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If I were to assign a Shakespearean tragedy to one of each of the thresh metal Big Four, I would do so thus:

- Anthrax would be Hamlet due to the many changes in personnel and the mixture of genres that they have done over time, sort of like how Hamlet has moments of indecision as to which direction to take.
- Megadeth would definitely be Othello with Dave Mustaine forever jealous of the enormous success of Metallica and yet still pursuing his own path. Plus Othello is the most musical of the four tragedies and arguably, Dave has the most musical (however annoying to me) voice of the group.
- Slayer would ressemble Macbeth in the dark, foreboding atmosphere in their music, the anger and rage at the universe best expressed on their masterpiece, God Hates Us All.
- King Lear would be be represented by Metallica in my opinion. James Hetfield is nearly as massive a personality as old Lear and certainly expresses a wide range of emotion and occasionally (see St Anger so surprising vulnerability). The raging storms in Lear reminded me of the songs on Ride the Lightning or And Justice For All in their intensity and ceaseless energy.

So, anyway, back to Lear...

I think, with The Tempest and Hamlet and maybe Macbeth, this is my favourite Shakespeare play. Grandiose, tragic with characters bigger than life, it demonstrates the Bard's absolute mastery of blank verse and extraordinary dialog. I am nearly breathless each time I finish Lear. I have, unfortunately, never seen it on stage but that is one on my bucket list!

There is so much depth here and so much at stake. The dividing of England by Lear to open the play was an immediate reminder to Jacobean audiences (those living under Elizabeth’s successor and therefore Shakespeare’s second royal sponsor, James I) recent unification of Scotland England and of the civil wars. The characters of Regan and Goneril and Edmund are all heinous and despicable, up there with Iago and the Joker (although Edmund sort of comes around at the very end). The faithfulness of Kent to Lear, the Oedipal fate of Gloucester, and the tragedy of Cordelia are so vivd.

But what takes this play to the rarefied atmosphere of the world’s greatest literature is the storm in Act III. As AC Bradley wrote in Shakespearean Tragedy in 1904, the storm and Lear become one and it is a terrifying and edifying thing to read that defies the imagination. That and the scenes between Lear and Cordelia. Wow.

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare