King Lear, with line numbers

By William Shakespeare

The classic tragedy. According to Wikipedia: "King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606, and is considered one of his greatest works. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman king. It has been widely adapted for stage and screen, with the part of Lear being played by many of the world's most accomplished actors. There are two distinct versions of the play: The True Chronicle of the History of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters, which appeared in quarto in 1608, and The Tragedy of King Lear, which appeared in the First Folio in 1623, a more theatrical version. The two texts are commonly printed in a conflated version, although many modern editors have argued that each version has its individual integrity. After the Restoration the play was often modified by theatre practitioners who disliked its dark and depressing tone. But since the 19th century, it has been regarded as one of Shakespeare's supreme achievements. The tragedy is particularly noted for its probing observations on the nature of human suffering and kinship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seltzer Books
• Release date: Mar 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781455389551

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is the world's greatest ever playwright. Born in 1564, he split his time between Stratford-upon-Avon and London, where he worked as a playwright, poet and actor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two, leaving three children—Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. The rest is silence.

Book preview

King Lear By William Shakespeare

published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

Other tragedies by William Shakespeare:

Antony and Cleopatra

Coriolanus

Hamlet

Julius Caesar

Macbeth

Othello

Romeo and Juliet

Timon of Athens

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida

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Dramatis Personae

King Lear

Act I

Scene I King Lear's Palace.

Scene II The Earl Of Gloucester's Castle.

Scene III The Duke Of Albany's Palace.

Scene IV A Hall In The Same.

Scene V Court Before The Same.

Act II

Scene I Gloucester's Castle.

Scene II Before Gloucester's Castle.

Scene III A Wood.

Act III

Scene I A Heath.

Scene II Another Part Of The Heath. Storm Still.

Scene III Gloucester's Castle.

Scene IV The Heath. Before A Hovel.

Scene V Gloucester's Castle.

Scene VI A Chamber In A Farmhouse Adjoining The Castle.

Scene VII Gloucester's Castle.

Act IV

Scene I The Heath.

Scene II Before Albany's Palace.

Scene III The French Camp Near Dover.

Scene IV The Same. A Tent.

Scene V Gloucester's Castle.

Scene VI Fields Near Dover.

Scene VII A Tent In The French Camp.

Act V

Scene I The British Camp, Near Dover.

Scene II A Field Between The Two Camps.

Scene III The British Camp Near Dover.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Lear King of Britain (King Lear:)

King of France:

Duke of Burgundy (Burgundy:)

Duke of Cornwall (Cornwall:)

Duke of Albany (Albany:)

Earl of Kent (Kent:)

Earl of Gloucester (Gloucester:)

Edgar, Son to Gloucester.

Edmund, Bastard Son to Gloucester.

Curan, A Courtier.

Old Man, Tenant to Gloucester.

Doctor:

Fool:

Oswald, Steward to Goneril.

A Captain employed by Edmund. (Captain:)

Gentleman attendant on Cordelia. (Gentleman:)

A Herald.

Servants to Cornwall.

 (First Servant:)

 (Second Servant:)

 (Third Servant:)

Daughters to Lear

Goneril

Regan

Cordelia

Knights of Lear's train, Captains, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants

 (Knight:)

 (Captain:)

 (Messenger:)

SCENE Britain.

KING LEAR

ACT I

SCENE I King Lear's palace.

 [Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND]

(1) KENT I thought the king had more affected the Duke of

 Albany than Cornwall.

GLOUCESTER It did always seem so to us: but now, in the

 division of the kingdom, it appears not which of

 the dukes he values most; for equalities are so

 weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice

 of either's moiety.

KENT Is not this your son, my lord?

GLOUCESTER His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have

(10) so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am

 brazed to it.

KENT I cannot conceive you.

GLOUCESTER Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon

 she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son

 for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed.

 Do you smell a fault?

KENT I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it

 being so proper.

GLOUCESTER But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year

(20) elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account:

 though this knave came something saucily into the

 world before he was sent for, yet was his mother

 fair; there was good sport at his making, and the

 whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this

 noble gentleman, Edmund?

EDMUND No, my lord.

GLOUCESTER My lord of Kent: remember him hereafter as my

 honourable friend.

