King Lear: Who is that can tell me who I am?

This research paper examines the influence of naturalism on literature, focusing on its emergence in the late 19th century and its lasting impact through an analysis of William Shakespeare's 'King Lear.' Naturalism, rooted in scientific determinism, aimed to realistically portray human existence shaped by external forces. The paper explores how 'King Lear' serves as a significant naturalistic work, delving into themes of flawed decisions, betrayal, the inexorable march of time, and the interplay between individual agency and cosmic forces. Shakespeare's characters in 'King Lear' reflect the naturalistic approach to character development, exhibiting psychological depth influenced by their environment and circumstances. The play offers a deterministic vision, aligning with naturalistic principles, and explores the consequences of human choices within a larger cosmic context. The influence of Shakespeare on subsequent naturalistic writers is evident in their nuanced characters and societal explorations. Analyzing 'King Lear' through interconnected naturalistic elements—character motivations, societal structures, and the inexorable march of fate—reveals how Lear's motivations, shaped by societal expectations, lead to a tragic cascade of events. Symbolism and imagery in the play amplify naturalistic themes, such as the storm representing the chaos of human existence. The cathartic experience of tragedy in 'King Lear' is rooted in the naturalistic portrayal of life's harsh realities, prompting reflection on the broader human experience. Diverse critical interpretations, from deterministic readings to discussions on individual agency, add complexity to the naturalistic exploration, inviting readers to engage with the text from various perspectives.

