title: Yeast

text: Decades ago, taxonomists reclassified "S. carlsbergensis" (uvarum) as a member of "S. cerevisiae", noting that the only distinct difference between the two is metabolic. Lager strains of "S. cerevisiae" secrete an enzyme called melibiase, allowing them to hydrolyse melibiose, a disaccharide, into more fermentable monosaccharides. Top- and bottom-cropping and cold- and warm-fermenting distinctions are largely generalizations used by laypersons to communicate to the general public.


title: Yeast

text: The most common top-cropping brewer's yeast, "S. cerevisiae", is the same species as the common baking yeast. Brewer's yeast is also very rich in essential minerals and the B vitamins (except B), a feature exploited in food products made from leftover (by-product) yeast from brewing. However, baking and brewing yeasts typically belong to different strains, cultivated to favour different characteristics: baking yeast strains are more aggressive, to carbonate dough in the shortest amount of time possible; brewing yeast strains act more slowly but tend to produce fewer off-flavours and tolerate higher alcohol concentrations (with some strains, up to 22%).


title: Yeast

text: "Dekkera/Brettanomyces" is a genus of yeast known for its important role in the production of 'lambic' and specialty sour ales, along with the secondary conditioning of a particular Belgian Trappist beer. The taxonomy of the genus "Brettanomyces" has been debated since its early discovery and has seen many reclassifications over the years. Early classification was based on a few species that reproduced asexually (anamorph form) through multipolar budding. Shortly after, the formation of ascospores was observed and the genus "Dekkera", which reproduces sexually (teleomorph form), was introduced as part of the taxonomy. The current taxonomy includes five species within the genera of "Dekkera/Brettanomyces". Those are the anamorphs "Brettanomyces bruxellensis", "Brettanomyces anomalus", "Brettanomyces custersianus", "Brettanomyces naardenensis", and "Brettanomyces nanus", with teleomorphs existing for the first two species, "Dekkera bruxellensis" and "Dekkera anomala". The distinction between "Dekkera" and "Brettanomyces" is arguable, with Oelofse et al. (2008) citing Loureiro and Malfeito-Ferreira from 2006 when they affirmed that current molecular DNA detection techniques have uncovered no variance between the anamorph and teleomorph states. Over the past decade, "Brettanomyces" spp. have seen an increasing use in the craft-brewing sector of the industry, with a handful of breweries having produced beers that were primarily fermented with pure cultures of "Brettanomyces" spp. This has occurred out of experimentation, as very little information exists regarding pure culture fermentative capabilities and the aromatic compounds produced by various strains. "Dekkera"/"Brettanomyces" spp. have been the subjects of numerous studies conducted over the past century, although a majority of the recent research has focused on enhancing the knowledge of the wine industry. Recent research on eight "Brettanomyces" strains available in the brewing industry focused on strain-specific fermentations and identified the major compounds produced during pure culture anaerobic fermentation in wort.


title: Yeast

text: Yeast is used in winemaking, where it converts the sugars present (glucose and fructose) in grape juice (must) into ethanol. Yeast is normally already present on grape skins. Fermentation can be done with this endogenous "wild yeast", but this procedure gives unpredictable results, which depend upon the exact types of yeast species present. For this reason, a pure yeast culture is usually added to the must; this yeast quickly dominates the fermentation. The wild yeasts are repressed, which ensures a reliable and predictable fermentation.


title: Yeast

text: Most added wine yeasts are strains of "S. cerevisiae", though not all strains of the species are suitable. Different "S. cerevisiae" yeast strains have differing physiological and fermentative properties, therefore the actual strain of yeast selected can have a direct impact on the finished wine. Significant research has been undertaken into the development of novel wine yeast strains that produce atypical flavour profiles or increased complexity in wines.


title: Yeast

text: The growth of some yeasts, such as "Zygosaccharomyces" and "Brettanomyces", in wine can result in wine faults and subsequent spoilage. "Brettanomyces" produces an array of metabolites when growing in wine, some of which are volatile phenolic compounds. Together, these compounds are often referred to as ""Brettanomyces" character", and are often described as "antiseptic" or "barnyard" type aromas. "Brettanomyces" is a significant contributor to wine faults within the wine industry.


title: Yeast

text: Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Canada, have found a new strain of yeast that has reduced amines. The amines in red wine and Chardonnay produce off-flavors and cause headaches and hypertension in some people. About 30% of people are sensitive to biogenic amines, such as histamines.


title: Yeast

text: Yeast, the most common one being "S. cerevisiae", is used in baking as a leavening agent, where it converts the food/fermentable sugars present in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as gas forms pockets or bubbles. When the dough is baked, the yeast dies and the air pockets "set", giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture. The use of potatoes, water from potato boiling, eggs, or sugar in a bread dough accelerates the growth of yeasts. Most yeasts used in baking are of the same species common in alcoholic fermentation. In addition, "Saccharomyces exiguus" (also known as "S. minor"), a wild yeast found on plants, fruits, and grains, is occasionally used for baking. In breadmaking, the yeast initially respires aerobically, producing carbon dioxide and water. When the oxygen is depleted, fermentation begins, producing ethanol as a waste product; however, this evaporates during baking.


title: Yeast

text: It is not known when yeast was first used to bake bread. The first records that show this use came from Ancient Egypt. Researchers speculate a mixture of flour meal and water was left longer than usual on a warm day and the yeasts that occur in natural contaminants of the flour caused it to ferment before baking. The resulting bread would have been lighter and tastier than the normal flat, hard cake.


title: Yeast

text: Today, there are several retailers of baker's yeast; one of the earlier developments in North America is Fleischmann's Yeast, in 1868. During World War II, Fleischmann's developed a granulated active dry yeast which did not require refrigeration, had a longer shelf life than fresh yeast, and rose twice as fast. Baker's yeast is also sold as a fresh yeast compressed into a square "cake". This form perishes quickly, so must be used soon after production. A weak solution of water and sugar can be used to determine whether yeast is expired. In the solution, active yeast will foam and bubble as it ferments the sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Some recipes refer to this as proofing the yeast, as it "proves" (tests) the viability of the yeast before the other ingredients are added. When a sourdough starter is used, flour and water are added instead of sugar; this is referred to as proofing the sponge.


title: Yeast

text: When yeast is used for making bread, it is mixed with flour, salt, and warm water or milk. The dough is kneaded until it is smooth, and then left to rise, sometimes until it has doubled in size. The dough is then shaped into loaves. Some bread doughs are knocked back after one rising and left to rise again (this is called dough proofing) and then baked. A longer rising time gives a better flavor, but the yeast can fail to raise the bread in the final stages if it is left for too long initially.


title: Yeast

text: Some yeasts can find potential application in the field of bioremediation. One such yeast, "Yarrowia lipolytica", is known to degrade palm oil mill effluent, TNT (an explosive material), and other hydrocarbons, such as alkanes, fatty acids, fats and oils. It can also tolerate high concentrations of salt and heavy metals, and is being investigated for its potential as a heavy metal biosorbent. "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" has potential to bioremediate toxic pollutants like arsenic from industrial effluent. Bronze statues are known to be degraded by certain species of yeast. Different yeasts from Brazilian gold mines bioaccumulate free and complexed silver ions.


title: Yeast

text: The ability of yeast to convert sugar into ethanol has been harnessed by the biotechnology industry to produce ethanol fuel. The process starts by milling a feedstock, such as sugar cane, field corn, or other cereal grains, and then adding dilute sulfuric acid, or fungal alpha amylase enzymes, to break down the starches into complex sugars. A glucoamylase is then added to break the complex sugars down into simple sugars. After this, yeasts are added to convert the simple sugars to ethanol, which is then distilled off to obtain ethanol up to 96% in purity.


title: Yeast

text: "Saccharomyces" yeasts have been genetically engineered to ferment xylose, one of the major fermentable sugars present in cellulosic biomasses, such as agriculture residues, paper wastes, and wood chips. Such a development means ethanol can be efficiently produced from more inexpensive feedstocks, making cellulosic ethanol fuel a more competitively priced alternative to gasoline fuels.


title: Yeast

text: A number of sweet carbonated beverages can be produced by the same methods as beer, except the fermentation is stopped sooner, producing carbon dioxide, but only trace amounts of alcohol, leaving a significant amount of residual sugar in the drink.


title: Yeast

text: Yeast is used as an ingredient in foods for its umami flavor, in much of the same way that monosodium glutamate (MSG) is used and, like MSG, often contain free glutamic acid. Examples include:


title: Yeast

text: Both types of yeast foods above are rich in B-complex vitamins (besides vitamin B unless fortified), making them an attractive nutritional supplement to vegans. The same vitamins are also found in some yeast-fermented products mentioned above, such as kvass. Nutritional yeast in particular is naturally low in fat and sodium and a source of protein and vitamins as well as other minerals and cofactors required for growth. Many brands of nutritional yeast and yeast extract spreads, though not all, are fortified with vitamin B, which is produced separately by bacteria.


title: Yeast

text: In 1920, the Fleischmann Yeast Company began to promote yeast cakes in a "Yeast for Health" campaign. They initially emphasized yeast as a source of vitamins, good for skin and digestion. Their later advertising claimed a much broader range of health benefits, and was censured as misleading by the Federal Trade Commission. The fad for yeast cakes lasted until the late 1930s.


