King Lear (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare (ISBN:074348276X)

English (US)

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		King Lear (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)
	
				(411 reviews)			
(36025 Readers)

			William Shakespeare		
	
Folger Shakespeare Library  The world's leading center for Shakespeare studies  Each edition includes:  • Freshly edited text based on the best...more
 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.   less

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
As far as Shakespeare goes, this is not my favorite. It is real drama going on here (no pun intended), not much of the melodrama that occurs in his other tragedies. It is very sad and difficult to mock.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
"Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest."  Not bad, King Lear, for an old guy going soft in the head.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
My favourite weepie.  Powerful stuff

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							shallena
						
							few weeks ago						
gud 1

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Amazing!
 This is a truly complex and sophisticated tragedy which incorporates multiple layers of plot and symbolism both.

It also provides an interesting insight, from a Renaissance perspective, of earliest Britain.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I think Lear is the metaphorical train wreck of Shakespeares work.

It's set up in the beginning to be sort of humorously melancholy, and it just spirals downward from there.  And that's the thing, you just watch in fascination as this old man's world comes crumbling in around him, everyone he holds dear either betrays him or dies, and the body count just keeps tacking on zeros.

So,...more
 I think Lear is the metaphorical train wreck of Shakespeares work.

It's set up in the beginning to be sort of humorously melancholy, and it just spirals downward from there.  And that's the thing, you just watch in fascination as this old man's world comes crumbling in around him, everyone he holds dear either betrays him or dies, and the body count just keeps tacking on zeros.

So, yeah...Lust, revenge, and blood.  Yay blood!   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I read this play, thinking it was a classic. I was right. Honestly, what more can be said of Lear? It is a sort of uber-tragedy, with the same sort of metaphysical questions tackled in the Book of Job. Amazingly concise, too; this play could've been a sprawling, self-indulgent disaster in lesser hands, but this Shakespeare guy knows what he's doing all the way. Also highly...more
 I read this play, thinking it was a classic. I was right. Honestly, what more can be said of Lear? It is a sort of uber-tragedy, with the same sort of metaphysical questions tackled in the Book of Job. Amazingly concise, too; this play could've been a sprawling, self-indulgent disaster in lesser hands, but this Shakespeare guy knows what he's doing all the way. Also highly recommended-- Christopher Moore's "Fool" retells this play from the point of view of The Fool.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
(5 stars from 5)

Considered as a tale with a lead role too deep and too difficult to be staged effectively by any actor, it took the the viewings of actors of the likes of Olivier and Tatsuya Nakadai to prove the notion wrong.

Shakespeare weaves the greatest of all his tales around the old legend behind it; although the violence is perhaps too much for many high schools to adapt it, the...more
 (5 stars from 5)

Considered as a tale with a lead role too deep and too difficult to be staged effectively by any actor, it took the the viewings of actors of the likes of Olivier and Tatsuya Nakadai to prove the notion wrong.

Shakespeare weaves the greatest of all his tales around the old legend behind it; although the violence is perhaps too much for many high schools to adapt it, the sweeping drama from all of the characters, the development of their personalities, and the inevitable, stirring conclusion form the most delicate fictional tale in history. 

Haunting, beautiful, poetic, stunning, and nearly perfect - all  is fine here with the exception of the early, unexplained exit of The Fool, who showed his full potential in his expanded role in the unforgettable Kurosawa adaptation, Ran.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
If not the greatest dramatic tragedy in English, it certainly is among the very few which contend for that title (along with Riders to the Sea, Juno and the Paycock, Endgame, Hamlet, Macbeth).  Also, today, March 20, 2008 one of the greatest Lears-maybe even THE greatest-Paul Scofield has died.  His film version, directed by Peter Brook, is currently out of print (and I don't believe yet...more
 If not the greatest dramatic tragedy in English, it certainly is among the very few which contend for that title (along with Riders to the Sea, Juno and the Paycock, Endgame, Hamlet, Macbeth).  Also, today, March 20, 2008 one of the greatest Lears-maybe even THE greatest-Paul Scofield has died.  His film version, directed by Peter Brook, is currently out of print (and I don't believe yet transferred to DVD), and yet is essential viewing.  Barrage your video/dvd dealers about this.   hide

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							ajendra
						
							few weeks ago						
its one of the best works of shakespeare and also a burning example for contemporaries dramatist of shakespearian age.

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