Previous article FreeIndex to Volume 111: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of AmericaPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreSubject entries, whether topical, personal name, or geographical, are set in small capitals. A chronological approach is provided under chronological references. Geographical entries are made for all articles, notes, and reviews treating a subject that can be localized.abolitionism: Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” 513–45abridgement: Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” 1–30Adams, Brittany, review of Eckhardt and Starza Smith, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, 103–106american anti-slavery society: Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” 513–45americas, the: Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” 203–20analytical bibliography: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101annotation: Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” 287–315arber, edward: Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, 379–406archives: Ortega, Élika, review of Earhart, Traces of the Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies, 424–27Armstrong, Lillian, La xilografia nel libro italiano del Quattrocento: un percorso tra gli incunaboli del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, reviewed, 422–23artists’ books: Vincler, John, review of Bury, Artists’ Books: The Book as a Work of Art 1963–2000, 427–31autograph collecting: Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” 203–20ball, charles: Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” 513–45ballads: Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” 317–44Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, review of Bayman, Thomas Dekker and the Culture of Pamphleteering in Early Modern England, 255–56bayerische staatsbibliothek: Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” 345–77Bayman, Anna, Thomas Dekker and the Cuture of Pamphleteering in Early Modern England, reviewed, 255–56beaumont, francis: Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” 287–315bibliographical indexes, catalogues, and lists: Dunne, Derek, review of Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva: A Collection of Books & Manuscripts Relating to Literary Forgery, 263–67; Gehl, Paul F., review of Reynolds, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, 107–9; Vincler, John, review of Bury, Artists’ Books: The Book as a Work of Art 1963–2000, 427–31Bibliographical Society of America 2017 Annual Meeting Minutes, Reports, and Society By-Laws, 549–78“bibliotheca universalis”: Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68blagden, cyprian: Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, 379–406Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, reviewed, 379–406bodleian library: Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” 287–315book auctions: Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” 345–77book collecting: Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” 241–53; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” 287–315book history: Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” 317–44book trade: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; Milevski, Robert J., review of Garlock, Canadian Binders’ Tickets and Booksellers’ Labels, 109–116bookbinding: Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” 143–65; Milevski, Robert J., review of Garlock, Canadian Binders’ Tickets and Booksellers’ Labels, 109–116bookplates: Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” 241–53booksellers: Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” 345–77bookshops: Wilson, Nicola, review of Osborne, The Rise of the Modernist Bookshop: Books and the Commerce of Culture in the Twenteith Century, 267–70Bourus, Terri, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, reviewed, 257–63bowers, fredson: Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” 287–315Brewer, David A., review of Loveman, Samuel Pepys and his Books: Reading, Newsgathering, and Sociability, 1660–1703, 415–19Bristow, John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” 221–40brome, alexander: Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” 469–89brome, richard: Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” 469–89bullen, a. h.: Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” 287–315Burrows, Ian, review of Bourus, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, 257–63; review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, 257–63Bury, Stephen, Artists’ Books: The Book as a Work of Art 1963–2000, reviewed, 427–31butter, nathaniel: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101caesar, “commentaries”: Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” 1–30canada: McEvilla, Joshua J., review of Dair, Epistles to the Torontonians, With Articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher, 271–74; Milevski, Robert J., review of Garlock, Canadian Binders’ Tickets and Booksellers’ Labels, 109–116Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84cartwright, william: Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” 469–89cataloguing: Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68; Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” 143–65; Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” 345–77catesby, mark: Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” 1–30chaucer, geoffrey: Skinner, Julia, review of Kerby-Fulton, Thompson, and Baechle, eds., New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall, 120–122cheap repository, the: Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” 317–44chicano/a literature: Noorda, Rachel, review of Martín-Rodríguez, ed., With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships Across the Centuries, 117–120chisolm, colin: Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, 491–511chronological references:Medieval: Skinner, Julia, review of Kerby-Fulton, Thompson, and Baechle, eds., New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall, 120–12215th century: Gehl, Paul, review of La xilografia nel libro italiano del Quattrocento: un percorso tra gli incunaboli del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” century: Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68; Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Gehl, Paul F., review of Reynolds, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, Brittany, review of Eckhardt and Starza Smith, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, Sabrina Alcorn, review of Bayman, Thomas Dekker and the Culture of Pamphleteering in Early Modern England, Ian, review of Bourus, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, 257–63; review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, century: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; David A., review of Loveman, Samuel Pepys and his Books: Reading, Newsgathering, and Sociability, 1660–1703, Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” review of and Early Modern century: Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” century: Ian, review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, 257–63; for the The and of Book Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” century: John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; McEvilla, Joshua J., review of Dair, Epistles to the Torontonians, With Articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher, 271–74; Milevski, Robert J., review of Garlock, Canadian Binders’ Tickets and Booksellers’ Labels, Noorda, Rachel, review of Martín-Rodríguez, ed., With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships Across the Centuries, Vincler, John, review of Bury, Artists’ Books: The Book as a Work of Art 1963–2000, Wilson, Nicola, review of Osborne, The Rise of the Modernist Bookshop: Books and the Commerce of Culture in the Twenteith Century, “ in the of the on the of Provenance,” John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; for the The and of Book Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Ian, review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, 257–63; Dunne, Derek, review of Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva: A Collection of Books & Manuscripts Relating to Literary Forgery, Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, McEvilla, Joshua J., review of Dair, Epistles to the Torontonians, With Articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher, Epistles to the Torontonians, With Articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher, reviewed, Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” of John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” Sabrina Alcorn, review of Bayman, Thomas Dekker and the Culture of Pamphleteering in Early Modern England, Ortega, Élika, review of Earhart, Traces of the Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies, review of and Early Modern Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” Brittany, review of Eckhardt and Starza Smith, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” of and Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Derek, review of Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva: A Collection of Books & Manuscripts Relating to Literary Forgery, 263–67; review of and Books and Manuscripts from the and Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” alexander: Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Traces of the Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies, reviewed, and Starza Smith, eds., Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, reviewed, Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Ian, review of Bourus, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, 257–63; review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, 257–63; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Ortega, Élika, review of Earhart, Traces of the Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies, Brittany, review of Eckhardt and Starza Smith, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Gehl, Paul