Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the suffering of others. Lear himself rages until his sanity cracks. What, then, keeps bringing us back to King Lear? For all the force of its language, King Lear is almost equally powerful when translated, … powerful when translated, suggesting that it is the story, in large part, that draws us to the play.
The play tells us about families struggling between greed and cruelty, on the one hand, and support and consolation, on the other. Emotions are extreme, magnified to gigantic proportions. We also see old age portrayed in all its vulnerability, pride, and, perhaps, wisdom–one reason this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps his most moving.
The authoritative edition of King Lear from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:
-The exact text of the printed book for easy cross-reference
-Hundreds of hypertext links for instant navigation
-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 the play’s famous lines and phrases
-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
-An annotated guide to further reading
Essay by Susan Snyder
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, 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. For more information, visit Folger.edu.more
Ever the draconian father, King Lear commands the love and admiration of all three of his daughters. Seeing through their every ploy, yet always willing to offer forgiveness…extremely generous, yet never seeking compensation for his kindness…Lear is a character that we should all strive to mirror as both a leader and a parental figure. Much like Hamlet, Shakespeare’s King Lear is another tear-jerking short story that exemplifies the unbreakable ties of family. There’s also a Fool that follows Lear around; he acts as a foil to Lear’s unwavering wisdom and clarity in times of turmoil.
3.5 of 5 stars to King Lear, a tragic play by William Shakespeare, published in 1603. I enjoyed the play and then watched a few film versions. My review will cover both the book and the film I saw — with a bit of sarcasm and humor (just to be different than all the other ones! LOL)
Lear is an absolutely ridiculous character who belongs in the looney bin in my opinion. He has lost all control over his life, his family, and his kingdom. He is foolish, blind, and stubborn. When reading the play, I thought Lear was some old king who couldn’t take care of anything. He was just plain ineffective. After watching a few film versions, I whole heartedly agree. Lear is still a vain, crotchety old man. However, I did see some humor in him that I didn’t notice in the first reading of the play. He was definitely not likable on a first read; however, when I started to watch the video clips, I found myself saying that I could tolerate him. All of a sudden, I classified him as likable human. Even when you just want to kill him, he is still kind of funny and tolerable.
Lear was somewhat like a grandfather in my opinion. Not one of those everyday grandfathers though. He reminded me of the much older, funny grandfather who laughs at everything, but doesn’t realize what he’s doing. In fact, I actually thought of him as a Santa Claus figure. It sounds weird, but the looks automatically qualify him to be Santa Claus. His attitude could be a problem though. He might have been a really nice guy when he was younger and not so stubborn. As for Lear’s daughters… I see Lear’s daughters as all being from 25 to 40 – no more than that, though. Gonerill though did make Lear’s anger appear believable to me. I see how much she had to say and then I realize how he can be so upset with Cordelia’s response. Cordelia seems a little too weak to be his daughter. I picture her as being stronger and able to handle herself against him. It was hard to picture three daughters surrounding their old, aging father Lear. Having each daughter one by one go to their father to say how they loved him was powerful. I watched the characters grow and then leap off the page.
The play is a good one to read, to see the life of parents and children, royalty and order of succession. It’s a great commentary on how we behave and treat our elders, especially both as parents and as humans. And on the flip side, you also see what happens when you make rash decisions, not realizing the impact down the line… and how much you want to fix them, but sometimes you cannot.
The theme of a King, who has the nice dream of remaining the King while absolving himself of the task to rule, seems to go around into the world literature. For example, in the Chinese Literature there exists a theatre piece that’s called Haw Shou (Seven in the Family) where one of the protagonists, The Barbarian King, had a similar wish.
His son, The Barbarian Crown Prince, happily delegated the boring task of ruling to the Vizier (The Traitor to China), who married The Barbarian Princess and then convinced The Barbarian King that his son had assassination plans. The Barbarian Crown Prince gets banished; the vizier strips the Barbarian King of his army, goes to war, etcetera…
The only difference with King Lear is that the Chinese piece has a happy ending. The Barbarian King gets his Kingdom and army restored (with the help of the Chinese army), makes peace with his son and the Chinese Emperor, and lived happily afterwards.
In this context, it’s maybe noteworthy that during the 17th century, Shakespeare’s tragic ending of King Lear was much criticized and replaced with an alternative ending where Cordelia restored Lear to the throne and married Edgar (despite being betrothed to the King of France) who then became Lear’s designated successor. This version held for almost 150 years until Edmund Kean reinstated the play’s tragic ending in 1823.
The character of Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, was inspired by Montaigne’s essay “Of the Affection of Fathers to Their Children,” in its sharp criticism of aged parents who expect their grown children to be grateful to them and who cling avidly to their possessions, giving a powerful voice to the young Edmund, who was simmering with resentment, frustration, mockery, contempt, and a determination “to seek, by some way how unlawful so ever” to provide for himself.