The Tragedie of King Lear

Goneril, Lear's eldest daughter: Goneril is the first to tell her father how much she loves him in order to inherit her share of his kingdom.

Regan, Lear's second daughter, also declares her great love for her father in effusive terms.

Cordelia, Lear's youngest daughter: Although she truly loves her father, Cordelia refuses to use the extravagant language of her sisters, and Lear disinherits her.

Goneril and Regan: After he has divided his kingdom between his two elder daughters, they show no respect for him.

Goneril denies her father his retinue ih her home. He leaves in anger and goes to the home of Regan.

Regan also denies Lear his due as her father and king when he comes to stay with her. He rushes out into the forest, followed by his Fool.

Having been treated with contempt by Goneril and Regan, Lear goes into the forest. He seems to go mad.

When Cordelia learns of her father's plight, she returns from France to find him.

Cordelia finds Lear and they are reconciled.

Cordelia and Lear: In the final scene, Lear, his sanity restored, enters carrying Cordelia’s corpse, killed because of her sister's plot. The tragedy of all that has happened overwhelms him and he dies.

Title

The Tragedie of King Lear

Subject

Lear, King of England (Legendary character), Drama
Inheritance and succession, Drama
Fathers and daughters, Drama
Woodcut

Description

Text of Shakespeare's King Lear printed in an edition limited to 160 signed and numbered copies. Printed with hand-set type at the Theodore Press on light grey paper hand-made especially for this book by Kate MacGregor and Bernie Vinzani. Claire van Vliet's woodcuts were printed by her at the Janus Press.

She also individually decorated the stained birch boards.

Creator

Shakespeare, William
Van Vliet, Claire

Source

Denison Library, Scripps College

Publisher

Bangor, Maine: Theodore Press

Date

1986

Contributor

Van Vliet, Claire
Janus Press
MacGregor, Kate
Vinzani, Bernie

Rights

For more information on copyright or permissions, please contact Denison Library.

Format

134 pages; illustrations; 37 cm

Language

English

Type

Text

Identifier

PR2819 A2 A4 1986, Denison Library Rare Book Room, Scripps College

Citation

Shakespeare, William Van Vliet, Claire, “The Tragedie of King Lear,” Interpretations of Shakespeare, or, What You Will, accessed May 3, 2024, https://shakespeareatclaremont.omeka.net/items/show/17.