Read the book Cordelia, King Lear and His Fool on-line here.

The book Cordelia, King Lear and His Fool
Copyright Robert G. Marks 1995,
  • compares Shakespeare's versions with his sources,

  • looks into the writings of King James I, before whom Shakespeare's play was originally performed,

  • considers issues that were topical in Shakespeare's day,

  • looks at practices relating to speech prefixes and Dramatis Personae in Shakespearean and Jacobean plays,

  • makes comparisons of King Lear with those of numerous contemporary plays, and,

  • concludes that Shakespeare's Cordelia never went to France but stayed in England and served her father disguised as his Fool in much the same way the disguised Edgar serves his blind father Gloucester by leading him towards the safety of Dover, and
  • shows that Cordelia is aided by the disguised King of France who sent back to France for his troops.
    •

    Cordelia, King Lear and His Fool presents an understanding of Lear that is complete and is consistent with the standard interpretations of Shakespeare's other plays. It is not an adaptation, but a restoration.

    Cordelia, King Lear and His Fool also contains the full texts of:

  • the 1605 anonymous play, The True Chronicle History of King Leir and His Three Daughters;

  • John Higgin's 1578 "The Tragoedy of Cordila" extracted from The Mirror For Magistrates;

  • other pieces of the Lear legend; and

  • King James I's 1603 Basilikon Doron.
    •

    Cordelia, King Lear and his Fool (339 pages) was published 1995.
    ISBN 0 646 24443 4

    TO ORDER:

    To obtain a copy of Cordelia, King Lear and his Fool send an order, or request that your library sends one, with cheque/check for US$40 to House of Cordelia, P.O. Box 34, Harbord NSW 2096 AUSTRALIA.


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