EDMUND My services to your lordship.

(30) KENT I must love you, and sue to know you better.

EDMUND Sir, I shall study deserving.

GLOUCESTER He hath been out nine years, and away he shall

 again. The king is coming.

 [Sennet. Enter KING LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants]

KING LEAR Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.

GLOUCESTER I shall, my liege.

 [Exeunt GLOUCESTER and EDMUND]

KING LEAR Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.

 Give me the map there. Know that we have divided

 In three our kingdom: and 'tis our fast intent

(40) To shake all cares and business from our age;

 Conferring them on younger strengths, while we

 Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall,

 And you, our no less loving son of Albany,

 We have this hour a constant will to publish

 Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife

 May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy,

 Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,

 Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,

 And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters,--

(50) Since now we will divest us both of rule,

 Interest of territory, cares of state,--

 Which of you shall we say doth love us most?

 That we our largest bounty may extend

 Where nature doth with merit challenge. Goneril,

 Our eldest-born, speak first.

GONERIL Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter;

 Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;

 Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare;

 No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;

(60) As much as child e'er loved, or father found;

 A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;

 Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

CORDELIA [Aside]  What shall Cordelia do?

 Love, and be silent.

LEAR Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,

 With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,

 With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,

 We make thee lady: to thine and Albany's issue

 Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,

(70) Our dearest Regan, wife to Cornwall? Speak.

REGAN Sir, I am made

 Of the self-same metal that my sister is,

 And prize me at her worth. In my true heart

 I find she names my very deed of love;

 Only she comes too short: that I profess

 Myself an enemy to all other joys,

 Which the most precious square of sense possesses;

 And find I am alone felicitate

 In your dear highness' love.

CORDELIA [Aside] Then poor Cordelia!

 And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love's

(80) More richer than my tongue.

KING LEAR To thee and thine hereditary ever

 Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom;

 No less in space, validity, and pleasure,

 Than that conferr'd on Goneril. Now, our joy,

 Although the last, not least; to whose young love

 The vines of France and milk of Burgundy

 Strive to be interess'd; what can you say to draw

 A third more opulent than your sisters? Speak.

CORDELIA Nothing, my lord.

(90) KING LEAR Nothing!

CORDELIA Nothing.

KING LEAR Nothing will come of nothing: speak again.

CORDELIA Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

 My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty

 According to my bond; nor more nor less.

KING LEAR How, how, Cordelia! mend your speech a little,

 Lest it may mar your fortunes.

CORDELIA Good my lord,

 You have begot me, bred me, loved me: I

 Return those duties back as are right fit,

(100) Obey you, love you, and most honour you.

 Why have my sisters husbands, if they say

 They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed,

 That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry

 Half my love with him, half my care and duty:

 Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters,

 To love my father all.

KING LEAR But goes thy heart with this?

CORDELIA Ay, good my lord.

KING LEAR So young, and so untender?

CORDELIA So young, my lord, and true.

(110) KING LEAR Let it be so; thy truth, then, be thy dower:

 For, by the sacred radiance of the sun,

 The mysteries of Hecate, and the night;

 By all the operation of the orbs

 From whom we do exist, and cease to be;

 Here I disclaim all my paternal care,

 Propinquity and property of blood,

 And as a stranger to my heart and me

 Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,

 Or he that makes his generation messes

(120) To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom

 Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,

 As thou my sometime daughter.

KENT Good my liege,--

KING LEAR Peace, Kent!

 Come not between the dragon and his wrath.

 I loved her most, and thought to set my rest

 On her kind nursery. Hence, and avoid my sight!

 So be my grave my peace, as here I give

 Her father's heart from her! Call France; who stirs?

 Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,

(130) With my two daughters' dowers digest this third:

 Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.

 I do invest you jointly with my power,

Reviews for King Lear, with line numbers

[jfoster_sf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic Shakespeare tragedy.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

another play. another dreary subject. another tragic ending.

