a tragedy, KING LEAR is appealing for its nihilistic conclusion that human existence is essentially meaningless, and that life is devoid of a true morality.

G. Merritt

King Lear: a book of justice and evil
Betrayals, romance, and death: the book King Lear has it all. This book is written by William Shakespeare, who is a famous author of his day and still is well-known throughout the world. William Shakespeare writes during the Renaissance period which he fully lived up to. He could be said to be philosopher by saying his thoughts of life, love, justice, and other morals of man through his works of literature. My opinion is he expressed his opinions of love and justice in the book, King Lear.
In this book, there is a king named, King Lear, who was old and ready to retire his wealth to his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. Before King Lear gives everything to his daughters, he wants to see how much each daughter truly loves him. Goneril and Regan have been waiting for their inheritance from their father for a long time. They love him very much, but they do not care about their father. They just want his land and gold. On the contrary, when asked to express her love for her father, cordelia says she has no words to describe her love for her father because she truly means it. Surprisingly, King Lear gets furious with her, and she runs off to marry the King of France without her father's blessing. After King Lear discovers the plot of his eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, he goes crazy and runs out to the fields to deal with his grievances. Ironically, it was during a storm which symbolizes the thoughts going through his head at the time.

Meanwhile, an elderly noble named Gloucester, also has family problems. His [...] son, Edmund, is jealous over the fact that Gloucester's legitimate son, Edgar, will inherited most of their father's wealth. This will mean that Edmund may get a small amount of gold and a few acres of land. Therefore, Edmund, consumed by greed, tricks Gloucester into believing Edgar is planning to kill him. So, Gloucester creates a manhunt for Edgar who disguises himself as a crazy beggar named, Poor Tom. While Poor Tom hides in the fields, he meets King Lear. The two men form an alliance to set things straight. Here is where the plot twists and turns from plots of murder, to wives who are cheating, and to rescue attempts.
After reading this, many thoughts run through my head. How should a child express their love for a parent? What is the normal reaction of a parent when a child expresses their love? I will probably never know the answer to the questions until I have experienced what it is to be a parent. Another question stems around if my friends or family ever abandons me for a simple action like robbing bank, should they forgive me or should they hold a grudge to the grave. The way Shakespeare puts his thoughts is a whole other story in itself. It could take years probably to really understand the concepts of man throughout this book. Can man truly be this evil and corrupt in the world with few who do good? I guess these are questions that lead us to the meaning of life.