‘King Lear’ is among Shakespeare’s most powerful and admired works, an epic story of power, betrayal, loyalty and madness.
The elderly King Lear wants to divide up his kingdom between his three daughters and demands an expression of adulation from each of them in return for a better slice of the realm. Two of his daughters – Goneril and Regan – fall over themselves lavishing praise upon the King, but the youngest, Cordelia (who truly loves him) refuses to engage in this demeaning trial and is therefore banished.
Meanwhile, the Duke of Gloucester’s two sons – one legitimate, one a bastard – are vying fo their father’s favors as well and the bastard Edmund manages to convince the Duke that his brother Edgar is disloyal.
As the play progresses, Lear comes to realize his error in giving up his kingdom to his two scheming daughters and his fragile mental state finds him scurrying about the countryside in the company of his Fool, all while Cordelia is putting together a rebel army to march into the country and set things right.
A towering tale of political intrigue, the lust for power and the bonds of familial love, ‘The Tragedy of King Lear’ remains one of Shakespeare’s most honored works and it is presented here in its original and unabridged format.
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William Shakespeare is generally acknowledged as the greatest dramatist in the history of English literature. Also a poet and actor, Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, where he received an education at the local grammar school, but whether he attended any educational institution subsequent to his early tutelage is unknown. By eighteen, Shakespeare was married – to an already-pregnant Anne Hathaway – and the couple would go on to have three children, Susanna and the twins Hamnet and Judith. (Hamnet died at 11 years old.) Shakespeare moved to London soon after the birth of the twins and began publishing poems (‘Venus and Adonis’ (1593) and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ (1594)) and joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare stayed with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men throughout his career, producing some of his finest work – ‘King Lear, ‘ ‘Macbeth’ and ‘The Tempest’ among them – after the company fell under the patronage of King James I and became The King’s Men. During his career, Shakespeare penned 38 plays, two narrative poems and over 150 sonnets and enjoyed considerable financial success, eventually buying New Place, one of the largest homes in Stratford. Following his death in 1616 at the age of 52, thirty-six of his plays were collected and published as the First Folio and his entire canon – including his extant plays, sonnets and poems – were published as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays are the most produced dramatic works in existence and they have been translated and adapted into countless stage, screen and television productions over the years. Entire theatres are devoted to producing his works and his writings are studied and analyzed in literature classes around the world.
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