King Lear
(eBook)

"King Lear" is among Shakespeare's most powerful and admired works, an epic story of power, betrayal, loyalty and madness. The elderly King Lear wants to divide up his kingdom between his three daughters and demands an expression of adulation from each of them in return for a better slice of the realm. Two of his daughters - Goneril and Regan - fall over themselves lavishing praise upon the King, but the youngest, Cordelia (who truly loves him) refuses to engage in this demeaning trial and is therefore banished. Meanwhile, the Duke of Gloucester's two sons - one legitimate, one a bastard - are vying fo their father's favors as well and the bastard Edmund manages to convince the Duke that his brother Edgar is disloyal. As the play progresses, Lear comes to realize his error in giving up his kingdom to his two scheming daughters and his fragile mental state finds him scurrying about the countryside in the company of his Fool, all while Cordelia is putting together a rebel army to march into the country and set things right. A towering tale of political intrigue, the lust for power and the bonds of familial love, "The Tragedy of King Lear" remains one of Shakespeare's most honored works and it is presented here in its original and unabridged format.