F., review of Reynolds, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, 107–9; Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” on the Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68; Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; review of and Early Modern Wagner, Bettina, Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” of Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” in Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” library: Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Dunne, Derek, review of Freeman, Bibliotheca Fictiva: A Collection of Books & Manuscripts Relating to Literary Forgery, 263–67; Dunne, Derek, review of and Books and Manuscripts from the and 263–67; Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” Bibliotheca Fictiva: A Collection of Books & Manuscripts Relating to Literary Forgery, reviewed, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Canadian Binders’ Tickets and Booksellers’ Labels, reviewed, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” Paul F., review of Reynolds, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, 107–9; review of La xilografia nel libro italiano del Quattrocento: un percorso tra gli incunaboli del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” review of and Early Modern Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” books: for the The and of Book alexander: Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” Ian, review of Bourus, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, 257–63; review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, Ian, review of Bourus, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, 257–63; review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” ed., and Books and Manuscripts from the and reviewed, the Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” of the Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, library: Gehl, Paul F., review of Reynolds, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Gehl, Paul, review of La xilografia nel libro italiano del Quattrocento: un percorso tra gli incunaboli del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” Gehl, Paul, review of La xilografia nel libro italiano del Quattrocento: un percorso tra gli incunaboli del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” william: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” william: Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” Thompson, and Baechle, eds., New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall, reviewed, Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” charles: Ian, review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, richard: John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, reviewed, Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” 445–68; Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” for the The and of Book for the The and of Book Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Sabrina Alcorn, review of Bayman, Thomas Dekker and the Culture of Pamphleteering in Early Modern England, Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; David A., review of Loveman, Samuel Pepys and his Books: Reading, Newsgathering, and Sociability, 1660–1703, John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” Samuel Pepys and his Books: Reading, Newsgathering, and Sociability, 1660–1703, reviewed, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Brittany, review of Eckhardt and Starza Smith, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” 143–65; Gehl, Paul F., review of Reynolds, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, 107–9; Skinner, Julia, review of Kerby-Fulton, Thompson, and Baechle, eds., New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall, of Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” 241–53; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” M., ed., With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships Across the Centuries, reviewed, Joshua J., review of Dair, Epistles to the Torontonians, With Articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher, Robert J., review of Garlock, Canadian Binders’ Tickets and Booksellers’ Labels, Brittany, review of Eckhardt and Starza Smith, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England, Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” Wilson, Nicola, review of Osborne, The Rise of the Modernist Bookshop: Books and the Commerce of Culture in the Twenteith Century, Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” and Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” library: Wagner, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” of a Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” of and the Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” Rachel, review of Martín-Rodríguez, ed., With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships Across the Centuries, Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” Élika, review of Earhart, Traces of the Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies, ed., The Rise of the Modernist Bookshop: Books and the Commerce of Culture in the Century, reviewed, Sabrina Alcorn, review of Bayman, Thomas Dekker and the Culture of Pamphleteering in Early Modern England, Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” Blair, Ann, “The Capacious Bibliographical Practice of Conrad Gessner,” Skinner, Julia, review of Kerby-Fulton, Thompson, and Baechle, eds., New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” for the The and of Book Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” for the The and of Book Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” history: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” 143–65; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” “ in the of the on the of Provenance,” Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” history: Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” 31–60; for the The and of Book Nicosia, Marissa, “Printing as Revival: Making Playbooks in the 1650s,” Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” trade: John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” 167–84; Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” 185–202; Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” David A., review of Loveman, Samuel Pepys and his Books: Reading, Newsgathering, and Sociability, 1660–1703, Noorda, Rachel, review of Martín-Rodríguez, ed., With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships Across the Centuries, Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, “ in the of the on the of Provenance,” Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library at Holkham Hall, vol. 1: Manuscripts from Italy to 1500, part 1: Shelfmarks 1–399, reviewed, a. John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” of Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” and Early Modern reviewed, Carmassi, Patrizia, “Through the Hands of Librarians and Booksellers: Examples of Recent Changes in Medieval Manuscripts of German Collections,” Jung, Sandro, “Robert Morison’s Collections of Extracts, The General Magazine, and the Reprinting of Illustrations,” william: Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; Ian, review of Bourus, Young Shakespeare’s Young Hamlet, 257–63; review of Lesser, Hamlet After Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text, 257–63; Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Julia, review of Kerby-Fulton, Thompson, and Baechle, eds., New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall, Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” in the Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Peiser, Megan, “Reviews as Database: Reading the Review Periodical in Eighteenth-Century England, Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” Stoker, David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Gadd, Ian, “A Companion to Blayney,” review of Blayney, The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501–1557, Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” David, “The Later Years of the Cheap Repository,” Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” Blayney, Peter W. M., “Quadrat Demonstrandum,” review of Vickers, The One “King Lear,” 61–101; McEvilla, Joshua J., review of Dair, Epistles to the Torontonians, With Articles from Canadian Printer & Publisher, Gatch, Milton McC., “Disappearing Ess/Phillipps Manuscripts,” for the The and of Book Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” The One “King Lear,” reviewed, John, review of Bury, Artists’ Books: The Book as a Work of Art 1963–2000, Bettina, “ ‘Duplum Bibliothecae regiae Monacensis’: The Munich Court Library and its Book Auctions in the Nineneteenth Century,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Lupić, Ivan, and Brett Greatley-Hirsch, “ ‘What stuff is here?” Edmond Malone and the 1778 Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher,” Suarez, Michael F., S. J., “Hard Cases: Confronting Bibliographical Difficulty in Eighteenth-Century Texts,” and Samuels Lasner, Mark, “A Collector Reflects on Provenance,” John, and Rebecca N. Mitchell, “The Provenance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Decay of Lying’,” Roy, Michaël, “The Vanishing Slave: Publishing the Narrative of Charles Ball, from Slavery in America (1836) to Fifty Years in Chains (1858),” Nicola, review of Osborne, The Rise of the Modernist Bookshop: Books and the Commerce of Culture in the Twenteith Century, Gehl, Paul, review of La xilografia nel libro italiano del Quattrocento: un percorso tra gli incunaboli del Seminario Vescovile di Padova, Duroselle-Melish, Caroline, “Anatomy of a Pamphlet Collection: From Disbinding to Reuniting,” Crackel, Theodore J., V. Fredrick Rickey, and Joel S. Silverberg, “Provenance Lost? George Washington’s Books and Papers Lost, Found, and (on occasion) Lost Again,” Previous article The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America Volume 2017 for the Bibliographical Society of America 2017 the Bibliographical Society of

