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Lear: The Great Image of Authority
Harold Bloom, regarded by some as the greatest Shakespeare scholar of our time, presents an intimate, wise, deeply compelling portrait of King Lear—the third in his series of five short books about the great playwright’s most significant personalities, hailed as Bloom’s “last love letter to the shaping spirit of his imagination” on the front page of The New York Times Book Review.
King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch—a man in his eighties, like Harold Bloom himself—is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare’s most moving, tragic hero.
Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the Just as we encounter one Emma Bovary or Hamlet when we are seventeen and another when we are forty, Bloom writes about his shifting understanding—over the course of his own lifetime—of Lear, so that this book also explores an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity.
Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare’s characters make. He delivers that kind of exhilarating intimacy, pathos, and clarity in Lear .
King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch—a man in his eighties, like Harold Bloom himself—is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare’s most moving, tragic hero.
Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the Just as we encounter one Emma Bovary or Hamlet when we are seventeen and another when we are forty, Bloom writes about his shifting understanding—over the course of his own lifetime—of Lear, so that this book also explores an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity.
Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare’s characters make. He delivers that kind of exhilarating intimacy, pathos, and clarity in Lear .
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
About the author
Harold Bloom
1,707 books2,096 followersHarold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
January 24, 2018
I read Shakespeare's King Lear in high school, and in two college courses, and I taught it to my son while homeschooling. It is my favorite tragedy. So when I saw NetGalley had Harold Bloom's Lear: The Great Image of Authority I thought, cool! A chance to revisit my favorite tragedy!
And it was wonderful to read those familiar lines again. But I am sad to say...I did not enjoy Bloom's interjected comments about the play. I was lifted by Shakespeare's words then dunked in cold water, trudging through commentary until I got back to the Bard.
Not to say that Bloom did not offer ideas or insights or connections new to me. And he communicates his personal responses and joy.
I am shocked that I did not enjoy this. What can I say? But this presentation may work in a classroom lecture with students who had read the complete play and come ready to dissect it did not work for me.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
And it was wonderful to read those familiar lines again. But I am sad to say...I did not enjoy Bloom's interjected comments about the play. I was lifted by Shakespeare's words then dunked in cold water, trudging through commentary until I got back to the Bard.
Not to say that Bloom did not offer ideas or insights or connections new to me. And he communicates his personal responses and joy.
I am shocked that I did not enjoy this. What can I say? But this presentation may work in a classroom lecture with students who had read the complete play and come ready to dissect it did not work for me.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Read
December 16, 2023I read it (listened to the audio version) on daily school runs with my daughter. It is a good basic intro to the great play. Bloom's reverence for Shakespeare is well-known, and his enthusiasm could be used to ignite love for literature in a budding scholar.
Now we are listening to "The Western Cannon". Bloom has his obvious and well-known limitations, but if your objective is to pass an A Level exam in England or prepare for Oxbridge entrance interviews then Bloom is good because of his accessibility and controversial opposition to the more complex "schools of resentment".
Now we are listening to "The Western Cannon". Bloom has his obvious and well-known limitations, but if your objective is to pass an A Level exam in England or prepare for Oxbridge entrance interviews then Bloom is good because of his accessibility and controversial opposition to the more complex "schools of resentment".
December 13, 2017
I received an ARC of this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Harold Bloom is a much-lauded Shakespeare expert. I feel like in this examination of a character as complex as King Lear, he was resting on his laurels. Much of the time, Lear was a forgotten character as the motivations of Goneril, Regan, Edgar, and Edmund were examined in great detail. While it was fascinating reading, I don't feel like I got the in-depth character study of Lear that I was expecting. Despite this, it was still worth reading - Bloom's analysis was incisive and well-supported, and I gained new insights into the play.
Harold Bloom is a much-lauded Shakespeare expert. I feel like in this examination of a character as complex as King Lear, he was resting on his laurels. Much of the time, Lear was a forgotten character as the motivations of Goneril, Regan, Edgar, and Edmund were examined in great detail. While it was fascinating reading, I don't feel like I got the in-depth character study of Lear that I was expecting. Despite this, it was still worth reading - Bloom's analysis was incisive and well-supported, and I gained new insights into the play.
August 21, 2022
I suspect I like this book for the quotes from the play as much as Bloom’s insights. His best insights are on Edgar.
February 15, 2019
I haven't become any smarter since I reviewed Bloom's Cleopatra a couple of weeks ago. The fact that I understood his critique so much better has to reside in a slightly different presentation style.
