King Lear in Plain and Simple English: Modern Translation and the Original

King Lear is one of William Shakespeare's most famous tragedies. It tells the story of an aging king who divides his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. When Cordelia refuses to flatter her father, he banishes her. Goneril and Regan turn against their father, and he is forced to wander the countryside in madness.

The play is a powerful exploration of the themes of love, loyalty, and betrayal. It is also a fascinating study of the human condition, and how even the best of us can be driven to madness by our own pride and ambition.

Act 1, Scene 1

King Lear In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)

by Ryan Donlan

4.3 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3057 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	170 pages
Lending	:	Enabled

FREE

[Enter KENT, GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND]

KENT: I thought the king had more affection for the Duke of Albany than for the Duke of Cornwall.

GLOUCESTER: It did always seem so to us; but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weighed that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety.

KENT: Is not this your son, my lord?

GLOUCESTER: His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to it.

KENT: I cannot conceive you.

GLOUCESTER: Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault?

KENT: I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper.

GLOUCESTER: But I have, sir, a son by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came somewhat saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

EDMUND: My name, sir, is Edmund; and your son, if the king's letters be true.

GLOUCESTER: True? Ay, sir, that were to the purpose. You were not fourteen years old when I told you your mother was a lady; strange it is that you have grown so much since.

EDMUND: Sir, I do not well know my own time, nor can I say my age exactly.

GLOUCESTER: [To KENT] This is a fellow of the self-same color as my daughter.

KENT: Were I his father, I should have hanged him ere this.

GLOUCESTER: Peace, Kent! Come not between the dragon and his wrath. I loved his mother dearly, and in the wantonness of our flesh, we produced that which, for all the world, I would not hate, but no other than as I do the rest of my household, except my begotten son Edmund. Know, my son Canterbury, that nature, in this great conflict of my blood, would relish as unbitterly as wine—it relishes so my discretion—that I had not only most providently lost my brother, but mine own life could I have begun again, and anew have given his place to the womb that perforce must inform his belly.

KENT: Glad am I that I knew more than you knew, and I had more than you imagined; for I am well persuaded y

King Lear In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version)

by Ryan Donlan

4.3 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3057 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	170 pages
Lending	:	Enabled

FREE