title: Yeast

text: Some probiotic supplements use the yeast "S. boulardii" to maintain and restore the natural flora in the gastrointestinal tract. "S. boulardii" has been shown to reduce the symptoms of acute diarrhea, reduce the chance of infection by "Clostridium difficile" (often identified simply as C. difficile or C. diff), reduce bowel movements in diarrhea-predominant IBS patients, and reduce the incidence of antibiotic-, traveler's-, and HIV/AIDS-associated diarrheas.


title: Yeast

text: Yeast is often used by aquarium hobbyists to generate carbon dioxide (CO) to nourish plants in planted aquaria. CO levels from yeast are more difficult to regulate than those from pressurized CO systems. However, the low cost of yeast makes it a widely used alternative.


title: Yeast

text: Several yeasts, in particular "S. cerevisiae" and "S. pombe", have been widely used in genetics and cell biology, largely because they are simple eukaryotic cells, serving as a model for all eukaryotes, including humans, for the study of fundamental cellular processes such as the cell cycle, DNA replication, recombination, cell division, and metabolism. Also, yeasts are easily manipulated and cultured in the laboratory, which has allowed for the development of powerful standard techniques, such as yeast two-hybrid, synthetic genetic array analysis, and tetrad analysis. Many proteins important in human biology were first discovered by studying their homologues in yeast; these proteins include cell cycle proteins, signaling proteins, and protein-processing enzymes.


title: Yeast

text: On 24 April 1996, "S. cerevisiae" was announced to be the first eukaryote to have its genome, consisting of 12 million base pairs, fully sequenced as part of the Genome Project. At the time, it was the most complex organism to have its full genome sequenced, and the work seven years and the involvement of more than 100 laboratories to accomplish. The second yeast species to have its genome sequenced was "Schizosaccharomyces pombe", which was completed in 2002. It was the sixth eukaryotic genome sequenced and consists of 13.8 million base pairs. As of 2014, over 50 yeast species have had their genomes sequenced and published.


title: Yeast

text: Genomic and functional gene annotation of the two major yeast models can be accessed via their respective model organism databases: SGD and PomBase.


title: Yeast

text: Various yeast species have been genetically engineered to efficiently produce various drugs, a technique called metabolic engineering. "S. cerevisiae" is easy to genetically engineer; its physiology, metabolism and genetics are well known, and it is amenable for use in harsh industrial conditions. A wide variety of chemical in different classes can be produced by engineered yeast, including phenolics, isoprenoids, alkaloids, and polyketides. About 20% of biopharmaceuticals are produced in "S. cerevisiae", including insulin, vaccines for hepatitis, and human serum albumin.


title: Yeast

text: Some species of yeast are opportunistic pathogens that can cause infection in people with compromised immune systems. "Cryptococcus neoformans" and "Cryptococcus gattii" are significant pathogens of immunocompromised people. They are the species primarily responsible for cryptococcosis, a fungal infection that occurs in about one million HIV/AIDS patients, causing over 600,000 deaths annually. The cells of these yeast are surrounded by a rigid polysaccharide capsule, which helps to prevent them from being recognised and engulfed by white blood cells in the human body.


title: Yeast

text: Yeasts of the genus "Candida", another group of opportunistic pathogens, cause oral and vaginal infections in humans, known as candidiasis. "Candida" is commonly found as a commensal yeast in the mucous membranes of humans and other warm-blooded animals. However, sometimes these same strains can become pathogenic. The yeast cells sprout a hyphal outgrowth, which locally penetrates the mucosal membrane, causing irritation and shedding of the tissues. A book from the 1980s listed the pathogenic yeasts of candidiasis in probable descending order of virulence for humans as: "C. albicans", "C. tropicalis", "C. stellatoidea", "C. glabrata", "C. krusei", "C. parapsilosis", "C. guilliermondii", "C. viswanathii", "C. lusitaniae", and "Rhodotorula mucilaginosa". "Candida glabrata" is the second most common "Candida" pathogen after "C. albicans", causing infections of the urogenital tract, and of the bloodstream (candidemia). "C. auris" has been more recently identified.


title: Yeast

text: Yeasts are able to grow in foods with a low pH (5.0 or lower) and in the presence of sugars, organic acids, and other easily metabolized carbon sources. During their growth, yeasts metabolize some food components and produce metabolic end products. This causes the physical, chemical, and sensible properties of a food to change, and the food is spoiled. The growth of yeast within food products is often seen on their surfaces, as in cheeses or meats, or by the fermentation of sugars in beverages, such as juices, and semiliquid products, such as syrups and jams. The yeast of the genus "Zygosaccharomyces" have had a long history as spoilage yeasts within the food industry. This is mainly because these species can grow in the presence of high sucrose, ethanol, acetic acid, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, and sulfur dioxide concentrations, representing some of the commonly used food preservation methods. Methylene blue is used to test for the presence of live yeast cells. In oenology, the major spoilage yeast is "Brettanomyces bruxellensis".


title: Yeast

text: An Indian study of seven bee species and nine plant species found 45 yeast species from 16 genera colonise the nectaries of flowers and honey stomachs of bees. Most were members of the genus "Candida"; the most common species in honey bee stomachs was "Dekkera intermedia", while the most common species colonising flower nectaries was "Candida blankii". Although the mechanics are not fully understood, it was found that "A. indica" flowers more if "Candida blankii" is present.


title: Yeast

text: In another example, "Spathaspora passalidarum", found in the digestive tract of scarab beetles, aids the digestion of plant cells by fermenting xylose.


title: Yami Gautam

text: Yami Gautam Dhar (born 28 November 1988) is an Indian actress known predominantly for her work in Hindi films. She sprang into prominence after doing some commercials for Glow & Lovely and began her acting career in television shows, followed by South Indian films and eventually progressed to Bollywood.


title: Yami Gautam

text: Gautam's initial success had been playing lead roles in TV shows like "Chand Ke Paar Chalo" (2008–2009) and "Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam" (2009–2010), post which she became a part of numerous Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. It was her highly acclaimed Hindi film debut role in the critically and commercially successful satirical rom-com "Vicky Donor" (2012), that gave her wider appraisal and fame.


title: Yami Gautam

text: Though followed by few unprofitable features, with the exception of the thriller "Badlapur" (2015), Gautam reinforced and gained high critical and commercial success with her highest grossing releases including the revenge drama "Kaabil" (2017), the action war film "" (2019) and the satirical comedy "Bala" (2019).


title: Yami Gautam

text: Yami Gautam was born in a Hindu Brahmin family in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh and was brought up in Chandigarh. Her father Mukesh Gautam is a Punjabi film director. He is the VP of PTC Network. Her mother is Anjali Gautam. She has a younger sister Surilie Gautam, who made her big screen debut with the Punjabi film "Power Cut". She did her regular schooling, and later entered college to pursue a graduate degree in law honours. She had aspired to join Indian Administrative Services (IAS) as a young girl, but at the age of 20, decided to venture into an acting career. Though she was pursuing studies in Law Honors (first-year PU Student of law), she left full-time studies for acting. Recently, she has been doing her part-time graduation from Mumbai. She is fond of reading, interior decoration and listening to music.


title: Yami Gautam

text: Yami Gautam married Aditya Dhar on 4 June 2021. After marriage, she changed her name to Yami Gautam Dhar.


title: Yami Gautam

text: Gautam was 20 when she moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in movies. She made her television debut in "Chand Ke Paar Chalo". She continued to play the lead in "Raajkumar Aaryyan". Following this, she played her most notable role in television in, "Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam", which aired on Colors. She has also participated in reality shows "Meethi Choori No 1" and "Kitchen Champion Season 1".


title: Yami Gautam

text: After making her debut in lead with the 2009 Kannada film "Ullasa Utsaha", Gautam made her Bollywood debut in a leading role in Shoojit Sircar's romantic comedy "Vicky Donor" (2012). Co-starring opposite debutante Ayushmann Khurrana, Annu Kapoor and Dolly Ahluwalia, she portrayed Ashima Roy, a Bengali woman who falls in love with the titular character, a Punjabi lad from the Arora family, and gets to know about his past after marriage. The film, which marked Bollywood actor John Abraham's production debut, received positive reviews from critics and proved to be a major commercial success and one of the highest-grossing films of the year with worldwide grossing of 645 million (US$3.9 million). For her debut performance, Gautam received critical acclaim as well as several awards and nominations, including the Best Female Debut (tied with Ileana D'Cruz for "Barfi!") trophy at the Zee Cine Awards, and a nomination under the same category at the 58th Filmfare Awards.


title: Yami Gautam

text: After a two-year absence from Bollywood films, Gautam returned in 2014 and appeared in two films, the first of which was Eeshwar Nivas's romantic comedy film "Total Siyappa", co-starring Ali Zafar, Anupam Kher, and Kirron Kher, in which she played the love interest of Zafar's character. Gautam's second Bollywood release that year was Prabhu Deva's action thriller "Action Jackson", in which Ajay Devgn portrayed a double role, while she and Sonakshi Sinha featured as the love interests of his characters. Both "Total Siyappa" and "Action Jackson" under-performed at the box office.


