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KING LEAR An Outline-Guide to the Play

BARNES & NOBLE FOCUS BOOKS

The Barnes & Noble Focus Books on Shakespeare’s plays are prepared under the general editorship of J. Wilson McCutchan, Professor of English, University of Waterloo

Professor of English University of Wisconsin

Copyright, 1965 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

1. C. Catalogue Card No.: 65-26060

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1. The Tragedy of King Lear……………………. 1
2. Suggestions on Reading Shakespeare (reprinted from Outlines of Shakespeare’s Plays by Homer A. Watt, Karl J. Holzknecht, and Raymond Ross) 3

PART TWO: ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY

1. Scene-by-Scene Synopsis of King Lear…… 11
2. Sources …………………………………………….. 22
3. Theme, Setting, Action………………………… 25
4. Guide to the Language of King Lear, Scene by Scene…. 28
5. Characters: Analysis of Their Qualities and Development. 44

Lear, 44. Goneril, 41. Regan, 49. Cordelia, 50. Albany, 51. Cornwall, 51. Kent, 52. Gloucester, 52. Edgar, 53. Edmund, 54. The Fool, 55.

6. Critical Commentaries ………………………… 56
7. W. Bennett, 84. A C. Bradley, 59. 0. J. Campbell, 69. R. W. Chambers, 66. W. H. Clemen, 64. S. T. Coleridge, 59. J. F. Danby, 71. Harley Granville-Barker, 60. William Hazlitt, 58. R. B. Heilman, 10. D. G. James, 13. Sears Jayne, 85. Samuel Johnson, 56. G. W. Knight, 62. L. C. Knights, 80. Jan Kott, 86. Charles Lamb, 51. Clifford Leech, 13. Kenneth Muir, 15. H. J. Muller, 16. W. M. T. Nowottny, 78. M. E. Prior, 68. Irving Ribner, 82. William Rosen, 83. A. W. Schlegel, 56. R. B. Sewall, 81. Theodore Spencer, 67. C. F. E. Spurgeon, 63. D. A. Stauffer, 72. Alwin Thaler, 61. D. A. Traversi, 11. Mark Van Doren, 65. Enid Weis ford, 62. G. W. Williams, 14. H. S. Wilson, 19.
8. Staging and Production………………………… 87
9. Suggestions and Questions for Study, Review, and Essay Topics 90

PART THREE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (reprinted from Macbeth: An Outline-Guide to the Play by J. Wilson McCutchan)

1. Beginning and Development of English Drama……………………… 94
2. England and London, 1558-1612………………………………………… 98
3. Elizabethan Drama and Stage before and during Shakespeare’s Lifetime 102
4. William Shakespeare…………………………………………………………………….. 114

CHRONOLOGY OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS ……… 118

INDEX………………………………………………………………….. 119

This is an original Focus Book (Number 705). It was written by a dis­tinguished educator, carefully edited, and produced in accordance with the highest standards of publishing. The text was set on the Linotype in Old Style, Caledonia, and Electra by Hamilton Printing Company (Rensselaer, N.Y.). The paper for this edition was manufactured by s. D. Warren Com­pany (Boston, Mass.) and supplied by Canfield Paper Company (New York, N.Y.). This edition was printed by Hamilton Printing Company (Rensselaer, N.Y.) and bound by Sendor Bindery (New York, N.Y.). The cover was designed by Rod Lopez-Fabrega.