I recently read William Shakespeare's "King Lear" almost on a whim. The decision was really driven by my enjoying a film based on the story: "Ran." A film I've seen many times. But, still, I had not read the play before so I wanted to spend some time with it.
"King Lear" is a tragic tale about an elderly father approaching the end of his life and trying to transition parts of his holdings to each of his three sons. Although his intentions were benevolent, the gesture spurs jealousy and dissonance throughout the family. The situation deteriorates from bad to worse throughout the play.
I read this on my Kindle, obviously. Was pleasantly surprised by some nice pen-and-ink style drawings throughout the text.
I noticed, periodically, that some dialogue was not written in iambic pentameter while other dialogue was. I wondered why some statements were in verse while others were in prose. From my past experience, I recall this distinction being made based on the speaker in some other plays I have read. For example, jesters speak in prose rather than verse. But, in this work, it seemed to vacillate even within a speaker's dialogue. Maybe it was still iambic pentameter and was just formatted to look different in the version I read. When I read iambic pentameter I appreciate the structure and beauty of the language but wouldn't necessarily notice a divergence from it while reading as I might while listening to it live.
I did notice some differences, necessitated by differences in setting and in artistic vision, between "King Lear" and "Ran." This was expected, but I will be re-watching the film soon. It is a gorgeous movie.
Shakespeare almost seems formulaic when I read it, but that is completely unfair to say. His stories were so powerful and so well executed that they have been mimicked repeatedly over the ages. The story of "King Lear" is no different. That repetition lends itself to making the stories seem unoriginal today when, in fact, they were quite original. Shakespeare was simply that outstanding of a story-teller.