This really was informative and enjoyable to work through.
This really was informative and enjoyable to work through.
July 7, 2019
Astonishing insights into this most compelling character and play. You cannot ask for a more informed and generous guide through a measure of our humanity.
November 1, 2018
Fantastic source for anyone who’s studied Lear or plans to teach the tragedy. Bloom guides readers through the play with compassion for the most tragic of all Shakespeare’s creations.
September 25, 2022
This was good, no real insightful commentary if I am to be honest.
May 27, 2018
I remember my high school teacher, recalling King Lear as his favorite in western literature, went through this play line by line while having us listen to a tape. Having just finished the final exam of a college course where we read King Lear again, I accidentally found Bloom’s book, and found it inspiring — I hope I read it earlier.
Certainly the book is written with great insight and clarity, as well as an aesthetic writing style, but really enjoyed reading how Bloom puts King Lear in context of western literary tradition in general. Connections with other great works — Hamlet, Montaigne’s essays, Shelley’s poems, to name a few — are right there when they are needed. This book is another demonstration of Bloom’s brilliant grasp of western literature and insightful writing. Had a great experience reading it.
Certainly the book is written with great insight and clarity, as well as an aesthetic writing style, but really enjoyed reading how Bloom puts King Lear in context of western literary tradition in general. Connections with other great works — Hamlet, Montaigne’s essays, Shelley’s poems, to name a few — are right there when they are needed. This book is another demonstration of Bloom’s brilliant grasp of western literature and insightful writing. Had a great experience reading it.
April 25, 2018
The cover of Harold Bloom’s ‘Lear’ features Lord Olivier’s Emmy award-winning performance in that role in 1983. Olivier was then in his mid-seventies and had already started the process of lending his illustrious name and reputation to unworthy vehicles, such as ‘The Betsy’ and ‘Dracula’, in order to have a nest egg for his extreme old age.
A cynic might see a parallel in Bloom’s series of five short books on Shakespeare’s personalities, which was suggested by his literary agent, Glen Hartley, and of which this is one. However, whereas the aging Olivier was reputedly sometimes lost for words on set, this charge cannot be levelled against Bloom, now, like Lear, a man in his eighties, although as was the case with Bloom’s ‘Cleopatra’ in the same series (which I’ve reviewed elsewhere), an awful lot of the words Bloom uses in this book are not his own but Shakespeare’s, or what he sometimes takes to be Shakespeare’s, as he has boldly corrected the latest Arden text, when he has judged “traditional emendations to be mistaken”.
Bloom’s book is subtitled ‘The Great Image of Authority’ and he writes with enormous authority, arising from a lifetime’s scholarship and reflection, on the tragic character whose very countenance, for Kent, exudes Authority.
This is not to say that Bloom’s interpretation of the text aspires to be definitive. He writes, for example, that Lear’s “violent expressionism desires us to experience his inmost being, but we lack the resources to receive that increasing chaos”, so that whilst one can “brood endlessly on Falstaff, Hamlet, Cleopatra, Iago and Macbeth” this does not apply to Lear and Edgar “who transcend the limits of thought”. Similarly, finding it “useless to speculate” about Shakespeare’s precise “religious orientation”, Bloom is content to note that the play’s “accents” are not those of “Christian optimism”, and does not pursue the matter further.
Given the above, Bloom’s commentary on the play’s ending is as stark as Lear’s heath but before one arrives at that bleak point it is a privilege to see the play through Bloom’s compassionate and informed gaze.
A cynic might see a parallel in Bloom’s series of five short books on Shakespeare’s personalities, which was suggested by his literary agent, Glen Hartley, and of which this is one. However, whereas the aging Olivier was reputedly sometimes lost for words on set, this charge cannot be levelled against Bloom, now, like Lear, a man in his eighties, although as was the case with Bloom’s ‘Cleopatra’ in the same series (which I’ve reviewed elsewhere), an awful lot of the words Bloom uses in this book are not his own but Shakespeare’s, or what he sometimes takes to be Shakespeare’s, as he has boldly corrected the latest Arden text, when he has judged “traditional emendations to be mistaken”.
Bloom’s book is subtitled ‘The Great Image of Authority’ and he writes with enormous authority, arising from a lifetime’s scholarship and reflection, on the tragic character whose very countenance, for Kent, exudes Authority.
