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max98's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is the first Shakespeare that I ever read in English, I had read Romeo and Juliet before. The style is so beautiful and of course it is a masterf’pueve! Thanks to If we were villains by ML Rio I found the play rather more accessible than I feared it would be!
I really love it, however since I adore tragedy I found this one different since it does not follow the structure of French tragedy. Racine is by far superior in my opinion so this does not get a 5 stars from me.
I really love it, however since I adore tragedy I found this one different since it does not follow the structure of French tragedy. Racine is by far superior in my opinion so this does not get a 5 stars from me.
ellaeliz27's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kellyrenea's review against another edition
5.0
One of Shakespeare’s finest plays written later in life with much irony and skill. Do not miss reading this one. Write more later.
alleysoup's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
penguin6789's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
happylilkt's review against another edition
4.0
“The weight of this sad time we must obey,
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say."
What a different play this would be if the characters said what they feel from the very beginning. And, oh King Lear! With the fool I agree: “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”
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Favorite passages:
"This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical pre-dominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforc’d obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whore-master man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!"
“A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson,
glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave”
(Kent is the best and this is such a great moment.)
Gloucester: “O, let me kiss that hand!”
Lear: “Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.”
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say."
What a different play this would be if the characters said what they feel from the very beginning. And, oh King Lear! With the fool I agree: “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”
--------
Favorite passages:
"This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars; as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical pre-dominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforc’d obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whore-master man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!"
“A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson,
glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave”
(Kent is the best and this is such a great moment.)
Gloucester: “O, let me kiss that hand!”
Lear: “Let me wipe it first; it smells of mortality.”
woodpusher's review against another edition
5.0
La mejor manera de cerrar un año de excelentes lecturas. Macbeth, La tempestad y Antonio y Cleopatra fueron marcando un ritmo tremendo hasta llegar a este estrenduoso discurso bajo la tormenta. ¡Larga vida al gran bardo!
beckca03's review against another edition
5.0
I can't help it - I am a Shakespeare fan. Evidently it's trendy to say that Shakespeare didn't write his own stuff now, but whatever- I really don't care. I tend to gravitate towards the historicals (over comedies and tragedies), and this is by far my favorite. I've never been let down by a single play adaptation of King Lear either, so I equate that to good, strong staying power.
kaylaoswald's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0