{"product_id":"king-lear-9780486280585","title":"King Lear","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst performed about 1805, \u003ci\u003eKing Lear\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most relentlessly bleak of Shakespeare's tragedies. Probably written between \u003ci\u003eOthello\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/i\u003e, when the playwright was at the peak of his tragic power, Lear's themes of filial ingratitude, injustice, and the meaninglessness of life in a seemingly indifferent universe are explored with unsurpassed power and depth.\u003cbr\u003eThe plot concerns a monarch betrayed by his daughters, robbed of his kingdom, descending into madness. Greed, treachery, and cruelty are rife and the denouement of the play is both brutal and heartbreaking. In fact, so troubling is its vision of man's life that, until the mid-19th century, the play was performed most often with a non-Shakespearean happy ending, with Lear back on his throne and Cordelia, the daughter nearest his heart, happily married to the noble Edgar. But there is a dark magnificence to Shakespeare's original vision of the Lear story, and the play is performed today essentially as he wrote it, uncompromised by later \"improvements.\" \u003ci\u003eKing Lear\u003c\/i\u003e is reprinted here from an authoritative British edition, complete with explanatory footnotes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dover Publications\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/16\/1994\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780486280585\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 144\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.40d","brand":"William Shakespeare","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36637717299356,"sku":"9780486280585","price":5.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_a0a24699-4d04-4a80-87cc-871307eadd3f.jpg?v=1603845511","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/king-lear-9780486280585","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}