This is not to say that Bloom’s interpretation of the text aspires to be definitive. He writes, for example, that Lear’s “violent expressionism desires us to experience his inmost being, but we lack the resources to receive that increasing chaos”, so that whilst one can “brood endlessly on Falstaff, Hamlet, Cleopatra, Iago and Macbeth” this does not apply to Lear and Edgar “who transcend the limits of thought”. Similarly, finding it “useless to speculate” about Shakespeare’s precise “religious orientation”, Bloom is content to note that the play’s “accents” are not those of “Christian optimism”, and does not pursue the matter further.
Given the above, Bloom’s commentary on the play’s ending is as stark as Lear’s heath but before one arrives at that bleak point it is a privilege to see the play through Bloom’s compassionate and informed gaze.
April 12, 2018
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.25 of 5
Anyone who's read much Shakespeare apologia has certainly encountered the works of Harold Bloom. Lear: The Great Image of Authority is the third book in Bloom's "Shakespeare's Personalities" series. I had quite enjoyed the second volume on Cleopatra and looked forward to this volume.
Unfortunately this one did not work quite so well for me.
This felt like a director's notes on a play's character - which could be really fascinating if it revealed something new or had some insight that hasn't already been presented by many other writers and directors. And the writing examines Edgar, Goneril, and Regan as much as it does Lear. At one point I actually flipped back to the beginning to make sure I had the correct subtitle and that it wasn't something more along the lines of "The Effects of Edgar on the great King."
I'm not sure, but half this book might just be dialog pulled from Shakespeare's play. I can read (or watch) the play myself - more analysis of the dialog, and how it defines a character would have been welcomed. Yes, there was some, but it was rather pedantic.
Bloom has written some wonderfully introspective works. but regretfully, this isn't one of them. I'll look forward to the next volume in the series, but with hopes that it will be more of a "Personality" retrospective rather than a director's moderate character analysis.
Looking for a good book? Harold Bloom's Lear does not live up to the "Shakespeare's Personalities" series, but might be a fine book for anyone directing the play but doesn't want to do their own research.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Anyone who's read much Shakespeare apologia has certainly encountered the works of Harold Bloom. Lear: The Great Image of Authority is the third book in Bloom's "Shakespeare's Personalities" series. I had quite enjoyed the second volume on Cleopatra and looked forward to this volume.
Unfortunately this one did not work quite so well for me.
This felt like a director's notes on a play's character - which could be really fascinating if it revealed something new or had some insight that hasn't already been presented by many other writers and directors. And the writing examines Edgar, Goneril, and Regan as much as it does Lear. At one point I actually flipped back to the beginning to make sure I had the correct subtitle and that it wasn't something more along the lines of "The Effects of Edgar on the great King."
I'm not sure, but half this book might just be dialog pulled from Shakespeare's play. I can read (or watch) the play myself - more analysis of the dialog, and how it defines a character would have been welcomed. Yes, there was some, but it was rather pedantic.
Bloom has written some wonderfully introspective works. but regretfully, this isn't one of them. I'll look forward to the next volume in the series, but with hopes that it will be more of a "Personality" retrospective rather than a director's moderate character analysis.
Looking for a good book? Harold Bloom's Lear does not live up to the "Shakespeare's Personalities" series, but might be a fine book for anyone directing the play but doesn't want to do their own research.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
June 1, 2023
Harold goes through the play almost line by line and offers commentary. Not really a series of essays on topics but more like you are sitting beside him during a production and he's providing a running commentary.
p. 23: "Edmund, fortune's bastard, has lived for crime. We will yet see him die, if not for goodness, then desperately, in a vain attempt to change his nature."
p. 47: "Edgar will rise from humiliation to a suffering hero, and his metamorphosis will be one of Shakespeare's most powerful and enigmatic inventions."
p. 68: "Fie, foh, fum" Act 3, Scene 4, Line 180. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fee-fi-...
p. 93: Cornwall was killed by a servant (Act 4, Scene 2)
p. 102-3: "The Tragedy of King Lear leaps beyond hope, into nothingness. The promised end becomes an image of horror and the emblematic motto is 'Fall and Cease!'"
p. 106: "On The Sea" by John Keats: http://keats-poems.com/on-the-sea/
p. 111: "What follows to me the supreme achievement in all of Shakespeare, and perhaps of Western literature. In one hundred lines that do not advance the plot, mad Lear and blind Gloucester confront each other, with Edgar as despairing chorus."
