King+Lear

**g King Lear William Shakespeare

**

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, “widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.” His surviving works consist of 38 plays , two long narrative poems , 154 sonnets , and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. 
 * About the Playwright **


 * List Of Major Characters **
 * **King Lear**- King of Britain
 *  **Regan**-second daughter of Lear  
 * **Goneril**- eldest daugter of King Lear
 * **Cordelia**-youngest daughter of King Lear
 * **Duke of Albany**-husband to Goneril
 * **Duke of Cornwall**-husband to Regan
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Earl of Gloucester**
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Earl of Kent**-appraise in the play under the guise of **Caius**
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Edgar**-son of Gloucester
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Edmund**-illegitamate son of Gloucester
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Oswald**, steward to Goneril
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Fool**
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**King of France**- first suitor and later husband to Cordelia
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Duke of Burgundy**-suitor to Cordelia
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Curan**-a courtier
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Old man**-tenant of Gloucester.
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-align: left;">**Additional Characters**-A Doctor, an Officer employed by Edmund, a Gentleman attending on Cordelia, a Herald, Servants to Cornwall. Knights of Lear's Train, Officers, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants

<span style="display: block; font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0,128,0); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; text-align: left;">Shakespeare's Inspiration <span style="color: rgb(46,184,184);">** King Lear was based on an aged monarch who was abused by his children. The origins are a folk tale that appeared first in written form in the 12th century and was based on spoken stories that originated much further back into the Middle Ages. **** Shakespeare probably found the story in The True Chronicle History of King Leir and His Daughters (anonymous, 1594), Raphael Holinshed's The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland and Arcadia (1590) by Sir Philip Sidney. **

<span style="color: rgb(46,184,184);"> Right: The Fool is listening to King Lear's story.**
 * Above: King Lear disinherits Cordelia.

<span style="color: rgb(33,57,192); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> **<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(121,128,220); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Plot Summary ** <span style="color: rgb(255,113,0);">** <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The story of King Lear, an aging monarch who is headstrong old man who is blind to his weaknesses, decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters, according to which one recites the best declaration of love. Goneril and Regan who are the selfish daughters of Lear who pretend to love him but later treat him cruelly. Cordelia who is the loyal and unselfish daughter of Lear. He disowns her after confusing her honesty with insolence. Edgar is Gloucester's loyal son and heir and Edmund is Gloucester's evil bastard son. At first the family appear to be loving and caring but this could not be further from the truth. As the characters unfold we find greed, betrayal, lust for power, and cruelty. In other words, they are anything but normal and caring. The end of the play ends in death everywhere. Regan dies after being poisoned by Goneril. Goneril stabs herself to death. Edgar reveals his true identity to his father, but the old man dies. Mortally wounded, Edmund becomes remorseful and countermands his order to hang Cordelia. But it is too late, and Cordelia dies. Lear, now a broken man, falls upon Cordelia and also dies. ** <span style="color: rgb(255,113,0);">

> I return those duties back as are right fit: > Obey you, love you, and most honor 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." <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 106-115 Cordelia telling her father and the court how much she loves him. She is the only one of her sisters that actually speaks the truth.
 * <span style="display: block; font-size: 170%; color: rgb(82,37,152); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; text-align: right;">Important Quotations **
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" (Act I, Scene IV)
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">    "My love's more richer than my tongue". - (Act I, Scene I).
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> "Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest". - (Act I, Scene IV).
 * <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">"You have begot me, bred me, loved me.

<span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: rgb(14,27,185); text-align: right;">Because "King Lear" is a play the musical selections are done by the theater orchestra, and songs coordinate with the scenes being acted on stage.

[] <span style="font-size: 150%; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; background-color: rgb(0,128,0);"> <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(154,154,249); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 170%; color: rgb(82,37,152); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; text-align: right;"> **<span style="color: rgb(5,13,127); background-color: rgb(255,255,255);">However ** <span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(33,57,192);">If there must be to songs that are incorporated with the play then....

3OH!3 - Don't Trust Me lyrics Death Cab for Cutie- Someday You will Be Loved
I got the breath of the last cigarette on my teeth, And shes an actress (actress), But she ain't got no need. Shes got money from her parents in a trust fund back east. T-t-t-tongues always pressed to your cheeks, While my tongue is on the inside of some other girls teeth, T-tell your boyfriend if he says hes got beef, That I'm a vegetarian and I ain't freaking scared of him.
 * Black dress with the tights underneath,

She wants to touch me (Woah), She wants to love me (Woah), She'll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh), Don't trust a ho, Never trust a ho, Won't trust a ho, Won't trust me.

X's on the back of your hands, Wash them in the bathroom to drink like the bands. And your setlist (setlist), You stole off the stage, Had red and purple lipstick all over the page. B-b-b-bruises cover your arms, Shaking in the fingers with the bottle in your palm. And the best is (best is), No one knows who you are, Just another girl alone at the bar.

She wants to touch me (Woah), She wants to love me (Woah), She'll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh), Don't trust a ho, Never trust a ho, Won't trust a ho, Won't trust me.

Shush girl shut your lips, Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips. I said, Shush girl shut your lips, Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips. I said, Shush girl shut your lips, Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips.

Woah, woah, woah...

She wants to touch me (Woah), She wants to love me (Woah), She'll never leave me (Woah, woah, oh, oh), Don't trust a ho, Never trust a ho, Won't trust a ho, Won't trust me || I once knew a girl in the years of my youth With eyes like the summer, all beauty and truth But in the morning I fled, left a note and it read "Someday you will be loved"

I cannot pretend that I felt any regret Because each broken heart will eventually mend And as the blood runs red down the needle and thread Someday you will be loved

You'll be loved, you'll be loved Like you never have known And the memories of me Will seem more like bad dreams Just a series of blurs Like I never occurred Someday you will be loved

You may feel alone when you're falling asleep And every time tears roll down your cheeks But I know your heart belongs to someone you've yet to meet And someday you will be loved

You'll be loved, you'll be loved Like you never have known And the memories of me Will seem more like bad dreams Just a series of blurs Like I never occurred Someday you will be loved

You'll be loved, you'll be loved Like you never have known And the memories of me Will seem more like bad dreams Just a series of blurs Like I never occurred Someday you will be loved Someday you will be loved ||

<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(0,128,128); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255,255,255);">

Sources (NO PLAGIARISM)


 * 1) Taylor, Gary and Michael Warren, ed. //The Division of the Kingdoms: Shakespeare’s Two Versions of King Lear//. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983
 * 2) Frank Kermode, 'King Lear', //The Riverside Shakespeare// (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974), 1249.
 * 3) McLaughlin, John. "The Dynamics of Power in King Lear: An [|Adlerian] Interpretation." //Shakespeare Quarterly// 29 (1978): 39.