king lear

the authors: charles and mary lamb

retold by : G.Horsley

editors:andy hopkins and jocelyn potter

written by: william shakspere

the characters:

lear, king of great Britain

king of france 

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Cornwall

Duke of Albany 

Earl of Kent 

Edgar,Lawful son of the Earl of Gloucester

Edmund, natural son of the Earl of Gloucester

A fool

the kings’ daughters: Goneril, Regan,Cordelia 

introduction: lear,king of Britain,had three daughters -Goneril(wife of duke albany),Regan(wife of duke cornwall),Cordelia

the king of France, and the duke of burgundy each wanted cordelia to be his wife, and at the time of this story they were staying at lear’s court

the old king was over eighty years old and tired of goverment, he had decided to take no furthe part in state affairs, but younger people to manage it, he called his 3 daughters

to him to find out from their lips which of them loved him best, so that he could divide his lands and money among them according to their love for him

so he began to ask them.

first he asked goneril , she declared that she loved her father more than words could tell

,that he was dearer to her more than the light of her eyes , even than life itself , but she was lying she never loved her father , such talk is easy to pretend where there is no real love.

the king was so pleased to hear it thinking that her heart went with her words ,he gave her and her husband one-third of his large kingdom

regan, his second daughter , who was as worthless as her sister , declared that the love that she had for her father was greater than her sister’s

again lear felt so happy to hear this , he also gave regan and her husband another third of his kingdom, equal in size to the share which he had already gave to goneril.

then turning to his youngest daughter , cordelia, whom he called his joy , he asked her what she want to say , but cordelia was upset by the claims made by her sisters , which she knew were only intended to persuade the king to give them part of his country, so she only

answered that she loved her father according to her duty , neither more or less .

the king was sucked from her speech , but cordelia really loved her father as much as her sisters pretended to do she was always telling him love words .

all his nobles was sucked , but none of them had the courage to act except the earl of kent

he tried to talk to cordelia when the angry king commanded him to stop or he would have him put to death , earl kent paid no attention, he had always been faithful to lear, whom he has hounored as a king , loved as a father , and followed as a master , he bigged the king to follow his advice , as he had so often done , he said that he rather die than let lear believe that cordelia loved her father less than her sisters , those words made the king more angry , as he ordered earl to leave the country , the duke of burgundy refused to marry cordelia under such conditions but the king of france understood why she has lost the love of her father .

he took her hands and said that her godness was worth more than the kingdom . he told her to say good bye to her sisters and to her father, even thought he was unkind to her but he said that she should go with him and be his queen and rule over the kingdom , she wished her father could be in better hands than there ‘s 

as soon as cordelia had gone, her sisters began to show their true colors , even before the end of the month , the old king began to find out the difference between promises and actions , every time king lear wanted to talk to gonlir she pretended to be sick , she stopped showing any respect to her father and her servants began to ignore him they refused to hear him and to obey his orders , the good earl of kent returned to the kingdom dressed as a servant , the latter did not recognized him as kent in his new dress

lear was pleased with his direct speech and honesty and he took him back into his service under the name of caius and in that day one of goneril servants talked rudly to the king then caius knocked him down , and lear was gratful for his support .

Regan and Genril refused to let the king Soilders get into the house will the rain began and it was cold outside then Lear called for his horse , saying that he would rather face the greatest anger of the storm outside than stay under the same roof with his ungratful daughters , then they shouted at him and let him go and shut their doors on him , the king has suffered from his daughters speeches and the way they were acting  and that really made him mad.

then earl went to france and told cordelia ABOUT her father’s pitiful conditions and how it has been caused by the cruelty of her sisters, she begged her husband to let here go to england with an army big enough to defeat these cruel  daughters , he agreed so she set out with a royal army and landed at dover .

then the doctors told her that she cant see her father until his health be good.

she promised the doctors that if they help her father she is gonna give them gold and jewels

lear was soon in a condition to see his daughter , he fell on his knees and asked for forgiveness , but she told him that it was a suitale thing to do for her , she was only doing her duty as she was his child.

then gonril and regan get tired of showing love and duty to there husbands and made it clear that  they fell in love with the same man , who was called Edmund

at that time the duke of cornwall, regan’s husband died,

after that the jealousy beganed between regan and her sister , and goneril killed regan by giving her poison, but goneril’s husband discovered what she had done and put her in prison

then a bad end was waiting for cordelia the armies that was under the command of edmund

, caught cordelia and she was taken to prison and killed there, 

the king did not live long after his daughter died , and goneril’s husband who never ancouraged his lady in her bad ways , became the king of england , edmund got killed by his brother, lear and his daughters are dead and our story ends with them.