title: Yami Gautam

text: In 2015, Gautam appeared alongside Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Sriram Raghavan's action thriller "Badlapur". The film, which focuses on the story of a man (Raghu, played by Dhawan) who over the course of 15 years avenges the murder of his wife (Misha, played by her) and son, emerged as a critical and commercial success, collecting 770 million (US$11 million) worldwide, with Gautam's performance receiving praise.


title: Yami Gautam

text: In 2016, Gautam played Pulkit Samrat's love interest in two romances–Divya Khosla Kumar's "Sanam Re" and Vivek Agnihotri's "Junooniyat". In the former, she played a high-school girl who falls in love with Samrat's character, and in the latter, she portrayed a Punjabi girl who falls in love with an army officer. Both "Sanam Re" and "Junooniyat" were critical and commercial failures.


title: Yami Gautam

text: The following year, Gautam collaborated with Hrithik Roshan on Sanjay Gupta's revengeful romantic thriller "Kaabil" (2017), which tells the story of a blind man who avenges the rape of his blind wife. The film, as well as her performance, received mixed-to-positive reviews and the film emerged as a financial success, earning 1.96 billion (US$28 million) worldwide. Later in 2017, Gautam featured briefly in Ram Gopal Varma's political thriller "Sarkar 3", the third installment of Varma's "Sarkar franchise", alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Manoj Bajpayee, and Amit Sadh. "Sarkar 3" failed to do well at the box office. Gautam's next release was the Shree Narayan Singh directed-social problem dramedy "Batti Gul Meter Chalu" (2018), in which she played a lawyer alongside Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, and Divyendu Sharma.


title: Yami Gautam

text: Gautam's greatest success came in 2019 when she appeared in Aditya Dhar's military action thriller film "", alongside Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina, and Kirti Kulhari. Based on the 2016 Uri attack, Gautam portrayed Pallavi Sharma, a nurse-turned-an intelligence officer. Upon release, the film received high critical acclaim, with Gautam's performance receiving high praise. The film emerged as the third highest grossing Hindi film of the year, earning over 3.42 billion (US$44 million) worldwide. She next reunited with Khurrana in Amar Kaushik's comedy-drama "Bala", a satire on physical attractiveness, which was released on 7 November 2019. Also featuring Bhumi Pednekar, the film opened to positive reviews, with Gautam unanimously receiving acclaim for her portrayal of Pari Mishra, a ditsy Tik Toker and a part time model hailing from Lucknow, who upon finding about her husband's baldness, feels cheated and leaves him. Film critic Sukanya Verma found Gautam "part delirious, part deluded" in the film and felt "there's a gentle unhinged air to her compulsive, sincere artificiality that makes her both fascinating and heartbreaking" and featured her in the Rediff's list of Best Bollywood Actresses in 2019. "Bala" proved to be a commercial success with a worldwide gross of 1.7billion (US$22 million).


title: Yami Gautam

text: In 2020, she appeared as Ginny in the film "Ginny Weds Sunny" opposite Vikrant Massey directed by debutant Puneet Khanna and produced by Vinod Bachchan. The film was directly released on Netflix on 9 October 2020 instead of a theatrical release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon its release, the film received mixed reviews. In 2021, Gautam played the role of Maya in Pavan Kirpalani's horror comedy "Bhoot Police", co-starring Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez. The film met with mixed response. She next had a special appearance as Mannat in "Shava Ni Girdhari Lal".


title: Yami Gautam

text: Gautam's first release in 2022 was Behzad Khambata's thriller "A Thursday", alongside Neha Dhupia and Atul Kulkarni. Gautam was cast in the lead role of Naina Jaiswal, a playschool teacher who takes 16 children hostage. Film was premiered on Disney+Hotstar on 17 February 2022. Upon its release, the film opened to mixed-to-positive reviews, with Gautam particularly receiving positive reviews for her performance. Sneha Benganl of CNBC TV18 found it her "career's best performance" and felt Gautam as Naina was "equal parts dangerous and vulnerable, daring and conflicted."


title: Yami Gautam

text: Gautam's second release in 2022 was Tushar Jalota's social comedy Dasvi, alongside Abhishek Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur. Gautam was cast in the role of Jyoti Deswal, an IPS officer in the jail where Chief Minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary was prisoned. Film was premiered on Netflix and JioCinema on 7 April 2022. Upon its release, the film opened to mixed reviews.


title: Yami Gautam

text: She has committed to appear as protagonist in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary’s social drama Lost and will also appear in "OMG 2 – Oh My God! 2".


title: Yami Gautam

text: Her brand endorsements include Glow & Lovely, Cornetto, Samsung Mobile, Chevrolet, Revlon among others.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned third-team All-American honors in 2012. After being selected by Portland with the sixth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, Lillard was unanimously voted the NBA Rookie of the Year. Nicknamed "Dame Time" for his history of making big shots in the clutch, he has received six NBA All-Star and All-NBA Team selections, the only player in Trail Blazers franchise history to do so. In October 2021, Lillard was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He also won a gold medal on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team in Tokyo.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard began his high school career at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo, California, and joined the varsity starting lineup as a freshman. He sought to transfer when his coach did not return to the team. For his sophomore year, Lillard transferred to St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda, California, the same private school that had produced former NBA point guard Jason Kidd; but by year's end, a lack of playing time prompted Lillard to transfer schools yet again. He went on to play for coach Orlando Watkins at Oakland High School, where he was First Team All-League his junior and senior years. Over his junior campaign, Lillard averaged 19.4 points a night. As a senior, he averaged 22.4 points and 5.2 assists per game while leading the Oakland Wildcats to a 23–9 record.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Regarded only as a two-star prospect by Rivals.com, Lillard was not heavily recruited out of high school, but he accepted a scholarship offer to play for Weber State, a Big Sky Conference program in Ogden, Utah. According to Lillard, Weber State was the first college basketball program to show any interest in him when head coach Randy Rahe showed up in person to watch Lillard play a game in Texas during his junior year of high school. Lillard chose to attend Weber State in Utah in part because he wanted to get away from his violent Oakland neighborhood. He had received competing offers from schools including Wichita State, Saint Mary's and San Diego State.


title: Damian Lillard

text: As a freshman at Weber State, Lillard averaged 11.5 points per game and was named the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big Sky. In his sophomore year, he raised his scoring average to 19.9 points per game and led the Wildcats to the conference championship. At the end of the season, Lillard was named Big Sky Player of the Year as well as honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In 2010–11, Lillard led the Big Sky in scoring with 19.7 points per contest before suffering a foot injury ten games into the season that forced him to take a medical redshirt and sidelined him for the rest of the year.


title: Damian Lillard

text: As a redshirt junior, Lillard averaged 24.5 points and led the nation in scoring throughout most of the year but ended up finishing second to Oakland University's Reggie Hamilton. On December 3, 2011, against San Jose State, Lillard scored a college career-high 41 points, including a game-clinching three-point play to give Weber State a 91–89 double-overtime win. At the end of the year, he was named to his third first-team all-conference selection and won his second Big Sky Player of the Year award. Lillard was also a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Widely regarded as the top point guard prospect in the country, Lillard decided to skip his senior season to enter the 2012 NBA draft. He finished his college career as the No. 2 scorer in Weber State history (1,934 points) and the No. 5 scorer in Big Sky history.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. In the season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers on October 31, Lillard recorded 23 points and 11 assists to join Oscar Robertson and Allen Iverson as the only players in NBA history with at least 20 points and 10 assists in their NBA debut. In addition, his 11 assists were the most by an NBA rookie in his first game since Jason Kidd (11) in 1994, and the most ever by a Trail Blazer in his NBA debut. Lillard made a career-high 15 field goals and a Trail Blazer rookie-record seven 3-pointers on January 11 against the Golden State Warriors, where he finished with 37 points, six rebounds, and four assists. He became the first Trail Blazer to win an event at the NBA All-Star Weekend, winning the Skills Challenge. He also participated in the Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star weekend and finished with 18 points, three rebounds and five assists in a game-high 28 minutes. Lillard became the first NBA rookie to record 35 points, nine assists and zero turnovers in a game since turnovers became a stat in 1978–79 against the San Antonio Spurs on March 8. On April 10 against the Lakers, Lillard scored a season-high 38 points. He earned Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors for every month, becoming one of just eight players to sweep NBA Rookie of the Month honors since the inaugural award in 1981–82. He finished fifth in the NBA in 3-pointers made, 12th in points per game, tied for 16th in assists per game and tied for 23rd in free throw percentage. He was one of 10 NBA players to score 1,500 points, and he led all rookies in scoring (19.0 ppg), assists (6.5 apg), field goals (553) and free throws (271).