[angelarenea-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fairly quick read. I didn't love it as much as I remember. Lear was way obsessed with 'nature' and the whole thing was so pompous. But not as bad as some of his other stuff.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The division of the Kingdom begins the play with first, the Earls of Kent and Gloucester speculating on the basis for the division and second, the actual division by Lear based on professions of love requested from his three daughters. When this event goes not as planned the action of the play ensues and the reader is in for a wild ride, much as Lear himself.The play provides one of Shakespeare's most thoroughly evil characters in Edmund while much of the rest of the cast is aligned against each other with Lear the outcast suffering along with the Earl of Gloucester who is tricked by his bastard son Edmund into believing that his other son Edgar is plotting against him. While there are some lighter moments the play is generally very dark filled with the bitter results of Lear's poor decisions at the outset. Interestingly we do not get much of a back story and find, other than his age of four score years, little else to suggest why Lear would surrender his power and his Kingdom at the outset. The play is certainly powerful and maintains your interest through dramatic scenes, while it also provides for many questions - some of which remain unanswered.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Een van de krachtigste stukken van Shakespeare; een confrontatie van extremen.

[meditationesmartini · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is especially devastating because (sorry, Aristotle's Poetics, but indeed because) it departs from the conventions of good Greek tragedy. Nobody's led astray slickly by their tragic flaw;* Lear's ennobled by suffering perhaps but at the start he's no philosopher king (as I'd envisioned) but a belching, beer can crushing Dark Ages thug lord who definitely brings it on himself, but not in any exquisite "his virtue was his fall" way. Cordelia is, not an ungrateful, but an ungracious child whose tongue is a fat slab of ham and who can't even manage the basic level of social graces to not spark a family feud that leaves everyone killed (surely a low bar!!). Goneril and Regan are straight-up venial malice, Shakespeare's Pardoner and Summoner; Edmund, obviously, charismatic, but a baaaad man; and the default good guys, the ones with the chance to win the day and transform this blood-filled torture show into two hours' pleasing traffic of the stage, obviously fumble it bigly (Albany, unbrave and too subtle; Kent, brave and too unsubtle; Gloucester, a spineless joke; and what is Edgar doing out in that wilderness when he should be teaming up with Cordelia and Kent to plan an invasion that's a MacArthuresque comeback and not a disaster, to go down as the plucky band of good friends who renewed the social compact with their steel and founded a second Camelot, a new England). They're not all monsters, and there are frequent glimmers of greatness, but they fuck it all up; in other words, they're us.And then Lear's madness has much too much of, like, an MRA drum circle meeting, with the Fool and Kent and Edgar/John o'Bedlam (that's a name, that) farting around the wastes going "Fuckin' bitches, can't live with em, can't smack em one like they deserve" (though of course this is a Shakespearean tragedy, so everyone pretty much gonna get smacked one sooner or later). Not tragic flaws, in other words, but just flaws, with only glimmers of the good, and all the more devastating for that because all the more real. It's haaard to keep it together for a whole lifetime and not degenerate into a sad caricature of you at your best, or you as you could have been, and I wonder how many families start out full of love and functional relations and wind up kind of hating each other in a low key way just because of the accretion of mental abrasions plus the occasional big wound and because life is long.This seems like a family that just got tired of not hating each other, standing in for a social order that's gotten tired of basically working from day to day, and everyone's just itching to flip the table and ruin Thanksgiving. I have little faith, post-play, that Edgar or Albany in charge will salvage the day--historically, of course, their analogues did not--and it's gonna be a long hard road to a fresh start (we don't of course try to find one such in the actual history--I mean, 1066?--pretty sure fresh starts don't happen in actual history--but I trust the general point is clear). This seems like the most plausible/least arbitrary of Shakespeare's tragedies, I am saying here, and thus also the most desolate, and one with lessons for any family (cf., say, Hamlet, with its very important lessons for families where the mother kills the dad and marries his brother and the dad's ghost comes back to tell the son to kill his uncle, a niche market to say the least), and one that I'll revisit again and again.*Side note, my friend Dan calls me "My favourite Hamartian," and I'm recording that here because we may grow apart and I may forget that but I never want to forget really and so, hope to find it here once more

[karl6steel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Teaching it for the second time. The Folger edition is okay, but it badly needs to be updated; and the illustrations in the facing page are, to my mind, badly chosen, unless they're meant only to promote the grandeur of the Folger library. I think they would have done much better to provide photos of scenes taken from various productions/films/adaptations of Lear; no doubt the students would pay more attention to such things, to say nothing of nonexpert instructors like me.

