''As flies to th' wanton boys are we to th' gods: They bite us for their sport.' Set in the recesses of British antiquity, King Lear broods on gift-giving, gratitude, service and love; the bonds that sustain human life within families, communities and the state. Concerned with what remains and what is possible when these bonds crack, cool off or come apart, the tragedy forces repeated confrontations with abysmal cruelty, which it yokes together with instances of compassion that seem chillingly frail by comparison. By the end of the twentieth century, Lear took its place not only as Shakespeare's greatest work, but also his best play for our times, fitting then, in its anguish and denials of consolation, as it is now. Its wild mixtures of levity and terror, kindness and malevolence, what came to be called its absurdity, was prized as especially modern. The New Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative editions of Shakespeare's works with introductory materials designed to encourage new interpretations of the plays and poems. Using the text from the landmark The New Oxford Shakespeare Complete Works: Modern Critical Edition, these volumes offer readers the latest thinking on the authentic texts (collated from all surviving original versions of Shakespeare's work) alongside innovative introductions from leading scholars. The texts are accompanied by a comprehensive set of critical apparatus to give readers the best resources to help understand and enjoy Shakespeare's work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Namratha Rao is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of York. She has published widely on the intersections between early modern poetics and philosophy in works by writers such as Edmund Spenser, Mary Sidney, John Milton and Andrew Marvell. She is the co-editor of a special issue of Spenser Studies, Companionable Thinking: Spenser With... and is completing her first monograph on Spenser and Milton. John Jowett is Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. He is the General Editor of the New Oxford Shakespeare with particular responsibility for the original-spelling Critical Reference edition. He is General Editor for the ongoing Arden Early Modern Drama, a parallel series to the Arden Shakespeare that publishes non-Shakespearian drama of the early modern period.