title: Damian Lillard

text: With averages of 19.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 0.90 steals, and 38.6 minutes in 82 games (all starting), Lillard not only claimed the NBA Rookie of the Year Award but joined Blake Griffin (2011), David Robinson (1990), and Ralph Sampson (1984) as the only unanimous winners. He also joined Oscar Robertson and Allen Iverson as the only rookies in NBA history to tally in excess of 1,500 points and 500 assists for a season. Lillard became the fourth Trail Blazer in franchise history to win NBA Rookie of the Year honors and one of two to ever finish a season with at least 1,500 points and 500 assists (the other being Clyde Drexler in 1986–87 and 1991–92). Among other distinctions, he broke the all-time NBA rookie record for 3-pointers in a season (185), surpassing Stephen Curry's 166 three-pointers in 2009–10; became the Portland franchise leader for most 3-point field goals in a season, breaking Damon Stoudamire's record of 181 in 2004–05; and became the first rookie to lead the NBA in total minutes played (3,167) since Elvin Hayes in 1968–69.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In the season opener on October 30, Lillard scored 32 points against the Phoenix Suns. He had a second 32-point effort on December 7 against the Dallas Mavericks. On December 17, he had 36 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The following day, he had a second straight 36-point effort against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On January 7, in a 123–119 loss to the Sacramento Kings, Lillard scored a career-high 41 points, including 26 in the fourth quarter to break Portland's franchise record for most points in any quarter. On February 7, he had a 38-point effort against the Indiana Pacers. During All-Star weekend, Lillard became the first player in NBA history to take part in five events during the All-Star festivities: the Rising Stars Challenge, Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, Slam Dunk Contest, and the All-Star Game.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard started all 82 games for the second straight year and averaged 20.7 points, 5.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. Portland finished fifth in the Western Conference with a 54–28 record and faced the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2014 NBA playoffs. In Game 1 of the series, Lillard recorded 31 points and nine rebounds in his first playoff appearance to help propel Portland to a 122–120 overtime win over Houston. In Game 6 of the series, Lillard became the first player to make a buzzer-beating shot to win a playoff series since Utah's John Stockton against Houston in 1997. Lillard's 3-pointer as time expired gave Portland a 99–98 victory over Houston, as he finished with 25 points to lift the Trail Blazers to their first playoff series win since 2000. The Trail Blazers went on to lose in five games to the San Antonio Spurs in the second round. Lillard had a series-best game in Game 4 with a 25-point effort, helping the Trail Blazers win their sole game of the series. At the season's end, Lillard was named to the All-NBA Third Team.


title: Damian Lillard

text: For the third straight season, Lillard started all 82 games for the Trail Blazers. He averaged career highs in points, rebounds, steals, and field goal percentage, but averaged a career-low 34 percent from three-point range. He shot well during the first two months of the season, before struggling with his shot from January onwards. Despite this, he set the record for most three-pointers in a player's first three seasons, led the team in Win Shares, and finished second in PER. On December 19, 2014, he scored a career-high 43 points in a 129–119 triple-overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs. Four days later, he had a 40-point effort against the Oklahoma City Thunder. On January 5, 2015, he had a 39-point effort against the Los Angeles Lakers. On February 8, 2015, Lillard was selected as a replacement for the injured Blake Griffin in the 2015 NBA All-Star Game. On March 4, 2015, Lillard recorded a career-high 18 rebounds in a 98–93 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Trail Blazers finished the regular season as the fourth seed in the Western Conference with a 51–31 record. They faced the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, where they lost in five games. Lillard shot 16 percent from three-point range during the series, hitting just 5-of-31 including going 0-of-6 in Game 1.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On July 9, 2015, Lillard signed a five-year, $120 million contract extension with the Trail Blazers. On October 28, 2015, Lillard recorded 21 points and 11 assists in a season-opening win over the New Orleans Pelicans. His one three-pointer made during the game was his 600th career three-point field goal, making him the fastest NBA player in history to reach the mark at 247 games. In addition, Lillard's 11 assists gave him 1,500 for his career, making him the fastest Trail Blazer to reach the milestone since Terry Porter (1987–88 season, 215 games). In the following game on October 30 against the Phoenix Suns, Lillard became the fastest player to reach 5,000 points and 1,500 assists (248 games) since Derrick Rose (240 games).


title: Damian Lillard

text: On December 12, in a loss to the New York Knicks, Lillard became the first Blazer since Clyde Drexler in 1991–92 to record 600 points and 150 assists during the team's first 25 games. On December 21, Lillard missed the first game of his career with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, ending his streak of playing in 275 consecutive games. Backcourt partner C. J. McCollum also missed the game, leaving the Trail Blazers without their two leading scorers to face the Atlanta Hawks, subsequently losing the game 106–97. He missed a further six games with the injury, returning to action on January 4 against the Memphis Grizzlies and recording 17 points and 7 assists in a 91–78 loss. On January 8, he scored a then season-high 40 points in a loss to the Golden State Warriors. On January 18, in a win over the Washington Wizards, he hit his 2,000th NBA field goal, one of only eight players to reach that mark since he entered the league in 2012–13. On January 26, in a win over the Sacramento Kings, Lillard recorded 15 points and 13 assists for his 10th double-double of the season, a career high. On February 19, he scored a career-high 51 points in a 137–105 win over the Golden State Warriors. He became the first player in NBA history to have at least 50 points, seven assists and six steals since the steal became an official statistic in 1973–74. Two days later, he scored 30 points against the Utah Jazz, becoming the first Blazer to score at least 30 points in four consecutive games since Drexler accomplished the feat in 1991. He extended that streak to five in the team's following game on February 23 against the Brooklyn Nets. Over his first 300 games in the NBA, Lillard averaged 21.2 points and 6.2 assists per game. Only four other players in NBA history averaged 21 points and six assists over their first 300 games: Oscar Robertson (30.2 and 10.3), Nate Archibald (24.5 and 8.4), LeBron James (26.7 and 6.4) and Dwyane Wade (24.0 and 6.4). On March 4, he had his second 50-point game of the season in a 117–115 loss to the Toronto Raptors.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On March 8, Lillard had 41 points and 11 assists in a 116–109 overtime win over the Washington Wizards, recording his 15th straight game with 20-plus points. He also had his 400th assist of the season, making him the first Trail Blazer with 400-plus assists in each of his first four seasons. In the Trail Blazers' season finale on April 13 against the Denver Nuggets, Lillard hit his 827th career three-pointer, besting Wesley Matthews' Portland franchise record of 826. Lillard finished the regular season with an average of 25.1 points per game, while C. J. McCollum averaged 20.8 – making them the first backcourt in Blazers' history to average 20 or more points apiece. Lillard also became the third Blazer to average 25-plus points, joining Drexler and Kiki Vandeweghe. In the 2016 MVP Race, he finished 8th in total points received, scoring 26 points out of a possible 1310 points.