p. 117: Wisdom of Solomon
p. 118: Oswald killed by Edgar (Act 4, Scene 6)
p. 126: "We are at one of the limits of art. Even Shakespeare never surpassed this. The love of daughter and father achieves absolute expression. I cannot think of another place in Western literature that is so luminous and poignant."
p. 147: Regan poisoned by Goneril (Act 5, Scene 3)
p. 148: Edgar's description of a vagina as "the dark and vicious place." (Act 5, Scene 3)
p .153: Everyone dies.
p. 154: Edmund dies.
p. 155: "In what must be the shattering beyond all measure, in Shakespeare and indeed all Western literature, Lear enters with the dead Cordelia in his arms."
p. 158: Lear dies (Act 5, Scene 3, Line 309)
p. 23: "Edmund, fortune's bastard, has lived for crime. We will yet see him die, if not for goodness, then desperately, in a vain attempt to change his nature."
p. 47: "Edgar will rise from humiliation to a suffering hero, and his metamorphosis will be one of Shakespeare's most powerful and enigmatic inventions."
p. 68: "Fie, foh, fum" Act 3, Scene 4, Line 180. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fee-fi-...
p. 93: Cornwall was killed by a servant (Act 4, Scene 2)
p. 102-3: "The Tragedy of King Lear leaps beyond hope, into nothingness. The promised end becomes an image of horror and the emblematic motto is 'Fall and Cease!'"
p. 106: "On The Sea" by John Keats: http://keats-poems.com/on-the-sea/
p. 111: "What follows to me the supreme achievement in all of Shakespeare, and perhaps of Western literature. In one hundred lines that do not advance the plot, mad Lear and blind Gloucester confront each other, with Edgar as despairing chorus."
p. 117: Wisdom of Solomon
p. 118: Oswald killed by Edgar (Act 4, Scene 6)
p. 126: "We are at one of the limits of art. Even Shakespeare never surpassed this. The love of daughter and father achieves absolute expression. I cannot think of another place in Western literature that is so luminous and poignant."
p. 147: Regan poisoned by Goneril (Act 5, Scene 3)
p. 148: Edgar's description of a vagina as "the dark and vicious place." (Act 5, Scene 3)
p .153: Everyone dies.
p. 154: Edmund dies.
p. 155: "In what must be the shattering beyond all measure, in Shakespeare and indeed all Western literature, Lear enters with the dead Cordelia in his arms."
p. 158: Lear dies (Act 5, Scene 3, Line 309)
March 11, 2026
“ shakespeare’s most challenging personalities are Prince Hamlet and king Lear… rival each other as the two ultimate dramas yet conceived by mankind…[yet] have nothing in common… the prince carries intellect and consciousness to their limits the king laxed self-awareness, and any understanding of other selves, yet his capacity for feeling is beyond measure…
The irony of both personalities are too large to be fully seen readers and play golfers have to confront the difficulty of judging what is ironic and what is not.
Hamlet’s inwardness is available to us through his southern soliloquies, but their interpretation frequently is blocked because no other dramatic protagonist is so adept at not saying what he means or not meaning what he says.
Lear incessantly proclaimed his anguish, fury, outrage, and grief, and while he means everything, he says, we never become accustomed to his amazing range of intense feeling his violet expressionism desires us to experience his inmost being, but we lack the resources to receive that increasing chaos.
Both quartos…give prominence to Edgar on their title pages:…Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earl of Gloster, and his sullen and assumed humor of Tom of Bdelam..
‘Sullen’ might derive from the Anglo-French solain and so would be related to the Latin solus ( ‘alone’)
In a manuscript commonplace book of 1620 or so there is an astonishing poem marked by Shakespeare’s influence. To me it has always seemed the greatest anonymous poem in the English language., ‘Tom of bedlam song’ worthy of the poet of King Lear:
From the hag and Hungry goblin
That into rags would rend ye
The spirit that stands by the naked man
In the book of moons defend ye,
That of your five sound senses
You never be forsaken
Nor wander from yourselves, with Tom,
Abroad to be your bacon.
While I do sing, ‘ any food, any feeding
Feeding drink or clothing?’