MLR, 99.3, 2004 745 not surprising given the threat of civil unrest in the years of the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis. Political topicality is evident in all these rewritings of Shakespeare's plays, including Shadwell's The History of Timon ofAthens, theMan-Hater, Ravenscroft 's Titus Andronicus, Otway's The History and Fall of Caius Marius, and Tate's notorious adaptation of King Lear. But even if the preoccupations revealed by these plays are of a more serious nature, they share an important trait with the plays of the 1660s: their verbal 'depictive power' (p. 140) is reinforced by effectivetheatrical images, as the detailed stage directions employed by Restoration adapters indicate. This study analyses a range of primary and secondary material from different perspectives: a rigorous linguistic scrutiny of the play-texts is accompanied by the insertion of Restoration dramatists' and commentators' views on such plays. Attention is also devoted to the plays' critical history. This approach allows Murray to demon? strate that Shakespeare's Restoration adaptations deserve to be treated as literary and theatrical achievements in their own right, rather than being compared unfavourably (as they traditionally have) with the original texts. University of Reading Michela Calore Of Philosophers and Kings: Political Philosophy in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' and 'King Lear'. By Leon Harold Craig. Toronto, Buffalo, NY, and London: University of Toronto Press. 2001. xi + 4o6pp. $70; ?50. ISBN 0-8020-357 i-x. Of Philosophers and Kings combines relatively unproblematic contentions, commonplaces even, with a range of wholly untenable views. Only a reviewer, I suspect, will be subjected to the trials of reading this book in its entirety: for reasons known only to the writer and publisher, 268 pages of digressive text are accompanied by an addi? tional 124 pages of endnotes consisting, in the main, of lengthy quotations from 'the opinions of a select group of scholars, many from an earlier generation' (pp. 11-12). Focusing primarily on Macbeth and King Lear, but with three shorter discussions of Othello, The Winter's Tale, and Measure for Measure, Craig sets out to demonstrate that 'Shakespeare is as great a philosopher as he is a poet' (p. 4). For the reader (Craig is unabashed by this anachronistic category, and has little interest in the verbal text as a medium of performance), the task is one of 'figuring out the plot' with the aim of 'seeing what is really going on and why' (pp. 15-16). The reward will be a 'clear and accurate idea of human nature' as one grasps the 'inner rationale' ofthe plays (p. 17). Craig is hostile towards what he dismisses as narrow, institutional senses ofphilosophy, part of his anxiety about the critical theory he constantly snipes at, settling fora catchall definition that all but makes the word redundant: it is 'nothing more nor less than the rigorous, persistent, thus usually systematic employment of one's natural powers to resolve one's puzzlement' (p. 18). What this amounts to in practice is a reading of the plays that confirms essentialist, neo-conservative beliefs in oppressive cate? gories such as 'truth' and 'nature' as they constitute and protect institutions such as 'marriage' and the 'family'. There is a bewildering intellectual naivety: 'to understand Macbeth', Craig insists, 'to understand it as its author understood it,one must practice [. . .] philosophy' (p. 31) and gain access to 'certain truly timeless questions' (p. 110). Macbeth 'shows not only how invaluable can be a philosopher's understanding of politics', but the relevance to people's lives of 'several of the most challenging meta? physical and cosmological questions'. In King Lear, we see 'philosophy itself arising out of man's [sie] confrontation with Nature' (p. 17). Assertion rather than argument is the style in a book whose energy for lapidary observations rarely diminishes. That Macbeth dramatizes, in part, 'how not to succeed in establishing oneself as a new prince' (p. 34) is hardly open to question, nor is the proximity of Machiavelli to all 746 Reviews this; and Craig explores, interestingly enough, the characters of Rosse and Lenox to suggest that 'Machiavellians' do 'not all get their just come-uppance'. 'Lenox's Machiavellian duplicity', however, is in the 'service of...