title: Damian Lillard

text: After defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, the Trail Blazers moved on to face the Golden State Warriors in the second round. In Game 3 of the series, Lillard recorded 40 points and 10 assists to help the Trail Blazers win 120–108, cutting the Warriors' advantage in the series to 2–1. The Trail Blazers went on to lose the series in five games.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In the Trail Blazers' season opener on October 25, 2016, Lillard recorded 39 points on 13-of-20 shooting, as well as 9 rebounds and 6 assists in a 113–104 win over the Utah Jazz. With his first assist of the night, Lillard passed Jim Paxson for sixth on the franchise career list (2,008). Four days later, he scored 37 points, including the go-ahead floater with less than a second remaining in overtime, to lead the Trail Blazers to a 115–113 win over the Denver Nuggets. With 27 points against the Phoenix Suns on November 2, Lillard became the first NBA player to score 27 or more points in each of his team's first five games since Kobe Bryant in 2005–06. Lillard's 163 points in the season's first five games are the most ever by a Blazer to start a season. Two days later, Lillard scored 27 of his season-high 42 points in the second half of the Trail Blazers' 105–95 win over the Dallas Mavericks. With 38 points on November 8 against Phoenix, Lillard had 262 points over the first eight games of the season, the most through the first eight games of a season in franchise history. It was also the most by an NBA player since Bryant had 264 through the first eight in 2009–10.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard amassed a team-record 695 points in the Blazers' first 25 games of the season, eclipsing Clyde Drexler's previous mark of 681 in 1988. He went on to miss five games between December 26 and January 4 after spraining his left ankle against San Antonio on December 23. On January 28 against Golden State, Lillard reached 8,000 career points, becoming the 11th Blazer to hit the mark and joined Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the only three players to reach 8,000 points and 2,000 assists in their first five seasons. On March 19, Lillard scored a season-high 49 points, tied a career high with nine three-pointers, and carried the Trail Blazers past the Miami Heat, 115–104. On April 3, 2017, he was named Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in March. Behind Lillard, the Trail Blazers went an NBA-best 13–3 in March to surge into eighth place in the Western Conference. Lillard ranked third in the NBA in scoring (29.1 ppg) and tied for fourth in three-pointers made (55) to go with 6.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.44 steals in 16 games. Five days later, Lillard scored a franchise-record 59 points and matched his career high with nine three-pointers to lead the Trail Blazers to a 101–86 win over the Jazz. It was Lillard's 27th game of the season with 30 or more points, a franchise high. He also became the fifth Blazer to score 2,000-plus points in a season. After being 10 games under .500 at the All-Star break, Lillard helped the Trail Blazers to an 18–8 late-season surge to earned them the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference with a 41–41 record. They faced the Golden State Warriors for the second straight year in the playoffs, this time in the first round. Portland went on to lose the series in a clean sweep despite Lillard's 34-point effort in Game 4. For the series, Lillard averaged 27.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 43% from the field, 28% from behind the arc, and 96% from the free throw line. On May 2, 2017, he was named the recipient of the Magic Johnson Award for the 2016–17 season, which honors the player who best combines excellence on the basketball court with cooperation and dignity in dealing with the media and the public.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On October 28, 2017, in a 114–107 win over the Phoenix Suns, Lillard reached the 9,000-point milestone during the third quarter. With 402 career games, Lillard became the fastest Blazer to score 9,000 points. On November 15, he had 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in a 99–94 win over the Orlando Magic. During the game, he surpassed Mychal Thompson (9,215 points) for eighth on the franchise's all-time scoring leaders list. On November 27, he scored 32 points in a 103–91 win over the New York Knicks. He finished the game on 2,575 career assists, moving him past Rod Strickland into fourth place on Portland's career assists list. Lillard also joined Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter as the only players in franchise history in the top 10 in scoring and top five in assists. On December 9, he tied a franchise record with nine 3-pointers and scored 35 points in a 124–117 loss to the Houston Rockets. Two days later, he scored a then season-high 39 points with five 3-pointers in a 111–104 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Lillard dealt with a hamstring injury late in December before straining his right calf in early January. On January 12, he scored 23 points in a 119–113 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. He moved into seventh in franchise history in scoring with 9,753 points, passing Geoff Petrie (9,732). On January 22, Lillard was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played January 15–21. It was his fourth career Player of the Week nod. A day later, he was named a Western Conference All-Star reserve. On February 2, he scored 32 points in a 130–105 loss to the Toronto Raptors, becoming the fastest player in franchise history to reach 10,000 points for his career. He became the eighth player to get 10,000 points and 2,500 assists in his first six seasons, joining Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Nate Archibald, Pete Maravich, Dave Bing and Oscar Robertson. On February 9, in a 118–100 win over the Sacramento Kings, Lillard scored a season-high 50 points in 29 minutes—the fourth 50-point game of his career. He scored 22 points in the third quarter before sitting out the entire fourth quarter. He shot 16 of 26 from the field with eight 3-pointers to go with 10-of-10 free throws. On February 14, he had 44 points and eight assists in a 123–117 win over the Warriors. On February 24, he hit a go-ahead lay-up with 0.9 seconds left and finished with a game-high 40 points in a 106–104 win over the Suns. Nineteen of his 40 points came in the fourth quarter, as he helped the Trail Blazers rally from 15 down in the final minutes. In five games between February 9 and 24, Lillard scored 197 points—the most points for a Blazer over a five-game stretch in franchise history. Lillard averaged 31.4 points per game in February, clinching the highest-scoring average for any month in Portland history. He passed Geoff Petrie's record of 30.4 points in March 1971. On March 3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lillard made at least one 3-pointer in his 45th straight game, setting a franchise record. With nine assists on March 15 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lillard became the third player in league history to have 1,500-plus points and 400-plus assists in each of his first six seasons. On March 20 against Houston, Lillard's franchise-record streak of 52 games with a 3-pointer ended. In the Trail Blazers' season finale on April 11, Lillard recorded 36 points and 10 assists in a 102–93 win over the Utah Jazz. The win earned the Trail Blazers the third seed in the playoffs with a 49–33 record. Lillard finished the regular season tied for fourth in scoring average in the NBA (26.9)—Drexler was the last Blazer to rank among the league's five best in scoring when he finished fourth during the 1991–92 season (25.0). For the season, he was named to the All-NBA First Team, becoming the third player in franchise history to earn All-NBA First Team honors, joining Clyde Drexler (1991–92) and Bill Walton (1977–78). Additionally, he placed 4th in the 2018 MVP Race, winning 207.0 of the 1010 possible points.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In Game 4 of the Trail Blazers' first-round playoff series against the Pelicans, Lillard scored 19 points in a 131–123 loss. The loss eliminated Portland from the playoffs, as they lost the series in a four-game sweep. Lillard never scored more than 20 in the series and was held below that three times.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In the Trail Blazers' season opener on October 18, 2018, Lillard scored a game-high 28 points in a 128–119 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On October 25, he scored 34 of his 41 points in the second half of the Trail Blazers' 128–114 win over the Orlando Magic. On October 27, he scored 42 points in a 120–111 loss to the Miami Heat, eclipsing the 11,000-point mark. On November 16, he had five assists against the Minnesota Timberwolves to pass Damon Stoudamire (3,018) for third on the team's career list. Two days later, he scored 40 points in a 119–109 win over the Washington Wizards. On November 28, he scored 41 points and set a franchise record with ten 3-pointers in a 115–112 win over the Magic. His seven 3-pointers in the third were a franchise record for a quarter. On December 17, he scored 22 of his 39 points in the third quarter of the Trail Blazers' 131–127 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. On December 27, he hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds left in overtime and scored 21 points in a 110–109 win over the Golden State Warriors. Two days later, he hit six 3-pointers and scored 40 points in a 115–105 loss to the Warriors. It was his fifth 40-point game of the season, tying a career high. On January 14, in a 115–107 loss to the Sacramento Kings, Lillard scored 35 points to become the fastest player in Portland history to reach 12,000 for his career. Additionally, Lillard scored in double figures in his 184th consecutive game, breaking a tie with Clyde Drexler for the franchise record. With 24 points against the Phoenix Suns on January 24, Lillard reached 1,311 points for the season, the most by any Portland player through 50 games. On March 7, he scored a season-high 51 points in a 129–121 overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On March 15, he scored 24 points in a 122–110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, becoming the second-leading scorer in franchise history, passing LaMarcus Aldridge (12,562) to sit behind only Drexler (18,040). With 31 points and 12 assists in a double-overtime victory over the Brooklyn Nets on March 25, Lillard recorded his 20th career game of at least 30 points and 10 assists, passing Drexler for the most such games in franchise history (19). On April 1, he was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the week ending March 31, marking the seventh weekly honor of his career and the first of the 2018–19 season. In April, he became the first Blazer to have 2,000 points and 500 assists in the same season, and the only Blazer besides Drexler to reach 2,000 points in two seasons with the team. He also passed his franchise record of 229 3-pointers set in the 2015–16 season and reached 1,500 for his career. Lillard placed 6th in the 2019 MVP race, receiving 69 of the 1,010 available points.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On April 23, Lillard hit a 37-foot, game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer and finished with a playoff career-high 50 points to help the Trail Blazers eliminate the Thunder from the playoffs in five games with a 118–115 victory. He had ten 3-pointers, breaking the franchise record. In Game 1 of the second round, Lillard scored 39 points in a 121–113 loss to the Denver Nuggets. In Game 6, he scored 32 points in a 119–108 win, helping the Trail Blazers tie the series against the Nuggets at 3–3. In the deciding Game 7, he scored 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting in a 100–96 win, advancing the Trail Blazers to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. In Game 2 of the conference finals, Lillard separated his ribs, but continued to play through the pain for the rest of the series—a series the Trail Blazers lost in a four-game sweep to the Warriors.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On November 8, 2019, Lillard recorded a then career-high 60 points, though it came in a loss to the visiting Brooklyn Nets, 115–119. He would surpass that on January 20, 2020, by scoring 61 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 7 assists in a 129–124 overtime win versus the Golden State Warriors. From January 20 through February 1, Lillard had a six-game stretch of averaging 48.8 points per game; he also recorded his first career triple-double on January 29 by registering 36 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 125–112 victory over the Houston Rockets. The historic scoring run earned him back-to-back Western Conference Player of the Week awards. On January 30, Lillard was selected to his fifth All-Star nod but was unable to participate due to a groin injury. He missed six games from February 21 to March 2. Lillard returned to play in the last four Blazers' games before the NBA hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic; during this span, he averaged 20.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1.8 steals per contest while shooting 40 percent from the field, 41.2 percent on 3-pointers, and 87.5 percent at the free-throw line. On June 30, 2020, Lillard was selected to be the cover athlete for "NBA 2K21". In Portland’s fourth game in the Orlando bubble, upon returning from the four-month hiatus, Lillard recorded 45 points and 12 assists in a 125–115 win over the Denver Nuggets on August 6. Three days later, he would follow that up with a 51-point, 7-assist performance to lead the Trail Blazers to 124–121 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. On August 11, Lillard erupted for 61 points, tying a career high, and 8 assists en route to a 134–131 win over the Dallas Mavericks. This was his third 60-point outing of the season, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players in league history to have such games three times in a single season. Lillard placed 8th in the 2020 MVP race, receiving 23 of the 1,010 available points.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On January 30, 2021, Lillard scored a season-high 44 points, alongside a game-winning three at the buzzer, in a 123–122 win over the Chicago Bulls. On February 17, 2021, Lillard scored 43 points and tied a career-high 16 assists in a win against the New Orleans Pelicans. He became one of only 12 players in NBA history to have 40 points and 15 assists in a game. Lillard placed 7th in the 2021 MVP race, receiving 38 of the 1,010 available points. This marked the 5th time in six seasons that he had placed among the top 8 in MVP voting.


