The Signet Classics edition of one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.
Full of cruelty and betrayal, King Lear is the timeless and tragic story of a kingdom held in the thrall of an aging ruler’s descent into madness. Desperate for praise, he banishes those who would guide him with honesty and surrounds himself with sycophants—an action that leads to his ultimate downfall....
This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as:
• An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater
• A special introduction to the play by the editor, Russell Fraser
• Selections from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and The True Chronicle History of King Lear, the sources from which Shakespeare derived King Lear
• Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, A. C. Bradley, John Russell Brown, and others
• A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions
• Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text
• And more...
Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was a poet, playwright, and actor who is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers in the history of the English language. Often referred to as the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare's vast body of work includes comedic, tragic, and historical plays; poems; and 154 sonnets. His dramatic works have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Chapter One
Act 1 Scene 1 running scene 1
Enter Kent, Gloucester and Edmund
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 qualities 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 so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to't.
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 a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account, though this knave came something saucily to 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.
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 [one bearing a coronet, then] King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia and Attendants
LEAR Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester.
GLOUCESTER I shall, my lord. Exit
LEAR Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.
Give me the map there. Kent or an Attendant gives Lear a map
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom, and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths while we
Unburdened 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 answered. Tell me, my
daughters -
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 word can wield the matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour:
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 What shall Cordelia speak? Love and be silent. Aside
LEAR Of all these bounds, even from this line to this, Points With shadowy forests and with champaigns riched, to the map
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's issues
Be this perpetual.- What says our second daughter?
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall?
REGAN I am made of that self-mettle as my sister,
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 professes,
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.
CORDELIA Then poor Cordelia: Aside
And yet not so, since I am sure my love's
More ponderous than my tongue.
LEAR To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom,
No less in space, validity and pleasure
Than that conferred on Goneril.- Now, our joy, To Cordelia
Although our last and least, to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interessed, what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters'? Speak.
CORDELIA Nothing, my lord.
LEAR Nothing?
CORDELIA Nothing.
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, no more nor less.
LEAR How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little,
Lest you 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,
Obey you, love you and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands if they say
They love you all? Happily 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.
LEAR But goes thy heart with this?
CORDELIA Ay, my good lord.
LEAR So young and so untender?
CORDELIA So young, my lord, and true.
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
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighboured, pitied and relieved
As thou my sometime daughter.
KENT Good my liege-
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!- To
So be my grave my peace, as here I give Cordelia
Her father's heart from her. Call France. Who stirs?
Call Burgundy.- Cornwall and Albany,
[Exit Attendant]
With my two daughters' dowers digest the third.
Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre-eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights
By you to be sustained, shall our abode
Make with you by due turn: only we shall retain
The name and all th'addition to a king: the sway,
Revenue, execution of the rest,
Belovèd sons, be yours, which to confirm,
This coronet part between you. Gives them coronet to break in half
KENT Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honoured as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master followed,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers-
LEAR The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.
KENT Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart: be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's
bound
When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my
judgement:
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty-hearted...
„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.
Anbieter: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, USA
Zustand: Good. The Signet Classics edition of one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. Full of cruelty and betrayal, King Learis the timeless and tragic story of a kingdom held in the thrall of an aging ruler's descent into madness. Desperate for praise, he banishes those who would guide him with honesty and surrounds himself with sycophants-an action that leads to his ultimate downfall. This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: . An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater .A special introduction to the play by the editor, Russell Fraser . Selections from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and The True Chronicle History of King Lear, the sources from which Shakespeare derived King Lear . Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, A. C. Bradley, John Russell Brown, and others . A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions . Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text . And more. Artikel-Nr. 00037052371
Anzahl: Mehr als 20 verfügbar
Anbieter: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, USA
Zustand: Fair. The Signet Classics edition of one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. Full of cruelty and betrayal, King Learis the timeless and tragic story of a kingdom held in the thrall of an aging ruler's descent into madness. Desperate for praise, he banishes those who would guide him with honesty and surrounds himself with sycophants-an action that leads to his ultimate downfall. This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: . An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater .A special introduction to the play by the editor, Russell Fraser . Selections from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and The True Chronicle History of King Lear, the sources from which Shakespeare derived King Lear . Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, A. C. Bradley, John Russell Brown, and others . A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions . Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text . And more. Artikel-Nr. 00100048708
Anzahl: 5 verfügbar
Anbieter: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, USA
Zustand: Very Good. The Signet Classics edition of one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. Full of cruelty and betrayal, King Learis the timeless and tragic story of a kingdom held in the thrall of an aging ruler's descent into madness. Desperate for praise, he banishes those who would guide him with honesty and surrounds himself with sycophants-an action that leads to his ultimate downfall. This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: . An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater .A special introduction to the play by the editor, Russell Fraser . Selections from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and The True Chronicle History of King Lear, the sources from which Shakespeare derived King Lear . Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, A. C. Bradley, John Russell Brown, and others . A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions . Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text . And more. Artikel-Nr. 00110074587
Anzahl: 4 verfügbar
Anbieter: BooksRun, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mass Market Paperback. Zustand: Fair. 1. The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way. Artikel-Nr. 0451526937-7-1
Anzahl: 2 verfügbar
Anbieter: BooksRun, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mass Market Paperback. Zustand: Fair. 1. The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way. Artikel-Nr. 0451526937-7-18
Anzahl: 1 verfügbar
Anbieter: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
Mass Market Paperback. Zustand: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Artikel-Nr. G0451526937I3N00
Anzahl: 1 verfügbar
Anbieter: Better World Books: West, Reno, NV, USA
Zustand: Very Good. 2 Edition. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Artikel-Nr. GRP73178237
Anzahl: 1 verfügbar
Anbieter: Better World Books: West, Reno, NV, USA
Zustand: Good. 2 Edition. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Artikel-Nr. 569405-6
Anzahl: 2 verfügbar
Anbieter: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, USA
Zustand: Good. 2 Edition. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Artikel-Nr. 569405-6
Anzahl: 4 verfügbar
Anbieter: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, USA
Zustand: Good. 2 Edition. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Artikel-Nr. GRP84275089
Anzahl: 2 verfügbar