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King Lear (Oxford School Shakespeare) Review

"King Lear" is where Shakespeare takes off the gloves. He brings us right to the edge of the abyss, then kicks us over that edge. This is the most devastating by far of the Shakespeare tragedies -- a play which leaves the reader shattered as the curtain falls.

I find it hard to explain where the visceral power of this play comes from. The plot is fairly typically Shakespeare, perhaps a little more complicated than usual, mixing elements taken from legend and from the historical record. At the outset, Lear is a narcissistic, bullying despot. His two older daughters, Regan and Goneril, are a couple of bad seed cougars, both of whom lust after Edmund, an equally amoral hyena. Their goody-two-shoes sister Cordelia behaves with such one-note pointless stubbornness, it almost seems like she's not playing with a full deck. Over in the Gloucester household, Edmund (the [...] hyena) is plotting against both his brother Edgar and his father. Lear's court is filled with lickspittle sycophants. Only two people have the guts to speak truth to power, and one of them wears the costume of a Fool. There's a nasty storm brewing on the heath.

Fasten your seatbelts - it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Characters in "King Lear" pay dearly for their weaknesses. Gloucester is blinded in order that he might see, but is denied any lasting happiness; after reconciling with Edgar, he dies. Lear will be driven insane before he finally learns to empathize with the poor and the meek. We watch him return from the brink of madness only to discover that's not enough. Before the curtain falls, Shakespeare gives us what is arguably the most brutal scene in his entire work.

Enter Lear with Cordelia (dead) in his arms -

Howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stone!
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so
That heavens vault should crack. She's gone forever.

Even if, like me, you find Cordelia a saccharine, two-dimensional character, this scene is shattering. Two pages later, after learning that his fool has hanged himself, Lear dies, broken-hearted. Edgar, Kent and Albany - literally the only characters still standing - are left to bury the dead and move on, as best they can.

Why do I find this the most affecting of Shakespeare's plays? (I've seen seven different stage productions, and two on TV, and it only gets more powerful upon repeated exposure.) I can't really pin it down - it's a combination of various elements. The characters are idiosyncratic, fully realised, and their behavior is highly relatable, so the play is convincing at the level of the individual protagonists. But the fable-like nature of the opening scene also confers a kind of universal quality to its message, and the themes explored within the play - abuse of power, relationships within families, responsibilities of parents and children, the breakdown of the natural order and its consequences, the human capacity for enormous cruelty - are no less relevant today than in Shakespeare's time. The skillfully constructed parallel plotting of the Lear and Gloucester arcs adds to the power of the story, the breakdown in natural human behavior is further accentuated by the raw fury of the elements during the storm scenes, where Nature echoes Lear's fury.

Ultimately, there's no getting away from the uncompromising bleakness of the play's message. In Gloucester's words - "as flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport". The nihilism of "King Lear" has always disturbed audiences, and it was common during the 18th and 19th centuries to stage an altered version, in which Cordelia was allowed to live, implying a more upbeat view of human nature. But, given what the events of the last century demonstrate about mankind's vicious capacity for self-destruction, one has to think that Shakespeare got it right first time. As usual.

King Lear (Oxford School Shakespeare) Overview

The latest addition to this series. It is fully annotated, with the notes facing the text, and contains a wide range of questions for students, as well as the background to Shakespeare's England. This book is intended for age 14 - 16.

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Customer Reviews

King Lear - Udarius Blair -
The book I ordered was for a World Lit class. I was afraid it wouldn't make it to me in time, but I received it a considerable amount of time before it was due. The condition of it was better than expected and it was a good read.

One of the Finest Plays Ever Written - ironman96 - Ohio
I read King Lear after a long gap since my last reading of Shakespeare--in college. It was recommended by a former professor, David Allen White, as his favorite of Shakespeare's plays. I was not disappointed and found the play to be very compelling. For a novice, the play was a quick read, probably because the action and the characters were so interesting. This is one I'll probably have to read again in order to truly grasp its meaning and beauty. Since most high school and college students don't go beyond Macbeth, Hamlet, or Romeo and Juliet, I would highly recommend King Lear as a continuation of that introduction to Shakespeare.

His greatest triumph! - B. Wilfong - Newark, OH
King Lear is the most devastating, and most powerful, piece in the cannon of Shakespeare. The characters in this play span the spectrum of human behavior and yet Shakespeare creates in each of them a reality that is hard to reject, even when their actions are most disturbing.
Despite the nihilism of the piece I never feel that Shakespeare is negating human existence, but rather, encouraging his audience to embrace the human experience in all its splendor and squalor. He has the blinded (and formerly suicidal) Gloucester say "You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; let not my worser spirit tempt me again to die before you please." Gloucester has realized there are forces larger then us that "shape our ends" and that being fully human means to absorb the good and the bad.
In the characters of Edgar and Cordelia Shakespeare creates the stereotypical "good child." However, he also endows both creations with an otherworldly kindness towards their fathers that speaks to our better natures. The way that both children nurse their disturbed fathers back to health is a lesson in humility and forgiveness.
The villains in this text are the classical villains, from which all other villains flow, and the many subplots combine in a delicious web of deceit and destruction that ensnares in its web the very spiders that spun it.
However, the ultimate beauty in King Lear is in the power of redemption. When Lear begs the forgiveness of the daughter he has truly wronged, she responds with "No cause." We have all hurt someone we love, and who among us would not like to be absolved by those powerful words, "No cause"?
Lear's redemption and forgiveness is our own.

A Classroom Success Story - Teacher Person - La Plata, MD United States
The Cambridge School Shakespeare series offers great classroom activities for teachers. They are useful to both theatre and English classes, as they really help students to understand and enjoy the material. King Lear is always my favorite, but the entire series is equally useful.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010