《李爾王》是威廉·莎士比亞最著名的悲劇之一，它可能是在1605年寫成，劇情基於一位傳說中羅馬人時代之前，不列顛國王李爾的故事，關於這位國王的史記、詩歌和劇作在莎士比亞時代前便已存在著。《李爾王》是莎士比亞四大悲劇中最成熟的作品，講述年老的李爾把國土分給三個女兒，但恩賜之前先要女兒聲言多麼愛他。大女兒二女兒都講出一番動聽言詞，小女兒則不願花言巧語，結果應得的國土被兩個姊姊分去，在毫無嫁妝的情況下嫁給賞識她的法國皇帝。李爾遜位之後受到大女兒二女兒虐待，最後在暴風雨中發瘋。小女兒聽到父王受虐，領兵入侵欲救李爾，最後兵敗遭擒。結局時小女兒遇害，李爾亦傷心而死。這齣悲劇另有一劇情主線，陳述葛勞斯特伯爵聽信庶子讒言，欲殺嫡子，但最後弄得雙眼被挖，孤苦伶仃之下，反受嫡子護持。《李爾王》也是作者對專制王權的批判和對人性的歌頌。受狡詐冷酷的女兒和陰險殘暴的女婿的虐待，李爾王由專?暴虐、剛愎自用的統治者，變成了"落迫的國王"，這個過程具體地反映了文藝復興晚期封建階級走向衰亡的歷史。
The first edition of "King Lear" developed by and for the RSC, with unique material including a new introduction from Jonathan Bate and interviews with important RSC directors. This is the first edition of "King Lear" to be developed by and for the RSC, the world's leading Shakespeare theater company and it includes unique material to help the reader understand and enjoy Shakespeare on the stage as well as on the page. It is illustrated with photographs of classic and unusual performances. It features outstanding on-page notes which explain words and phrases unfamiliar to a modern audience, including the slang, political references and bawdy humor often ignored or censored in competing editions. It includes scene-by-scene summary, offering an easily understandable way into the play new introduction by Jonathan Bate, exploring the text and critical debates around it.This book features: summary of the play's performance history, at the RSC and elsewhere; and, interviews with important Shakespearean directors Adrian Noble, Trevor Nunn and Deborah Warner discussing key productions at the RSC.From the Royal Shakespeare Company, this fresh edition offers new insight into Shakespeare's dark tragedy through interviews with leading directors Adrian Noble, Trevor Nunn and Deborah Warner, outstanding scene-by-scene analysis and on-page notes, and a thought-provoking new introduction from celebrated scholar Jonathan Bate.
About the Author
JONATHAN BATE is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as "the best modern book on Shakespeare." In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'. ERIC RASMUSSEN is Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama and has edited volumes in both the Arden Shakespeare and Oxford World's Classics series. He is the General Textual Editor of the Internet Shakespeare Editions project - one of the most visited Shakespeare websites in the world. For over nine years he has written the annual review of editions and textual studies for the Shakespeare Survey.