Oh, the play: certainly very good at cutting the legs out from under the notion that suffering can be redemptive. Lear discovers compassion and love, Gloucester grows up, but what do they get? Death. And what are we left with? The two appalling milquetoast prigs, Albany and Edgar,* perhaps the two characters in Lear who understand least well what the whole thing is about. At least Kent has the grace to go off and wait to die.

* Hilarious: I just googled these names and the second hit is some plagiarism mill that's selling an essay that reads "Albany and Edgar both possess honest and kind characters." You have got to be kidding me! Please, please, please let someone try to get this paper past me. How stupid or desperate would someone have to be to pay for a paper that's, at best, a B-?

[alcracka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My absolute favorite Shakespeare play. Extra love for the fact that this came up when I searched for Stephen King.

[kant1066 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don’t really know what to say about King Lear, or anything by Shakespeare, really. A summary would be redundant and out of place. So would gushing about the stunning beauty of the poetry, or how this is some of the greatest writing in the history of the English language, or any language.Only one thing comes to mind when I think of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Think what you will of Harold Bloom (and there are certainly many opinions about him), I always think, more than anything else, of the title of his book of essays on the plays: “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.” Is the title a typically hyperbolic publishing stunt? The more I read and re-read the plays, the less I’m starting to think so. Words simply fail me. They really do. The wonderful things about Modern Library/RSC edition are the introduction, critically informed notes on the text, folio notes, and a sizeable section on historically important performances of “King Lear.” These do a superb job of contextualizing the play, especially in how it performed on stage.

[alanwpowers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Maybe the fifteenth time I've read Lear (this time in the tiny red-leather RSC edition). Always impressed, especially with the curses and curse-like screeds. I can't stand Lear onstage, particularly the blinding of Gloster (so spelled in this edition). How sharper than a serpants teeth it is / to have a thankless child--though having a thankless parent like Lear, Act I Sc I, ain't so great either. I do love the Russian film Lear with music by Shostakovich, and the King's grand route through his bestiary of hawks and eagles.I suppose this is Shakespeare's great (that's redundant, since "Sh" is mostly "great") assessment of homelessness. The undeservingly roofless. it is also his only play on retirement, which he recommends against. Or perhaps Lear should have had a condo in Florida? Of course, his hundred knights, a problem for the condominium board, as it was for his daughters. And Shakespeare, who says in a sonnet he was "lame by fortune's despite" also addresses the handicapped here, recommending tripping blind persons to cheer them up.Of course, Lear has his personal Letterman-Colbert, the Fool, so he doesn't need a TV in the electrical storm on the heath. That's fortunate, because it would have been dangerous to turn on a TV with all that lightening. The play seems also to recommend serious disguises like Kent's dialects and Edgar's mud. Next time I go to a party I'll think about some mud, which reduces Edgar's likelihood of being killed by his former friends.And finally, the play touches on senility, where Lear cannot be sure at first Cordelia is his daughter.I'm not sure, but the author may be recommending senility as a palliative to tragedy--and to aging. A friend of mine once put it, "Who's to say the senile's not having the time of his life?"

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fourth book of the readathon. Read in snatches during a car journey and between acts in a concert! Which is probably not the best way to experience Shakespeare, laying aside the issue that I think the best way to experience it is by watching it, but I enjoyed it. I've always rather liked Cordelia, with her steadfast truthfulness, and I do remember some very vivid mental images regarding eyes being put out when, at the age of nine, I read a children's version of the story.

And of course, Shakespeare's use of language, his sense of timing, his grasp of what will look good on stage -- that's as expected: he was a master.

[dirkjohnson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm somewhat biased: Lear is my favorite play written since the time of Euripides (who wrote later than my absolute favorites Aeschylus and Sophocles).The cast and execution of the Naxos audiobook are also excellent. I would list the cast, but the combination of blurred lines between book and performance and my own laziness and busy schedule prohibit me.

[othemts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite Shakespeare tragedy. The plot, language, and characterization show the dramatist at his mature best.

