King Lear (The Annotated Shakespeare)

250 Pages·2007·0.62 MB·English

by  William Shakespeare

the annotated shakespeare

King Lear
William Shakespeare
Edited, fully annotated,and introduced by Burton Raffel
With an essay by Harold Bloom
the annotated shakespeare
Yale University Press • New Haven and London
Copyright © 2007by Burton Raffel.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced,in whole or in part,including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107and108
of the U.S.Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Essay by Harold Bloom excerpted from Harold Bloom’s Modern Critical
Interpretations,Wiliam Shakespeare’s King Lear,copyright © 1987.
Designed by Rebecca Gibb.
Set in Bembo type by The Composing Room of Michigan,Inc.
Printed in the United States of America by R.R.Donnelley & Sons.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shakespeare,William,1564–1616.
King Lear /William Shakespeare ;edited,fully annotated,and introduced
by Burton Raffel ;with an essay by Harold Bloom.
p. cm.— (The annotated Shakespeare)
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn-13:978-0-300-12200-8(paperbound)
1. Lear,King (Legendary character)—Drama. 2. Inheritance and succes-
sion—Drama. 3. Fathers and daughters—Drama. 4. Kings and rulers—
Drama. 5. Aging parents—Drama. 6. Britons—Drama. I. Raffel,
Burton. II. Bloom,Harold. III. Title.
pr2819.a2 b55 2007
822.3(cid:2)3—dc22
2006036627
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10987654321
For Ray Authement

contents
About This Book ix
Introduction xvii
Textual Note xxix
Some Essentials of the Shakespearean Stage xxxi
King Lear 1
An Essay by Harold Bloom 195
Further Reading 207
Finding List 213

about this book
Abandoned to a raging storm,in act 3,scene 2,Lear speaks
these memorable lines:
Let the great gods,
That keep this dreadful pudder o’er our heads,
Find out their enemies now.Tremble thou wretch,
That hast within thee undivulgèd crimes,
Unwhipped of justice.Hide thee,thou bloody hand–
Thou perjured – and thou simular man of virtue
That art incestuous.Caitiff,to pieces shake,
That under covert and convenient seeming
Hast practiced on man’s life.Close pent-up guilts,
Rive your concealing continents,and cry
These dreadful summoners grace.I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.
This was perfectly understandable,we must assume,to the mostly
very average persons who paid to watch Elizabethan plays.But
who today can make full or comfortable sense of it? In this very
fully annotated edition,I therefore present this passage,not in the
ix