Can somebody help me with school?

[Mystic Muse]

okay. for School this year I read King Lear and a tale of two cities. I have to write a paragraph about both but don't remember either of them very well. can somebody help me?

[Kallisti]

Can you be more specific than "a paragraph?" What is the paragraph about? The language? The themes and motifs? The moral?

[Temotei]

If it's just a summary for each (which would, admittedly, be difficult because of the length and depth of both stories), you could use the blurbs as references.

[Mystic Muse]

a quick summary of each.

what are "the blurbs"?

[Temotei]

a quick summary of each.

what are "the blurbs"?

The things on the back of books. If you have versions without blurbs, you could always use online summaries and reviews for a quick refresher on the stories.

[memnarch]

Wikipedia has a decent overview of them I think. Lear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Lear) Cities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities)

[Mystic Muse]

ah. Thank you guys.

[lostlittlebear]

Very very brief summary of Lear:

MAIN PLOT
- King Lear divides his country up between his three daughters, giving them land based on how much they love him.

- Cordelia, his youngest daughter, refuses to tell him that she loves him.

- Lear banishes her to France, and gives his country to Goneril and Regan.

- Kent speaks up on behalf of Cordelia and he's banished too

- Lear wanders around with his knights and Goneril and Regan kick him out of their homes

- His followers desert him, only Kent (disguised) and his Fool are left

- He goes mad in a storm

- Cordelia comes from France with big army to rescue Lear.

SUBPLOT
- Edmund (illegitamate) and Edgar (legal) or the sons of the Earl of Gloucester

- Edmund tricks his dad into disowning Edgar

- Edgar runs around pretending to be "Poor Tom"

- Edmund convinces Regan's husband, Albany, to blind Gloucester because he secretly supports Lear

- Edgar tricks his dad into believing that he has committed suicide, then reveals his identity after killing some bugger. Gloucester's heart bursts from happiness and he dies.

WHEN TWO PLOTS COLLIDE
- Cordelia and Lear's army are defeated on the battlefield and they are sentenced to hang

- Goneril and Regan kill each other because they lust over Edmund

- Albany calls for trial by combat and Edgar kills Edmund

- Edmund repents on his death bed and tries to rescind orders to kill Lear and Cordelia, but is too late, Cordelia is already dead.

- Lear dies of grief

- Albany offers to share power with Kent and Edgar. Kent refuses, it is implied he commits suicide.

- "The weight of this sad time we must obey. Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say." END

[Temotei]

Very very brief summary of Lear:

MAIN PLOT
- King Lear divides his country up between his three daughters, giving them land based on how much they love him.

- Cordelia, his youngest daughter, refuses to tell him that she loves him.

- Lear banishes her to France, and gives his country to Goneril and Regan.

- Kent speaks up on behalf of Cordelia and he's banished too

- Lear wanders around with his knights and Goneril and Regan kick him out of their homes

- His followers desert him, only Kent (disguised) and his Fool are left

- He goes mad in a storm

- Cordelia comes from France with big army to rescue Lear.

SUBPLOT
- Edmund (illegitamate) and Edgar (legal) or the sons of the Earl of Gloucester

- Edmund tricks his dad into disowning Edgar

- Edgar runs around pretending to be "Poor Tom"

- Edmund convinces Regan's husband, Albany, to blind Gloucester because he secretly supports Lear

- Edgar tricks his dad into believing that he has committed suicide, then reveals his identity after killing some bugger. Gloucester's heart bursts from happiness and he dies.

WHEN TWO PLOTS COLLIDE
- Cordelia and Lear's army are defeated on the battlefield and they are sentenced to hang

- Goneril and Regan kill each other because they lust over Edmund

- Albany calls for trial by combat and Edgar kills Edmund

- Edmund repents on his death bed and tries to rescind orders to kill Lear and Cordelia, but is too late, Cordelia is already dead.

- Lear dies of grief

- Albany offers to share power with Kent and Edgar. Kent refuses, it is implied he commits suicide.

- "The weight of this sad time we must obey. Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say." END

I remember watching this on television once, actually. I think King Lear was played by Ian Mckellen, the guy who played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.

[reorith]

you forgot the part where edgar gets avada kedavra'd by snape on the top of the parker morris building after edward flies when he realizes he can't protect cordelia from big brother and the nazgûl.

[Kallisti]

you forgot the part where edgar gets avada kedavra'd by snape on the top of the parker morris building after edward flies when he realizes he can't protect cordelia from big brother and the nazgûl.

Shakespeare was a brilliant writer like that. "The weight of this sad time we must obey/Speak what we feel not OH GOD THE NAZGUL RUN RUN RUN OH GOD WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME??!!!" Very powerful lines. Although the fact that the second line is eleven iambs has puzzled scolars for decades. Perhaps this mystery, too, is about to be illuminated?

[lostlittlebear]

I remember watching this on television once, actually. I think King Lear was played by Ian Mckellen, the guy who played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.

Heh, Ian Mckellen on stage is a thousand times better than Ian Mckellen in the movies. He did Lear once in Singapore, where I come from, and it was held in one of our open air parks. Being students, the only seats we could afford were the ones all the way at the back, nearly 400m away.

It was STILL the best performance of Lear or Shakespeare I've seen.

Though the Bridge Project's Winter's Tale comes close. (Starring Ethan Hawk)

[Temotei]

you forgot the part where edgar gets avada kedavra'd by snape on the top of the parker morris building after edward flies when he realizes he can't protect cordelia from big brother and the nazgûl.

Snape did that? I thought for sure it was Waluigi.

[The 7th Prelude]

Actually, it was Rosebud.

[Don Julio Anejo]

you forgot the part where edgar gets avada kedavra'd by snape on the top of the parker morris building after edward flies when he realizes he can't protect cordelia from big brother and the nazgûl.
I would say the more interesting part of King Lear is the very beginning, where Edgar makes this long-winded soliloquy:
"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious by this summer sun of York,"
In which he promises payback to Harry for whisking away Helen to marry him in Minas Tirith.