[worldincolour · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is an abundance of reviews, essays, opinions and prejudicial comments available when talking about Shakespeare. It would seem that the man was incapable of jotting down a bad sentence, let alone a bad story, at least, that's the veil they hand you when calling Shakespeare, morbidly referred to as 'Willy' by those who know the first three lines of Hamlet's 'to be or not to be'-speech, 'the greatest writer of all time'.

In this review, I shall not beshame my opinion by calling anyone Willy, Shakey, Quilly or by using the word 'Shakespearean'. 'King Lear' is not the strongest play in the exuberant repertoire of Shakespeare. It is, however, one of the more reader-friendly ones, which means you don't need a detailed map of familial relations to follow the plot. The story of King Lear relies heavily on stories that already existed at the time, but had only served as traditional folk tales or as long forgotten myths. For those who are oblivious to the plot - King Lear wants to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Whereas Goneril and Regan go out of their proverbial ways to flatter their father, Cordelia remains reticent (but honest). Which, of course, is not much appreciated. What follows resembles the story of Oedipus, that other Blind King who slowly wandered into his own destruction. Gloucester, one of the side characters, actually does lose his eyes.

'King Lear', in the end, is a reflection on power and what one will do to achieve it. Even though it might be a bit stale nowadays, it still holds true to its message, and for those who enjoy Shakespeare's husky metaphor, this play will provide you with all the ammunition needed.

[bradgers-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When people want to rank Shakespeare's plays, usually Hamlet comes out as number one. This, in my experience, is the only other of his plays that I have seen mentioned as his greatest. If I were to rank his plays solely based upon their impact upon the world, I would probably agree with the usual placement of Hamlet as number one. However, were I to rank them based upon their impact on me, Lear gets the nod. Lear accurately and horrifyingly portrays the primal nature of man like few other works of literature; the only other to come to my mind is Lord of the Flies. Yet it's more than that; Lord of the Flies can afford to ignore the effects of sexual attraction and familial ties upon our nature, but Lear (the work, not the character) meets these head-on and uses them to devastating effect. This play alone would guarantee Shakespeare a place as one of the greatest English authors. With the rest of his body of work, there's no question that he is the greatest.

[neurodrew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

King LearWilliam ShakespeareThursday, March 27, 2014 In my Shakespeare class, senior year of college, the professor thought this was the play central to understanding Shakespeare. The tale is familiar; Lear gives up his Kingdom to avoid the cares of ruling, dividing it among his daughters. Cordelia, the most honest, points out that she owes him a duty but also owes her fiancé, the King of France, love and affection. Lear casts her out, because she is not as effusive as her sisters, Regan and Goneril. Goneril, hosts the King first, instructs her servants to ignore his knights, and when he goes to Regan, she sends a letter to ensure he is cast out there as well. Lear goes mad in a storm, succored by Kent, a loyal knight whose advice was unwelcome in the initial scene, and by Edgar, the son of the Earl of Gloucester, who has been usurped by the machinations of Edmund, a bastard son, and who is the lover of Regan and Goneril. Cordelia brings an army to rescue Lear, but is defeated, and in the schemes of Edmund is killed in captivity. Regan dies, poisoned by Goneril jealous of Edmund, Goneril dies by suicide after Edmund is killed by Edgar, Gloucester dies after a blinding, and Lear dies of heart attack. Lear's speeches while mad are the essence of the mature understanding of the human situation "Striving to better, oft' we mar what's well""Let me kiss your hand!" Lear, in response "Let me wipe it first, it smells of mortality"Leather bound, Franklin Library, Tragedies of Shakespeare ($34.60 4/28/2012)

[jmcgarry2011 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent work. I saw this performed at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN. Very powerful performance. I liked this edition in particular because it explained the nuances of the language right next to the original text. That plus the performance made this easier to understand.