title: Damian Lillard

text: During Game 5 of the first round of the 2021 playoffs against the Denver Nuggets, Lillard scored a playoff career-high 55 points, behind an NBA playoff record 12 made three-pointers, as well as 10 assists. Lillard hit game-tying threes near the end of regulation and near the end of the first overtime to keep Portland alive; however, the Nuggets rallied to a 147–140 double-overtime victory to take a 3–2 series lead. In Game 6, he had 29 points and 13 assists, but the Blazers lost to Denver 126–115, sending Portland home in the first round for the fourth time in five years.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On November 20, 2021, Lillard scored a season-high 39 points, along with 7 assists and 3 blocks, in a 118–111 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. On January 13, 2022, he underwent surgery for an abdominal injury and was ruled out 6–8 weeks. On February 10, Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin stated that Lillard would "most likely" not play again during the 2021–22 season. On March 21, Lillard was officially ruled out for the remainder of the season. This was the first time since Lillard's rookie season that Portland missed the playoffs, finishing the season with a 27–55 record.


title: Damian Lillard

text: After missing the final 47 games last season with injuries, Lillard scored 41 points in Portland's second and third games of the new season to lead them to a 3–0 start. Lillard became one of eight players all-time to score at least 40 points twice in his team’s first three games of the season, a list that includes Wilt Chamberlain (three times) and Michael Jordan (three times). In the season opener at Sacramento, he moved into the top 10 all-time three-point field goals made list. For his play, Lillard was named the NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the 14th time in his career. His 14 Player of the Week honors are the most in franchise history. On December 19, Lillard scored 28 points in a 123–121 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and he surpassed Clyde Drexler (18,040) to become the franchise's all-time scoring leader.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard wears the jersey number No. 0, representative for the letter 'O' and his journey in life; from Oakland, to Ogden, and now Oregon. Lillard is a Christian; he has a scripture on his left arm of Psalms 37:1–3. He completed his degree in professional sales from Weber State University in May 2015. Lillard's sister, LaNae, attended Lakeridge High School. His brother Houston, who earned a football scholarship to Southeast Missouri State after playing football in the junior college level at Laney College, is an Indoor Football League quarterback.


title: Damian Lillard

text: On March 29, 2018, Lillard had his first child, a son named Damian Jr. They live in the affluent Portland suburb of West Linn. Lillard established a RESPECT Program to help high school kids in the Portland metro area graduate.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In 2012, Lillard signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Adidas. In 2014, Lillard negotiated a new contract with Adidas potentially worth $100 million over 10 years. Lillard has a signature shoe line with Adidas, the "Adidas Dame". In 2017, Lillard signed a sponsorship deal with Powerade, a subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company. Lillard also has endorsement deals with Spalding, Panini, Foot Locker, JBL, Biofreeze and Moda Health. In 2019, Lillard also became one of a number of NBA players to sign a contract with Hulu to promote the streaming service's new campaign of adding live sports to their repertoire.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard revived the Never Worry Picnic in Brookfield Park after his standout rookie season in 2013. The East Oakland event was discontinued when he was at age 12.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In 2020, Lillard, along with longtime friend and business partner Brian Sanders, became co-owner of a Toyota dealership, now known as Damian Lillard Toyota, in McMinnville, Oregon.


title: Damian Lillard

text: In January 2021, Lillard had his second and third child after his fiancée Kay’La Hanson gave birth to twins, a daughter named Kali and a son named Kalii. In September 2021, Lillard married Hanson.


title: Damian Lillard

text: Lillard is a hip-hop artist and rapper by the name of Dame D.O.L.L.A., which stands for Different On Levels the Lord Allows. He began rapping mainly to hang out in the car of his cousin Eugene "Baby" Vasquez, who moved to Oakland from New York City in the early 1990s. Another big influence on Lillard's rapping was his cousin Brookfield Duece, who had some success in the Oakland rap scene.


title: Damian Lillard

text: He started a social media trend called "Four Bar Friday" in which he, and anyone who chooses to participate, submits a video of themselves rapping a small verse on Instagram every Friday with the hashtag #4BarFriday. In July 2015, he released his first full length single, "Soldier in the Game", via the online music streaming site SoundCloud. On October 21, 2016, Lillard released his debut album "The Letter O". On October 6, 2017, Lillard released his second album "Confirmed". Lillard released his third album, Big D.O.L.L.A. on August 9, 2019, featuring guests Lil Wayne, Mozzy, and Jeremih. He now has his own record label, Front Page Music, which includes Brookfield Duece in its roster. Lillard's non-album single "Kobe", which was released in September 2020 and features Snoop Dogg and Derrick Milano, is part of the soundtrack for "NBA 2K21" as a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant.


title: King Lear

text: It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane and a proscribed crux of political machinations. The first known performance of any version of Shakespeare's play was on Saint Stephen's Day in 1606. The three extant publications from which modern editors derive their texts are the 1608 quarto (Q1) and the 1619 quarto (Q2, unofficial and based on Q1) and the 1623 First Folio. The quarto versions differ significantly from the folio version.


title: King Lear

text: The play was often revised after the English Restoration for audiences who disliked its dark and depressing tone, but since the 19th century Shakespeare's original play has been regarded as one of his supreme achievements.


title: King Lear

text: Both the title role and the supporting roles have been coveted by accomplished actors, and the play has been widely adapted. In his "A Defence of Poetry", Percy Bysshe Shelley called "King Lear" "the most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world", and the play regularly appears on lists of the greatest works of literature ever written.


title: King Lear

text: King Lear of Britain, elderly and wanting to retire from the duties of the monarchy, decides to divide his realm among his three daughters, and declares he will offer the largest share to the one who loves him most. The eldest, Goneril, speaks first, declaring her love for her father in fulsome terms. Moved by her flattery, Lear proceeds to grant to Goneril her share as soon as she has finished her declaration, before Regan and Cordelia have a chance to speak. He then awards to Regan her share as soon as she has spoken. When it is finally the turn of his youngest and favourite daughter, Cordelia, at first she refuses to say anything ("Nothing, my Lord") and then declares there is nothing to compare her love to, no words to express it properly; she says honestly but bluntly that she loves him according to her bond, no more and no less, and will reserve half of her love for her future husband. Infuriated, Lear disinherits Cordelia and divides her share between her elder sisters.


title: King Lear

text: The Earl of Gloucester and the Earl of Kent observe that, by dividing his realm between Goneril and Regan, Lear has awarded his realm in equal shares to the peerages of the Duke of Albany (Goneril's husband) and the Duke of Cornwall (Regan's husband). Kent objects to Lear's unfair treatment of Cordelia. Enraged by Kent's protests, Lear banishes him from the country. Lear then summons the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France, who have both proposed marriage to Cordelia. Learning that Cordelia has been disinherited, the Duke of Burgundy withdraws his suit, but the King of France is impressed by her honesty and marries her nonetheless. The King of France is shocked by Lear's decision because up until this time Lear has only praised and favoured Cordelia ("... she whom even but now was your best object, / The argument of your praise, balm of your age, ..."). Meanwhile, Gloucester has introduced his illegitimate son Edmund to Kent.


title: King Lear

text: Lear announces he will live alternately with Goneril and Regan, and their husbands. He reserves to himself a retinue of 100 knights, to be supported by his daughters. After Cordelia bids farewell to them and leaves with the King of France, Goneril and Regan speak privately, revealing that their declarations of love were false and that they view Lear as a foolish old man.


title: King Lear

text: Gloucester's son Edmund resents his illegitimate status and plots to dispose of his legitimate older half-brother, Edgar. He tricks his father with a forged letter, making him think that Edgar plans to usurp the estate. The Earl of Kent returns from exile in disguise (calling himself Caius), and Lear hires him as a servant. At Albany and Goneril's house, Lear and Kent quarrel with Oswald, Goneril's steward. Lear discovers that now that Goneril has power, she no longer respects him. She orders him to reduce the number of his disorderly retinue. Enraged, Lear departs for Regan's home. The Fool reproaches Lear with his foolishness in giving everything to Regan and Goneril and predicts that Regan will treat him no better.


title: King Lear

text: Edmund learns from Curan, a courtier, that there is likely to be war between Albany and Cornwall and that Regan and Cornwall are to arrive at Gloucester's house that evening. Taking advantage of the arrival of the duke and Regan, Edmund fakes an attack by Edgar, and Gloucester is completely taken in. He disinherits Edgar and proclaims him an outlaw.


title: King Lear

text: Bearing Lear's message to Regan, Kent meets Oswald again at Gloucester's home, quarrels with him again and is put in the stocks by Regan and her husband Cornwall. When Lear arrives, he objects to the mistreatment of his messenger, but Regan is as dismissive of her father as Goneril was. Lear is enraged but impotent. Goneril arrives and supports Regan's argument against him. Lear yields completely to his rage. He rushes out into a storm to rant against his ungrateful daughters, accompanied by the mocking Fool. Kent later follows to protect him. Gloucester protests against Lear's mistreatment. With Lear's retinue of a hundred knights dissolved, the only companions he has left are his Fool and Kent. Wandering on the heath after the storm, Edgar, in the guise of a madman named Tom o' Bedlam, meets Lear. Edgar babbles madly while Lear denounces his daughters. Kent leads them all to shelter.