1. Introduction - Jeffrey Kahan 2. Evolution of King Lear - R.A. Foakes 3. Evolution of the Texts of Lear - Richard Knowles 4. King Lear and Early Seventeenth-Century Print Culture - Cyndia Susan Clegg 5. The injuries that they themselves procure: Justice Poetic and Pragmatic, and Aspects of the Endplay, in King Lear - Tom Clayton 6.What Does Shakespeare Leave Out of King Lear? - Jean R Brink 7. Cause of Thunder: Nature and Justice in King Lear - Paul A. Cantor 8.Hope and Despair in King Lear: Gospel and the Crisis of Natural Law - R.V. Young 9. Lear in Kierkegaard - Stanley Stewart 10. Smell of Mortality: Performing Torture in King Lear - Edward L. Rocklin 11. Some Lears of Private Life, from Tate to Shaw - Christy Desmet 12. If Only: Alternatives and the Self in King Lear - Jeffrey Kahan

Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece is deeply concerned with patriarchy linked to kingship, gender relationships and familial control. Opening as it does with a partition of land, the play provides an extraordinary literary lens through which to explore and critique attitudes towards nationalism and gender in contemporary Indian society. These attitudes include the importance of 'dowry' and women's roles as objects of material exchange between fathers and husbands, their considered 'nature' in bearing a duty of care to their fathers that eclipses all others, and their position, as Partha Chatterjee argues, as the embodiment and custodians of the spiritual purity and conscience of the nation and of its men. These are the norms both in Lear's world and in Indian society, ancient and modern. Yet women's marginalisation is accompanied, both in contemporary India and at the start of 'King Lear' by silencing and personal poverty in pointed contrast to power's verbosity and material wealth. By considering responses to the play in the Indian context, and parallels between the play and Indian society, I show how the culture of 'divide and rule' in state and family lies at the heart of 'King Lear' as it did in India's Independence struggle, giving rise to war over contested land and women as representatives of it. Drawing on critical theory including feminism, Marxism and presentism, I will argue for a new postcolonial reading of the play and a fresh way of considering its dialectical relationship to India today.

