This was very tragic indeed.

This was very tragic indeed.

3.5/5

way too long but funny as fuck

Here's how I know I'm not a critic: Every time I read Shakespeare, I immediately dub the most recently read play to be his best play. I read Romeo and Juliet when I was a teen and I was floored. Two years ago, I read the Twelfth Night and it was the funniest thing I ever read. Then I read The Tempest, and I can still quote lines from it.

Having said all that, King Lear is his greatest play. No doubt (until I can read the next one). Academics and Critics will have you believe that Shakespeare is the most gifted flowery prose/poetry writer. He's so much more though. The stories are never really given enough attention in the dissection/analysation. At least, not enough to make an impression on the average reader. The story of King Lear is thick. If you know anything about contemporary literary storytelling, you'll know that thick stories are a rarity. To convey so much of the story and so little space, one has to be gifted. Drama today is infected with this sadness in almost every medium. Drama and sadness are almost interchangeable, it seems like. I don't understand that at all. Neither does Shakespeare, it seems to me. Sure, there are untimely deaths and conceit and plotting and what not. But in the end, some things are resolved. There is a little hope all along the way. When people are blinded and when people go mad and when loyal servants are banished and when sons are fathers are pitted against one another. Through all of that, there is hope in King Lear. If not hope, then a striving for better prospects. A rightful heir is stripped off his power is forced by circumstance to beg. In the plays of today, there is no coming back from that. Life only goes downhill from there. That's not the Shakespeare way though. Even as the rightful heir is begging for his survival, he still feels the injustice that is done to him and he hangs about for ways to correct that. In the end, he might very well become the king of everything, depends on who you ask.

I know that there is almost nothing in that above about the play. I didn't intentionally do that to avoid spoilers. I can't really spoil Shakespeare for you, history and culture will already have done that. I didn't discuss much plot because there is no need for its discussion. Damn the critics and their critical interpretations. Just read for sheer pleasure. I assure you that you won't regret it.

Finally read it after putting it off for years. Much more entertaining than I thought it would be. Gearing up to go to NYC next year to watch Kenneth Branagh in the title role.

Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth

Obviously I knew this one was a bummer, but I forgot HOW much of a bummer. Although I'm easily emotionally swayed by father/daughter relationships, I was a little too impatient with Lear for this to really get me in the heart. Sure, I felt sorry for him, but... eh. And wow, I almost entire forgot the Gloucester family side plot, and the ~evil bastard~ and all that. Again, didn't do much for me.

Still, I enjoyed revisiting this, because it's one of the few plays where I still have my book with my notes in the margins from school, so that was fun.

Love, and be silent.

Time to binge watch Succession again

**uni read - canon**
Another amazing work from Shakespeare, just once again not the kind of work I truly enjoy. While I can entirely appreciate the genius behind his work, it is just not one I would have chosen to read myself, or would chose to go back to again.

4 / 5

good thing that i finished this play months after i wrote my final essay on it.

but no joke, this was actually fantastic. i love the themes of the play and the complex characters. Ian McKellen in the role of Lear was also BRILLIANT.

// tbr-review
found an annotated copy of this in a charity shop and oh if that doesn’t make me buy a book then i don’t know what will

We finished King Lear during Morning Time today. We listen and follow along using the Folger's editions to read. Mostly I follow along and the kids sometimes do.

I loved Lear. The intrigue, the choices, the service. Kent and Gloucester (well, Edgar anyway)

Last spring I watched the version with Anthony Hopkins and now I can't wait to show it to the kids since we finished it.

The elemental force of and within this play make for plenty to discuss. Margaret loved it. Nate enjoyed it. Rebekah still prefers comedies.

Now the debate of what's next ...