title: King Lear

text: Kent tells a gentleman that a French army has landed in Britain, aiming to reinstate Lear to the throne. He then sends the gentleman to give Cordelia a message while he looks for King Lear on the heath. Meanwhile, Edmund learns that Gloucester is aware of France's impending invasion and betrays his father to Cornwall, Regan, and Goneril. Once Edmund leaves with Goneril to warn Albany about the invasion, Gloucester is arrested, and Regan and Cornwall gouge out Gloucester's eyes. As they do this, a servant is overcome with rage and attacks Cornwall, mortally wounding him. Regan kills the servant and tells Gloucester that Edmund betrayed him. Then, as she did to her father in Act II, she sends Gloucester out to wander the heath.


title: King Lear

text: Edgar, in his madman's disguise, meets his blinded father on the heath. Gloucester, sightless and failing to recognise Edgar's voice, begs him to lead him to a cliff at Dover so that he may jump to his death. Goneril discovers that she finds Edmund more attractive than her honest husband Albany, whom she regards as cowardly. Albany has developed a conscience—he is disgusted by the sisters' treatment of Lear and Gloucester—and denounces his wife. Goneril sends Edmund back to Regan. After receiving news of Cornwall's death, she fears her newly widowed sister may steal Edmund and sends him a letter through Oswald. Now alone with Lear, Kent leads him to the French army, which is commanded by Cordelia. But Lear is half-mad and terribly embarrassed by his earlier follies. At Regan's instigation, Albany joins his forces with hers against the French. Goneril's suspicions about Regan's motives are confirmed and returned, as Regan rightly guesses the meaning of her letter and declares to Oswald that she is a more appropriate match for Edmund. Edgar pretends to lead Gloucester to a cliff, then changes his voice and tells Gloucester he has miraculously survived a great fall. Lear appears, by now, completely mad. He rants that the whole world is corrupt and runs off.


title: King Lear

text: Oswald appears, still looking for Edmund. On Regan's orders, he tries to kill Gloucester but is killed by Edgar. In Oswald's pocket, Edgar finds Goneril's letter, in which she encourages Edmund to kill her husband and take her as his wife. Kent and Cordelia take charge of Lear, whose madness quickly passes. Regan, Goneril, Albany, and Edmund meet with their forces. Albany insists that they fight the French invaders but not harm Lear or Cordelia. The two sisters lust for Edmund, who has made promises to both. He considers the dilemma and plots the deaths of Albany, Lear, and Cordelia. Edgar gives Goneril's letter to Albany. The armies meet in battle, the Britons defeat the French, and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Edmund sends Lear and Cordelia off with secret joint orders from him (representing Regan and her forces) and Goneril (representing the forces of her estranged husband, Albany) for the execution of Cordelia.


title: King Lear

text: The victorious British leaders meet, and the recently widowed Regan now declares she will marry Edmund. But Albany exposes the intrigues of Edmund and Goneril and proclaims Edmund a traitor. Regan falls ill, having been poisoned by Goneril, and is escorted offstage, where she dies. Edmund defies Albany, who calls for a trial by combat. Edgar appears masked and in armour and challenges Edmund to a duel. No one knows who he is. Edgar wounds Edmund fatally, though Edmund does not die immediately. Albany confronts Goneril with the letter which was intended to be his death warrant; she flees in shame and rage. Edgar reveals himself and reports that Gloucester died offstage from the shock and joy of learning that Edgar is alive, after Edgar revealed himself to his father.


title: King Lear

text: Offstage, Goneril, her plans thwarted, commits suicide. The dying Edmund decides, though he admits it is against his own character, to try to save Lear and Cordelia, but his confession comes too late. Soon after, Albany sends men to countermand Edmund's orders. Lear enters bearing Cordelia's corpse in his arms, having survived by killing the executioner. Kent appears and Lear now recognises him. Albany urges Lear to resume his throne, but as with Gloucester, the trials Lear has been through have finally overwhelmed him, and he dies. Albany then asks Kent and Edgar to take charge of the throne. Kent declines, explaining that his master is calling him on a journey and he must follow. Finally, Albany (in the quarto version) or Edgar (in the folio version) implies that he will now become king.


title: King Lear

text: Shakespeare's play is based on various accounts of the semi-legendary Brythonic figure Leir of Britain, whose name has been linked by some scholars to the Brythonic god Lir/Llŷr, though in actuality the names are not etymologically related. Shakespeare's most important source is probably the second edition of "The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande" by Raphael Holinshed, published in 1587. Holinshed himself found the story in the earlier "Historia Regum Britanniae" by Geoffrey of Monmouth, which was written in the 12th century. Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene", published 1590, also contains a character named Cordelia, who also dies from hanging, as in "King Lear".


title: King Lear

text: Other possible sources are the anonymous play "King Leir" (published in 1605); "The Mirror for Magistrates" (1574), by John Higgins; "The Malcontent" (1604), by John Marston; "The London Prodigal" (1605); Montaigne's "Essays", which were translated into English by John Florio in 1603; "An Historical Description of Iland of Britaine" (1577), by William Harrison; "Remaines Concerning Britaine" (1606), by William Camden; "Albion's England" (1589), by William Warner; and "A Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures" (1603), by Samuel Harsnett, which provided some of the language used by Edgar while he feigns madness. "King Lear" is also a literary variant of a common folk tale, Love Like Salt, Aarne–Thompson type 923, in which a father rejects his youngest daughter for a statement of her love that does not please him.


title: King Lear

text: The source of the subplot involving Gloucester, Edgar, and Edmund is a tale in Philip Sidney's "Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia" (1580–90), with a blind Paphlagonian king and his two sons, Leonatus and Plexitrus.


title: King Lear

text: Besides the subplot involving the Earl of Gloucester and his sons, the principal innovation Shakespeare made to this story was the death of Cordelia and Lear at the end; in the account by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Cordelia restores Lear to the throne, and succeeds him as ruler after his death. During the 17th century, Shakespeare's tragic ending was much criticised and alternative versions were written by Nahum Tate, in which the leading characters survived and Edgar and Cordelia were married (despite the fact that Cordelia was previously betrothed to the King of France). As Harold Bloom states: "Tate's version held the stage for almost 150 years, until Edmund Kean reinstated the play's tragic ending in 1823."


title: King Lear

text: Holinshed states that the story is set when Joash was King of Judah (c. 800 BC), while Shakespeare avoids dating the setting, only suggesting that it is sometime in the pre-Christian era.


title: King Lear

text: The characters of Earl "Caius" of Kent and The Fool were created wholly by Shakespeare in order to engage in character-driven conversations with Lear. Oswald the steward, the confidant of Goneril, was created as a similar expository device.


title: King Lear

text: Shakespeare's Lear and other characters makes oaths to Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo. While the presence of Roman religion in Britain is technically an anachronism, nothing was known about any religion that existed in Britain at the time of Lear's alleged life.


title: King Lear

text: Holinshed identifies the personal names of the Duke of Albany (Maglanus), the Duke of Cornwall (Henninus), and the Gallic/French leader (Aganippus). Shakespeare refers to these characters by their titles only, and also changes the nature of Albany from a villain to a hero, by reassigning Albany's wicked deeds to Cornwall. Maglanus and Henninus are killed in the final battle, but are survived by their sons Margan and Cunedag. In Shakespeare's version, Cornwall is killed by a servant who objects to the torture of the Earl of Gloucester, while Albany is one of the few surviving main characters. Isaac Asimov surmised that this alteration was due to the title Duke of Albany being held in 1606 by Prince Charles, the younger son of Shakespeare's benefactor King James. However, this explanation is faulty, because James' older son, Prince Henry, held the title Duke of Cornwall at the same time.


title: King Lear

text: There is no direct evidence to indicate when "King Lear" was written or first performed. It is thought to have been composed sometime between 1603 and 1606. A Stationers' Register entry notes a performance before James I on 26 December 1606. The 1603 date originates from words in Edgar's speeches which may derive from Samuel Harsnett's "Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures" (1603). A significant issue in the dating of the play is the relationship of "King Lear" to the play titled "The True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Leir and his Three Daughters", which was published for the first time after its entry in the Stationers' Register of 8 May 1605. This play had a significant effect on Shakespeare, and his close study of it suggests that he was using a printed copy, which suggests a composition date of 1605–06. Conversely, Frank Kermode, in the "Riverside Shakespeare", considers the publication of "Leir" to have been a response to performances of Shakespeare's already-written play; noting a sonnet by William Strachey that may have verbal resemblances with "Lear", Kermode concludes that "1604–05 seems the best compromise".


title: King Lear

text: A line in the play that regards "These late eclipses in the sun and moon" appears to refer to a phenomenon of two eclipses that occurred over London within a few days of each other—the lunar eclipse of 27 September 1605 and the solar eclipse of 12 October 1605. This remarkable pair of events stirred up much discussion among astrologers. Edmund's line "A prediction I read this other day…" apparently refers to the published prognostications of the astrologers, which followed after the eclipses. This suggests that those lines in Act I were written sometime after both the eclipses and the published comments.