[ron_peters-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy the Folger editions of Shakespeare - to each his own in this matter. Some find Lear to be overblown, I am tremendously moved by it, and haunted by the image of the old man howling across the barren heaths with his dead daughter in his arms. 'I am bound upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears Do scald like molten lead.' Lear 4.7.52-54

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thoughts on the play: -A classic tragedy in which almost everyone dies at the end. -I really didn't have much sympathy for Lear. He acted incredibly foolishly, not just once in turning his back on Cordelia, but many times. -At first, Goneral seemed to be acting reasonably. If Lear had restrained his knights, much of the tragedy would have been lessened. (This was one of the foolish actions of Lear's I mentioned above.) However, as the plot moves on, she is revealed as being more and more terrible. -Edmund struck me as the villain, and he also acted as a catalyst for villainy. So I found the scene at near the end after he & Edgar had dueled a bit hard to believe - after everything, Edgar just forgives him!?! -I was shocked when Cornwall plucks out Gloucester's eyes. I didn't know that was going to happen! Gloucester struck me as the true tragic hero, rather than Lear. Both of them cast off deserving children, but Gloucester realized his error and suffered for it. It wasn't clear to me that Lear recognized his own faults the way Gloucester did.

[eustaciatan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There's probably nothing more I can say about this book, since it's been studied for a long time. But although this was a school book, for my Independent Oral Commentary, I really grew to love this book. Shakespeare's mastery of the English language is obvious here. From the truncated but meaningful dialogue, with the most famous probably being "Nothing my Lord". These three words manage to express love, and I have the utmost respect for Shakespeare for writing this. Even after our IOC, we are still influenced by this wonderful play. One friend proceeded to enact the storm scene in the rain (from sheer joy), and this was one of the most quoted books in our inscriptions to our Teacher on Teacher's Day. I could go on and on, but "no, let me shun that. That way madness lies" (Too much of a good thing can be bad after all)

[jpsnow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Compare to his other masterpieces, this was for me too wide in character and at the same time lacking the intimacy of baseline human feelings or experience. "Thy truth be thy dower."

[kettle666 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The writer I feel most in awe of, by a mile, is Shakespeare. I'm not going to say anything much about him because it's all been said, so I'll just say he's the boss, and the play that most shocks and thrills and saddens me is King Lear. But I could almost have said exactly the same about most of the plays he wrote. Every time I experience him in performance I feel overwhelmed by his brilliance, and I just have to shut up before I get too sycophantic.

[thatsfresh_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another great tragic tale as told my Shakespeare. Like all his plays, you're able to dig deep into this story and draw out tons of stories, themes and hidden meanings out of all its layers. An enjoyable read for any Shakespeare enthusiast.

[briandewey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. University of Virginia Electronic Text Center, 15XX. This is my favorite Shakespeare play. I don't know if I would have re-read it now if I hadn't had a copy on my iPaq and needed something to read at night without disturbing Molly and Tony on our trip to Madrid. I like Lear for its apocalyptic vision and because I think the transition from one generation to the next is an interesting topic. The paper I wrote on this play in college, which compares Edgar to the Fool, is one of my favorites.

[therebelprince · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very enjoyable edition. Unlike most of the Arden editions, Foakes comes across more as an educator than an academic-among-friends. This does mean occasionally that he'll cover ground most professional-level readers already understand, but it makes this a really well-rounded introduction to the play.

The decision here is to incorporate both Quarto and Folio texts in one, with the differences clearly delineated. It's probably the best possible option for this play, and well done.

[deckla_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The illustrations are unremarkable.

[scott_hercher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At the risk of sounding flippant, I realized that there are two productions of King Lear that need to be done: one set in the Klingon Empire, and the other performed by Monty Python. Go ahead, I dare you, read Poor Tom's lines like Eric Idle and try not to laugh!

[jaelmore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If I could only recommend one Shakespeare Play it would be King Lear.

[cheme2005 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite of all of Shakespeare's works. Blood, death, and treachery. Who could ask for more!

[m2gilbert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The proud King Lear disowns his most dutiful daughter and is consequently betrayed by his other two. A bastard son betrays both his brother and father out of jealousy and malice. I think it is the saddest of his tragedies, and it moves very quickly to me (though not as quickly as Macbeth). It is also really one of the most profound expressions of human suffering ever written in the English language. The play sees deeply into the soul, and so I would often linger a bit on a line or speech with a quiet awe. The actions pierce its characters with a sad, penetrating irony. The eyes will eventually see in their blindness. The heart bleeds and the storm rages. It is depressing, yes. But in all, as depraved as its villains are, I also read in King Lear what is very beautiful about humanity and kinship, however frail it may appear teetering on the edge of a cliff: compassion, loyalty, charity, and mercy.