Come dame or maid, be not afraid:
Poor Tom will injure nothing…
The moon’s my constant mistress
And a lovely owl, my marrow
The flaming Drake in the night crow make
Me Music to my sorrow
“ Edgar with dark wit, invokes the Pillicock or penis and Pillicock Hill for the mount of Venus. The Fool yields his function to Edgar: ‘ this cold night will turn us all to fools and mad men.’ In a parody of some of the Ten Commandments, Tom o' Bedlam invents a tale of adultery that prefigures Edmund's amatory escapades with Regan and Goneril. The enemy half brothers retain their occult conner-tion. The chant "False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey" was echoed powerfully by Walt Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry:
I am he who knew what it was to be evil, I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak, Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me, The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not
wanting...
Like the singer of the anonymous Tom o' Bedlam song, Edgar imagines a visionary horse whom he names Dauphin, which would have been pronounced "dolphin." In Henry V, the heir to the French throne was called Dauphin, since his crest was a dolphin.
Lear's response echoes Montaigne's meditation on the misery of man, naked and needing a shroud, borrowed from creatures who possess wool, hair, and feathers, and a dark saying of the Bible:
‘What is man, say I, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?’
Geneva Bible, Psalms
Kent:
Good my lord,
Take his offer, go into the house.
Lear: I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban:
What is your study?
Edgar: How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin.
Lear: Let me ask you one word in private.
[act 3, scene 4, lines 143-56]
….We do not know the one word Lear wishes to ask, as he is ushered into the refuge.
…sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey" was echoed powerfully by Walt Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry:
I am he who knew what it was to be evil, I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak, Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me, The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not
wanting...
Like the singer of the anonymous Tom o' Bedlam song, Edgar imagines a visionary horse whom he names Dauphin, which would have been pronounced "dolphin."In Henry V, the heir to the French throne was called Dauphin, since his crest was a dolphin.
Lear's response echoes Montaigne's meditation on the misery of man, naked and needing a shroud, borrowed from creatures who possess wool, hair, and feathers, and a dark saying of the Bible:
What is man, say I, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?
Geneva Bible, Psalms 8:4
‘Childe Rowland to the dark tower came, His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man'
[act 3, scene 4, lines 157-80]
Poor Tom concludes the scene with three remarkable lines, supposedly from a lost ballad but I suspect of Shakespeare's own composition. Robert Browning's magnificent dramatic monologue
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" begins with these lines as epigraph. It is Edgar himself who will become a kind of Roland and destroy the ogre Edmund….
“I write the final sentences of this book, wondering if all of us, like Lear, should cry that we are come unto this great stage of fools. Hamlet thought himself through to the truth that no man knew anything as he departed. Lear, suffering the woe and wonder of too much love, was bewildered by it, until he died.
The irony of both personalities are too large to be fully seen readers and play golfers have to confront the difficulty of judging what is ironic and what is not.
Hamlet’s inwardness is available to us through his southern soliloquies, but their interpretation frequently is blocked because no other dramatic protagonist is so adept at not saying what he means or not meaning what he says.
Lear incessantly proclaimed his anguish, fury, outrage, and grief, and while he means everything, he says, we never become accustomed to his amazing range of intense feeling his violet expressionism desires us to experience his inmost being, but we lack the resources to receive that increasing chaos.
Both quartos…give prominence to Edgar on their title pages:…Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earl of Gloster, and his sullen and assumed humor of Tom of Bdelam..
‘Sullen’ might derive from the Anglo-French solain and so would be related to the Latin solus ( ‘alone’)
In a manuscript commonplace book of 1620 or so there is an astonishing poem marked by Shakespeare’s influence. To me it has always seemed the greatest anonymous poem in the English language., ‘Tom of bedlam song’ worthy of the poet of King Lear:
From the hag and Hungry goblin
That into rags would rend ye
The spirit that stands by the naked man
In the book of moons defend ye,
That of your five sound senses
You never be forsaken
Nor wander from yourselves, with Tom,
Abroad to be your bacon.
While I do sing, ‘ any food, any feeding
Feeding drink or clothing?’
Come dame or maid, be not afraid:
Poor Tom will injure nothing…
The moon’s my constant mistress
And a lovely owl, my marrow
The flaming Drake in the night crow make
Me Music to my sorrow
“ Edgar with dark wit, invokes the Pillicock or penis and Pillicock Hill for the mount of Venus. The Fool yields his function to Edgar: ‘ this cold night will turn us all to fools and mad men.’ In a parody of some of the Ten Commandments, Tom o' Bedlam invents a tale of adultery that prefigures Edmund's amatory escapades with Regan and Goneril. The enemy half brothers retain their occult conner-tion. The chant "False of heart, light of ear, bloody of hand; hog in sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey" was echoed powerfully by Walt Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry:
I am he who knew what it was to be evil, I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak, Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me, The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not
wanting...
