King Lear by William Shakespeare

PRIMARY SOURCE: King Lear (prod. 1605-6)
Context

• Publication: First performed to the King at Whitehall on St. Stephans. Printed for Butter by Nicholas Okes in 1608 at St. Paul's near the sign of the Bull. Quarto of 42 leaves. Five editions before the Restoration (3 quartos, 2 folios). Tranferred from Butter to Miles Flesher in 1639. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: Where to begin?
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon.

Content

• Form: Prose and iambic pentameter. Five acts.
• Genre: Tragedy; pseudo-history.
• Conceit:
  Lear decides to retire and settle his succession before he dies. Lear divides the kingdom according to the oaths of love from his daughters. Goneril and Regan compete with their praise (Goneril says that she loves Lear more than eyesight, space, liberty, or life itself), but Lear's favorite, Cordelia, says that language is insufficient to express her feelings ("Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/ My heart into my mouth"). Lear disowns Cordelia. Cordelia, without a dowry to marry Burgundy, marries the King of France. France recognizes Cordelia's inner virtue, but Lear dismisses them without benediction. Lear gives all of Britain goes to the evil sisters, Goneril and Regan, who are married to Albany and Cornwall, respectively. When faithful Kent warns Lear about these actions, Lear banishes Kent. Kent takes the identity "Caius" and serves Lear in disguise.
  Gloucester favors his legitimate son, Edgar, while insulting his bastard Edmund. Edmund frames Edgar with a plot to kill Gloucester--even forging a letter and cutting his own arm--so Edgar flees. Edgar adopts the persona of "Poor Tom." Edmund allies himself with Cornwall and Albany against Cordelia and France.
  Lear brings his Fool, his servant ("Caius," Kent), and his knights to stay with Goneril. Goneril strains to entertain Lear et al., and also fears that the knights can force his will, so she delivers an ultimatum. To Lear: either get rid of 50 knights, or hit the road. Lear leaves with his 100 knights for Regan's estate, then to Gloucester's, to find Regan. Regan isn't receptive to Lear's complaints, and agrees that Lear should ditch some knights. The fool tells Lear the truth about his foolish charity, and so torments Lear. Lear realizes that neither Goneril nor Regan really love him, so he wanders the heath and rages at the storm.
  On the heath, Lear and his fool meet "Poor Tom" (Edgar). Lear has an epiphany on egalitarianism and then takes off his clothes. Lear et al. direly need of shelter, and Edgar takes them to a shack he used as Poor Tom. Gloucester finds them in the shack. Gloucester recommends that Lear join Cordelia in Dover. Cordelia plans to wage war with the French army on her sisters. Regan and Cornwall learn that Gloucester aided Leard and pluck out Gloucester's eyes. Gloucester's servant kills Cornwall in revenge, and Regan kills the servant. Edmund escorts Goneril to her palace, and on the way, they find an interest in each other. But when Goneril learns that Cornwall is dead, she fears that Regan will marry Edmund.
  Meanwhile, the good brother Edgar (still under the "Poor Tom" alias) leads blinded Gloucester to Dover. In despair, Gloucester tries to leap off a cliff. Edgar tricks Gloucester into leaping off a small hill, and "Poor Tom" insists that Gloucester's survival is a sign to live on. At Dover, Edgar defends Gloucester from an assassination attempt. The death of the assassin, Oswald, reveals two things. First, Goneril sent her manservant to kill Gloucester. Second, Oswald was on a mission to request that Edmund kill Albany, so that Goneril can marry Edmund.
  Lear reconciles with Cordelia, though the French lose the battle to the British. Regan and Goneril take Lear and Cordelia captive. Edmund secretly orders Lear and Cordelia to be executed. Regan and Goneril fight over Edmund. Albany orders that Edmund and Goneril be thrown into prison for treason. When Albany is supposed to fight Edmund in single combat, Edgar kills Edmund and Goneril poisons Regan. Edgar reveals himself to Gloucester, who dies of a heart attack. Goneril recognizes that all her allies are dead and kills herself. A dying Edmund reveals that he had ordered the execution of Lear and Cordelia. Lear enters with a dead Cordelia and dies of a broken heart. Lear recognizes Kent at last, and asks his forgiveness before dying in anguish. Only Edgar and Albany are left with claims to the kingdom.
• Other notes: Where to begin?
  

(NB: Written with notes.)
Foster, Edward E. "King Lear." Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-4. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 Feb. 2013.
DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks. Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. Created 2007. Accessed18 January 2013. <http://deep.sas.upenn.edu>.