I would unstate myself to be in a due resolution.-Gloucester in King Lear (1.2.102-03)before even a frame of the godfather part iii had been screened in late 1990, Francis Ford Coppola made a highly publicized connection between his new film and Shakespeare's King Lear. In Peter Cowie's book on Coppola, the director is quoted thus:Michael Corleone's instincts were always to be legitimate, so it would be odd now, when he's almost in the King Lear period of his life, if his prime aim and purpose were not indeedto become legitimate. The result is a very classical piece, in the tradition of a Shakespeare play. Before I began writing I read a lot of Shakespeare, looking for inspiration to Edmund in King Lear, Lear himself, Titus Andronicus, even Romeo and Juliet. (242)Filmmakers and film publicists like to throw this kind of allusion around, and it is worth noting that when Coppola recorded a commentary track over the film for the 2001 DVD release, although he spoke fleetingly and lovingly of Shakespeare and Hamlet in particular, he made no specific reference to King Lear at all. Nevertheless, the Lear allusion was picked up in reviews of the film in the early 1990s and has persisted in critical work on the influence of Shakespeare in Hollywood cinema ever since (Mizejewski 28-31;Rothwell 220-21, 226; Risko; Griggs, "Western Elegy"; Griggs, "Humanity"). The emphasis on themes of guilt, aging, renunciation, illness, family destruction, and redemption (or at least reconciliation) in The Godfather Part III indicates the usefulness of a comparison with King Lear. Furthermore, the timing of the film's production and release during the recession of the early 1990s-when the global economy was beset by mounting unemployment, home repossessions, high interest rates and mortgage default statistics, declining house prices, and stagnant housing sector construction-suggests ways in which the comparison might be even more fruitful and of more general use (Kamery; Eberts and Groshen). King Lear is, after all, a play that is very much concerned with economic crisis in both the contemporary and classical senses of those words.To elaborate on the context of Francis Coppola's high-profile "Lear dropping" and the global recession in which he made the allusion, it is important to point out that the late 1980s and early 1990s were notable years in King Lear's stage production history. For a tragedy by Shakespeare that is critically almost sacrosanct, it is not subject to nearly the same regularity of stage and screen production as Hamlet, Macbeth, or Romeo and Juliet. In the English summer of 1990 alone, however, there were three major stage productions of the play running at the same time-namely, those of Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company, the Royal National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. These productions followed stage adaptations of Shakespeare's play by Tadashi Suzuki (The Tale of Lear) in the United States and Japan and by Barry Keefe (King of England) at Stratford Upon Avon in 1988, as well as the overdue UK premiere of Aribert Reimann's opera Lear for the English National Opera in 1989, a Hindi adaptation directed by Amal Allana performed in Delhi the same year, and finally, a New York production directed by Lee Breuer and a production of Howard Barker's Seven Lears at London's Royal Court Theatre, both in early 1990.1As Shakespeare's apparently recession-proof tragedy was dominating the stage and Coppola was contemplating his new Corleone film, Coppola was also participating in the omnibus production New York Stories (1989) with Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. What is interesting about this spiritual rather than literal (Bjorkman 202) union in the financial capital of the world in the early 1990s is what came after it for each of the filmmakers. Following New York Stories each of these New York fabulists released a film about crime-GoodFellas (1990), The Godfather Part III, and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)- and followed that with a fairy tale of magic, fantasy, and the extremities of desire: Alice (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) (Thompson and Christie 165; Keyser 199). …

King Lear can be considered as one of the most powerful tragedies written by Shakespeare. Written nearly 400 years ago, it appeals to todays’ literary critiques, psychologists and psychiatrists. Shakespeare’s construction of madness is so deep that psychiatrists diagnose the type of madness King Lear suffers from with its various aspects, such as mental disorder, mania, and dementia. One of the elements that triggers his dementia is stress which can be found in Lear’s case due to the corrupted relationship with daughters. Lear has unsolved problems with all of his daughters. Lear does not love them as a father, he loves them as a mother would do hence, their abandonment leads to his collapse. In the father-dominant family model of Elizabethan times King Lear was written, this idea is emphasized in the play further with the exclusion of a mother. King Lear does not only maintain kingly authority but also as the only head of the family and care-giver for his daughters, he maintains both a father’s and mother’s authority role. King Lear does not have a wife to consult when he’s distressed and ask for comfort, however he has his daughters. The play starts off exactly with Lear asking for consolation and love from his daughters. Cordelia’s refusal to give a solid consolation to him results in chaos for Lear who is in desperate need to receive affection. From the very beginning of the play, there is a fight between chaos and order in the kingdom and in King Lear’s mind. In this chaos, madness does not only act as the accelerating power of chaos but also as the remedy of it. In other words, the madness in the play also leads the play back to order. When talking about madness in the play, King Lear and Edgar come to mind as one goes mad and one pretends to be mad. This essay explores King Lear’s madness in the light of new literary studies. It aims to look into the various aspects madness that proceeds from chaos to order through the characters of King Lear and Edgar, and from blindness to healthy eyesight both in metaphoric and literal sense through the characters of King Lear and Gloucester who see better and become wiser in the end.