Like the singer of the anonymous Tom o' Bedlam song, Edgar imagines a visionary horse whom he names Dauphin, which would have been pronounced "dolphin." In Henry V, the heir to the French throne was called Dauphin, since his crest was a dolphin.
Lear's response echoes Montaigne's meditation on the misery of man, naked and needing a shroud, borrowed from creatures who possess wool, hair, and feathers, and a dark saying of the Bible:
‘What is man, say I, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?’
Geneva Bible, Psalms
Kent:
Good my lord,
Take his offer, go into the house.
Lear: I'll talk a word with this same learned Theban:
What is your study?
Edgar: How to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin.
Lear: Let me ask you one word in private.
[act 3, scene 4, lines 143-56]
….We do not know the one word Lear wishes to ask, as he is ushered into the refuge.
…sloth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey" was echoed powerfully by Walt Whitman in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry:
I am he who knew what it was to be evil, I too knitted the old knot of contrariety, Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak, Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me, The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not
wanting...
Like the singer of the anonymous Tom o' Bedlam song, Edgar imagines a visionary horse whom he names Dauphin, which would have been pronounced "dolphin."In Henry V, the heir to the French throne was called Dauphin, since his crest was a dolphin.
Lear's response echoes Montaigne's meditation on the misery of man, naked and needing a shroud, borrowed from creatures who possess wool, hair, and feathers, and a dark saying of the Bible:
What is man, say I, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?
Geneva Bible, Psalms 8:4
‘Childe Rowland to the dark tower came, His word was still 'Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man'
[act 3, scene 4, lines 157-80]
Poor Tom concludes the scene with three remarkable lines, supposedly from a lost ballad but I suspect of Shakespeare's own composition. Robert Browning's magnificent dramatic monologue
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" begins with these lines as epigraph. It is Edgar himself who will become a kind of Roland and destroy the ogre Edmund….
“I write the final sentences of this book, wondering if all of us, like Lear, should cry that we are come unto this great stage of fools. Hamlet thought himself through to the truth that no man knew anything as he departed. Lear, suffering the woe and wonder of too much love, was bewildered by it, until he died.
September 19, 2023
Stitched together from Bloom's contented sighs and manly tears, this text has some decent insights into the characters from King Lear, obviously focused on the eponymous ruler. Bloom's appreciation for the Bard runs deep, and you can feel his personal connection to the aging king. At its best, reading this feels like a postprandial visit to the scholar's study. That said, it relies a bit too much on "you gotta listen to this!" quotations, and the last half basically devolves into piles of lengthy passages from the text. It has the unfortunate effect of reminding the reader that they could just go read the play. In other words, the analysis here is not deep enough to serve as a reading guide, and as an appreciation simply points beyond itself to the object of its affections. We're left with a volume that may not have an obvious purpose (except to Harold Bloom). It wasn't a waste of time but not an essential read by any means.
January 9, 2024
poignant exploration of my fav shakespeare play! however i felt the flow of thought was not very cohesive and the transition between ideas was sometimes quite jarring. also i think a lack of actual criticism and insight in places and more a sort of "this passage makes the reader feel ___" where the text could have been allowed to just speak for itself (which he also does explicitly recognize, saying "Shakespeare is his own best interpreter"). really enjoyed his translation and repunctuation of the play though and, all in all, his obvious affection for this play was contagious and this was a valuable text in enhancing my understanding (and helping me pick up on certain symbolisms/metaphors) in a way that i as a non-english scholar would otherwise never have had the opportunity to grasp
November 7, 2024
Bloom illuminates some of the hidden layers in this great play. It helped me see a few things I hadn't considered or noticed before (such as the positioning of Lear and Edmund as opposing poles) and gave further insight into elements that I'd noticed but wasn't quite sure what to do with (such as Edmund's continued references to nature).
However, as a person who has read and taught this play many times, I found I would have liked a meatier analysis. This is not a long text and at least half of it is long excerpts from the play. I could have done without those (so maybe I'm not the target audience) and would have enjoyed it if Bloom had done a closer analysis of words and phrases throughout rather than quoting large chunks and then only referencing one detail within it.