The author explores the potential contribution of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' to psychoanalytic thinking, linking a reading of the play focused on the emotional tensions inherent in the parental function of endowing ('heriting') the next generation with the developmental struggle characterised by Donald Meltzer as the 'aesthetic conflict'. Following Meltzer's definition of passion as the 'consortium' of Bion's emotional links, love, hate and the urge to know (L, H and K), the author develops an understanding of 'aesthetic conflict' linked with the tension inherent in that constellation. It is suggested that L and H split off from each other and from K become attempts to possess and control, while K split off from L and H becomes an attack on dreaded emotional links, oscillating between attempting to ignore them and attempting to overcome them. The author suggests an affinity between Bion's K link and what in 'King Lear' is pictured as a capacity to 'see feelingly' in the context of the struggle to give the object its freedom. This way of characterising 'aesthetic conflict' is linked with a fresh look at weaning as a lifelong developmental process, which in turn leads to a reconsideration of the psychoanalytic models of the dynamics of mourning.

When grief has mates: King Lear and the politics of happiness

This essay examines unexpected tragicomic elements in Shakespeare's "King Lear". Traditionally viewed as a tragedy, "King Lear" features moments of redemption that blur genre boundaries. Drawing on Northrop Frye's insights and analyzing plays like "The Winter's Tale" and "Measure for Measure", the study highlights the pivotal roles of female characters in influencing the trajectory of their male counterparts. Such intersections suggest "King Lear" not only embodies tragedy but also incorporates reconciliatory aspects of tragicomedy, enriching its narrative depth and complexity.

This research is a study of psychological approaches that discuss the external aspect of drama King Lear by William Shakespeare. In this study the writer will discuss some of the problems that is (1) What does the king Lear prove his unconditional love to his youngest daughter (2) How does the King Lear’s youngest daughter prove her unconditional love to her father (king Lear) (3) How does the king Lear face the death of his youngest daughter. The purpose of this study is (1) To describe the king Lear prove his unconditional love to his youngest daughter (2) To describe the youngest daughter of king Lear prove unconditional love to his father king Lear (3) To explain the king Lear face the death of his youngest daughter. The theory used in this research is the theory of literary psychology according to Sigmund Freud and Carl rogers. This study used a qualitative method .The object of the study is William Shakespeare's William Lords drama. The data source is divided into two primary data sources and secondary data sources. The primary data source is the drama script itself. The secondary data source is the text of the text and some references related to the research. Data collection techniques are noted. Data analysis technique is descriptive analysis.The results show the following conclusions. First, the true love of a father to his daughter. Second, the true love of a daughter to her father. Third, when a father regrets his past decisions that can not see his daughter's love from the heart and must accept her daughter's gone ever.

The majority of King Lear criticism has focused on the religious message of the play, considering King Lear as a scapegoat in a religiously depraved society. On the other hand, many others pointed out that the play describes the conflict between the decaying aristocracy and the rising bourgeois, or the strife between the traditional feudalism and the upcoming individualism. The main purpose of this essay is to return to the basic story line of the play, to trace the relationship between King Lear and the two daughters within the paradigm of the elderly and the caregiver, and finally to add another perspective in understanding the play. The number of elderly people has been rapidly increased throughout the world, due to the improvement of living condition including medical technology and sciences. Naturally, the phenomenon has been connected to the issue of elder care because more often than not elderly people should get support from their families and relatives. On the contrary, the caregivers’ sense of responsibility to the elderly has been sharply diminished, due to the tough living conditions and radical change of culture and tradition. As a result, the issue of inadequate care of the elderly becomes a critical social issue of modern society. It is interesting that the world of King Lear exactly delineates the issue in the Renaissance version. If one reads King Lear within the issue of elder care, King Lear is considered as an elder person who needs help from his daughters, and the daughters as caregivers who abuse and neglect their father out of the heavy stress of caregiving. In the process, the theory of social exchange helps understanding the problematic relationship in King Lear’s family.

Journal Article ‘Run, Run, O Run’: Drama and Melodrama in ‘King Lear’ Get access Philip Drew Philip Drew Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar English: Journal of the English Association, Volume 28, Issue 131, Summer 1979, Pages 109–116, https://doi.org/10.1093/english/28.131.109 Published: 01 July 1979

Reviewed by: King Lear Melissa Croteau King Lear Presented by The Old Globe at the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, San Diego, California. June 12–September 23, 2010. Directed by Adrian Noble. Set by Ralph Funicello. Costumes by Deirdre Clancy. Lighting by Alan Burrett. Sound by Christopher R. Walker. With Robert Foxworth (King Lear), Emily Swallow (Goneril), Aubrey Saverino (Regan), Catherine Gowl (Cordelia), Charles Janasz (Earl of Gloucester), Joseph Marcell (Earl of Kent), Jay Whittaker (Edgar), Jonno Roberts (Edmund), Bruce Turk (Fool), Donald Carrier (Duke of Albany), Michael Stewart Allen (Duke of Cornwall), Andrew Dahl (Oswald), Ben Diskant (King of France), Christian Durso (Duke of Burgundy), and others. Early in King Lear, the Earl of Gloucester prophesies the coming apocalyptic disintegration of families, friendships, and the kingdom itself. … Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: … We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves. The famous nihilism of this play can be heard in the constant repetition of "nothing" throughout. Adrian Noble's production of King Lear for the Old Globe's 2010 Shakespeare Festival strove to capture that sense of a civilization slouching toward its destruction by several vivid and effective [End Page 228] means. Nevertheless, at the "promised end," Noble retreated from the darkness. The Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003, Noble was visiting Artistic Director of the Old Globe's 2010 Shakespeare Festival, and he brought with him a few distinct characteristics and goals. In a symposium he convened to introduce himself to the Old Globe community and audience, Noble emphasized that he aimed to make Shakespeare heard—that is, to put the focus back on the language. This would entail simplifying sets and working with actors—both the apprentice actors at the Old Globe and the seasoned professionals—to make sure every word rang out clearly. In addition, Noble stressed that he does not ever read scholarly criticism of Shakespeare's work because he believes that to be irrelevant to the more important work of training actors and communicating with audiences. While I can comprehend why he might feel this way, as a scholar who has written on King Lear and has found my research on the play quite illuminating, I was disappointed to hear his hackneyed and divisive approach. Surely, if the aspiration is to connect new audiences to the beauty and insight of Shakespeare's work, everyone—actors, directors, audiences, scholars, students, etc.—should have a seat at the table and be welcomed into the dialogue. As I watched Noble's production of Lear, once with a group of my graduate students and once with another veteran theatre-goer, I was reminded that it is the protean and fecund quality of Shakespeare's plays which perpetuates the ongoing dialogue. Welcome or not, scholars are always already involved in theatrical productions. One of the most effective elements in Noble's King Lear production was the set, which reflected his desire for simplicity. The floor of the stage was composed of dark, weathered-looking wooden planks, and in the center of the stage was a long platform about five feet wide and raised approximately three feet from the stage. This platform extended from the furthest reaches of the upstage to within about four feet from the front edge of the stage. This platform, along with the elevated walk-ways on the diagonally-angled left and right walls of the stage, gave the actors levels on which to perform—which, in a play about hierarchies and power-plays, was quite effective. All of this was made of the same dark, weathered wood, giving the whole stage a somber, worn feeling. Thick layers of autumnal yellow and orange leaves lay on the floor of the stage, suggesting that wintry death and destruction were imminent. In the first few acts of the play, the costumes on both men and women were inspired by court clothing of the eighteenth century, but they were [End Page 229] all in fall earth tones of dark brown, tan, black, and grey. There was one notable exception: Cordelia, in the famed "love trial" scene in which she is...

Journal Article ‘King Lear’ in our Time; Shaw in his Time; Drama in the Sixties Get access ‘King Lear’ in our Time. By Maynard Mack. Methuen. 30s.Shaw in his Time. By Ivor Brown. Nelson. 30s.Drama in the Sixties. By Laurence Kitchin. Faber. 36s. William A. Armstrong William A. Armstrong Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar English: Journal of the English Association, Volume 16, Issue 93, Autumn 1966, Pages 110–111, https://doi.org/10.1093/english/16.93.110 Published: 01 October 1966