However, as a person who has read and taught this play many times, I found I would have liked a meatier analysis. This is not a long text and at least half of it is long excerpts from the play. I could have done without those (so maybe I'm not the target audience) and would have enjoyed it if Bloom had done a closer analysis of words and phrases throughout rather than quoting large chunks and then only referencing one detail within it.
June 23, 2022
Lear is my favorite play to read. Bloom is arguably the greatest modern Shakespeare scholar. So this was a bit of a letdown.
Already short, this book is about half quotations from the play, and that ends up being the more engaging half. The study of the text--a mix of explication, hot takes on the characters, and Biblical allusions--felt underdeveloped, like the book needed to go out in a rush. (Though his analysis of Edgar was a standout.) It seems unlikely this is all Bloom had to say about Lear... Maybe would have made a more interesting class to take than book to read, where these ideas could be better fleshed out.
Already short, this book is about half quotations from the play, and that ends up being the more engaging half. The study of the text--a mix of explication, hot takes on the characters, and Biblical allusions--felt underdeveloped, like the book needed to go out in a rush. (Though his analysis of Edgar was a standout.) It seems unlikely this is all Bloom had to say about Lear... Maybe would have made a more interesting class to take than book to read, where these ideas could be better fleshed out.
May 11, 2024
I find myself stretched to write a review. Not because Harold Bloom is any less magisterial than in his other works, but because it is (for me) impossible to separate the book from its subject. This book is pointless if you haven’t read King Lear, and indispensable if you have. Despite more than forty years of re-reading and play-watching, I was surprised by Bloom’s analysis of the character of Edgar, and found new passages in the text that were as curious as the explanation given to the absence of the King of France from the invasion of England. Is anything better than a book that prompts questions as well as answers?
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December 28, 2023I thought he would've had more interesting things to say about this play. Bloom was allegedly a Freudian socialist, but did not like Marxist literary criticism, and he also had bad views about zionism and israel. My socialist Muslim friend who's very into Palestinian politics considers Bloom a reactionary (which centrist publications like to claim is a mistaken view) but likes his writings about the bible (as do I). I didn't find this particular book very enlightening. It's largely a collection of notable excerpts from the play and Bloom's seemingly off-the-cuff remarks about them.
March 1, 2019
Any chance to review Shakespeare's greatest existential tragedy is to be savored. The author quotes large sections of the play to support his discussion. I'm not sure if I agree that Shakespeare was referencing the Bible, Roman and Norse Mythology, Greek myths, and other obscure references. But just reviewing them give more context to the play.
A short read but well worth the time to explore it.
A short read but well worth the time to explore it.
March 11, 2026
Bloom can be pretty bombastic, but I found this to be a compelling, lucid tour through the play. Not so much focused on the figure of Lear himself, but on the key moments of the drama. Bloom shares my awe and wonder at many of the amazing passages in the play, such as Lear's awakening scene with Cordelia. He calls it the most moving scene in Shakespeare, never surpassed in world literature. I couldn't agree more.
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April 13, 2021Awesome book for those who like reading Shakespeare but want to dig a little deeper. It's not a book for experts, and I would consider it a light read. The most you'll have to do is find the meaning of some older words that show up in the Biblical quotes referenced by Shakespeare (and you can just google that).
September 7, 2024
Shakespeare wrote more of this book than Bloom did - it consists of most of the play excerpted with sparse commentary (mostly summary) added in. Most of the meaningful observations Bloom does make are merely saying the quiet part out loud and pointing out how little sense this play makes. He covers the entire play - this is not at all a character study of Lear.
August 18, 2017
Bloom has written some GREAT books on literature. this isn't one of them. there were no startling new interprerations, particularly for those who have already studied King Lear.
i received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
i received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 5, 2023
Strong Insights, but perhaps not best in an Audiobook format. Bloom is too intricate and includes too much quotation to be rolled through as an Audiobook. The Reader really needs to slow and digest at points to gather Bloom’s meaning.
July 21, 2024
There are helpful observations here from time to time but little else. Half the book is long quotations taken from Lear the play. The remainder is straightforward commentary from Bloom. Pick a different book for exploring this play.
July 11, 2018
Erudite and not too long-winded, the Bloom bugaboo.
August 14, 2018
Brilliant insight into one of Shakespeare's most admired novels. Had not read Lear in a long time. But Bloom's analysis has me interested in returning to the whole play.
August 19, 2019
So many things to ponder here. Excellent analysis.
May 15, 2021
I liked reading this because I’m a boring person. I like boring things. I want to get shot out of the English cannon to my doom.
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