title: King Lear

text: The modern text of "King Lear" derives from three sources: two quartos, one published in 1608 (Q) and the other in 1619 (Q), and the version in the First Folio of 1623 (F). Q1 has "many errors and muddles". Q2 was based on Q1. It introduced corrections and new errors. Q2 also informed the Folio text. Quarto and Folio texts differ significantly. Q contains 285 lines not in F; F contains around 100 lines not in Q. Also, at least a thousand individual words are changed between the two texts, each text has different styles of punctuation, and about half the verse lines in the F are either printed as prose or differently divided in the Q. Early editors, beginning with Alexander Pope, conflated the two texts, creating the modern version that has been commonly used since. The conflated version originated with the assumptions that the differences in the versions do not indicate any re-writing by the author; that Shakespeare wrote only one original manuscript, which is now lost; and that the Quarto and Folio versions contain various distortions of that lost original. In 2021, Duncan Salkeld endorsed this view, suggesting that Q1 was typeset by a reader dictating to the compositor, leading to many slips caused by mishearing. Other editors, such as Nuttall and Bloom, have suggested Shakespeare himself maybe was involved in reworking passages in the play to accommodate performances and other textual requirements of the play.


title: King Lear

text: As early as 1931, Madeleine Doran suggested that the two texts had independent histories, and that these differences between them were critically interesting. This argument, however, was not widely discussed until the late 1970s, when it was revived, principally by Michael Warren and Gary Taylor, who discuss a variety of theories including Doran's idea that the Quarto may have been printed from Shakespeare's foul papers, and that the Folio may have been printed from a promptbook prepared for a production.


title: King Lear

text: The New Cambridge Shakespeare has published separate editions of Q and F; the most recent Pelican Shakespeare edition contains both the 1608 Quarto and the 1623 Folio text as well as a conflated version; the New Arden edition edited by R. A. Foakes offers a conflated text that indicates those passages that are found only in Q or F. Both Anthony Nuttall of Oxford University and Harold Bloom of Yale University have endorsed the view of Shakespeare having revised the tragedy at least once during his lifetime. As Bloom indicates: "At the close of Shakespeare's revised "King Lear", a reluctant Edgar becomes King of Britain, accepting his destiny but in the accents of despair. Nuttall speculates that Edgar, like Shakespeare himself, usurps the power of manipulating the audience by deceiving poor Gloucester."


title: King Lear

text: John F. Danby, in his "Shakespeare's Doctrine of Nature – A Study of King Lear" (1949), argues that "Lear" dramatizes, among other things, the current meanings of "Nature". The words "nature", "natural", and "unnatural" occur over forty times in the play, reflecting a debate in Shakespeare's time about what nature really was like; this debate pervades the play and finds symbolic expression in Lear's changing attitude to Thunder. There are two strongly contrasting views of human nature in the play: that of the Lear party (Lear, Gloucester, Albany, Kent), exemplifying the philosophy of Bacon and Hooker, and that of the Edmund party (Edmund, Cornwall, Goneril, Regan), akin to the views later formulated by Hobbes, though the latter had not yet begun his philosophy career when "Lear" was first performed. Along with the two views of Nature, the play contains two views of Reason, brought out in Gloucester and Edmund's speeches on astrology (1.2). The rationality of the Edmund party is one with which a modern audience more readily identifies. But the Edmund party carries bold rationalism to such extremes that it becomes madness: a madness-in-reason, the ironic counterpart of Lear's "reason in madness" (IV.6.190) and the Fool's wisdom-in-folly. This betrayal of reason lies behind the play's later emphasis on "feeling".


title: King Lear

text: The two Natures and the two Reasons imply two societies. Edmund is the New Man, a member of an age of competition, suspicion, glory, in contrast with the older society which has come down from the Middle Ages, with its belief in co-operation, reasonable decency, and respect for the whole as greater than the part. "King Lear" is thus an allegory. The older society, that of the medieval vision, with its doting king, falls into error, and is threatened by the new Machiavellianism; it is regenerated and saved by a vision of a new order, embodied in the king's rejected daughter. Cordelia, in the allegorical scheme, is threefold: a person; an ethical principle (love); and a community. Nevertheless, Shakespeare's understanding of the New Man is so extensive as to amount almost to sympathy. Edmund is the last great expression in Shakespeare of that side of Renaissance individualism—the energy, the emancipation, the courage—which has made a positive contribution to the heritage of the West. "He embodies something vital which a final synthesis must reaffirm. But he makes an absolute claim which Shakespeare will not support. It is right for man to feel, as Edmund does, that society exists for man, not man for society. It is not right to assert the kind of man Edmund would erect to this supremacy."


title: King Lear

text: The play offers an alternative to the feudal-Machiavellian polarity, an alternative foreshadowed in France's speech (I.1.245–256), in Lear and Gloucester's prayers (III.4. 28–36; IV.1.61–66), and in the figure of Cordelia. Until the decent society is achieved, we are meant to take as role-model (though qualified by Shakespearean ironies) Edgar, "the machiavel of goodness", endurance, courage and "ripeness".


title: King Lear

text: The play also contains references to disputes between King James I and Parliament. In the 1604 elections to the House of Commons, Sir John Fortescue, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was defeated by a member of the Buckinghamshire gentry, Sir Francis Goodwin. Displeased with the result, James declared the result of the Buckinghhamshire election invalid, and swore in Fortescue as the MP for Buckinghamshire while the House of Commons insisted on swearing in Goodwin, leading to a clash between King and Parliament over who had the right to decide who sat in the House of Commons. The MP Thomas Wentworth, the son of another MP Peter Wentworth—often imprisoned under Elizabeth for raising the question of the succession in the Commons—was most forceful in protesting James's attempts to reduce the powers of the House of Commons, saying the King could not just declare the results of an election invalid if he disliked who had won the seat as he was insisting that he could. The character of Kent resembles Peter Wentworth in the way which is tactless and blunt in advising Lear, but his point is valid that Lear should be more careful with his friends and advisers.


title: King Lear

text: Just as the House of Commons had argued to James that their loyalty was to the constitution of England, not to the King personally, Kent insists his loyalty is institutional, not personal, as he is loyal to the realm of which the king is head, not to Lear himself, and he tells Lear to behave better for the good of the realm. By contrast, Lear makes an argument similar to James that as king, he holds absolute power and could disregard the views of his subjects if they displease him whenever he liked. In the play, the characters like the Fool, Kent and Cordelia, whose loyalties are institutional, seeing their first loyalty to the realm, are portrayed more favorably than those like Regan and Goneril, who insist they are only loyal to the king, seeing their loyalties as personal. Likewise, James was notorious for his riotous, debauched lifestyle and his preference for sycophantic courtiers who were forever singing his praises out of the hope for advancement, aspects of his court that closely resemble the court of King Lear, who starts out in the play with a riotous, debauched court of sycophantic courtiers. Kent criticises Oswald as a man unworthy of office who has only been promoted because of his sycophancy, telling Lear that he should be loyal to those who are willing to tell him the truth, a statement that many in England wished that James would heed.


title: King Lear

text: Furthermore, James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, thereby uniting the kingdoms of the island of Britain into one, and a major issue of his reign was the attempt to forge a common British identity. James had given his sons Henry and Charles the titles of Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Albany, the same titles borne by the men married to Regan and Goneril. The play begins with Lear ruling all of Britain and ends with him destroying his realm; the critic Andrew Hadfield argued that the division of Britain by Lear was an inversion of the unification of Britain by James, who believed his policies would result in a well governed and prosperous unified realm being passed on to his heir. Hadfield argued that the play was meant as a warning to James as in the play a monarch loses everything by giving in to his sycophantic courtiers who only seek to use him while neglecting those who truly loved him. Hadfield also argued that the world of Lear's court is "childish" with Lear presenting himself as the father of the nation and requiring all of his subjects, not just his children, to address him in paternal terms, which infantises most of the people around him, which pointedly references James's statement in his 1598 book "The Trew Law of Free Monarchies" that the king is the "father of the nation", for whom all of his subjects are his children.


title: King Lear

text: "King Lear" provides a basis for "the primary enactment of psychic breakdown in English literary history". The play begins with Lear's "near-fairytale narcissism".


title: King Lear

text: Given the absence of legitimate mothers in "King Lear", Coppélia Kahn provides a psychoanalytic interpretation of the "maternal subtext" found in the play. According to Kahn, Lear's old age forces him to regress into an infantile disposition, and he now seeks a love that is traditionally satisfied by a mothering woman, but in the absence of a real mother, his daughters become the mother figures. Lear's contest of love between Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia serves as the binding agreement; his daughters will get their inheritance provided that they care for him, especially Cordelia, on whose "kind nursery" he will greatly depend.


title: King Lear

text: Cordelia's refusal to dedicate herself to him and love him as more than a father has been interpreted by some as a resistance to incest, but Kahn also inserts the image of a rejecting mother. The situation is now a reversal of parent-child roles, in which Lear's madness is a childlike rage due to his deprivation of filial/maternal care. Even when Lear and Cordelia are captured together, his madness persists as Lear envisions a nursery in prison, where Cordelia's sole existence is for him. It is only with Cordelia's death that his fantasy of a daughter-mother ultimately diminishes, as "King Lear" concludes with only male characters living.


title: King Lear

text: Sigmund Freud asserted that Cordelia symbolises Death. Therefore, when the play begins with Lear rejecting his daughter, it can be interpreted as him rejecting death; Lear is unwilling to face the finitude of his being. The play's poignant ending scene, wherein Lear carries the body of his beloved Cordelia, was of great importance to Freud. In this scene, Cordelia forces the realization of his finitude, or as Freud put it, she causes him to "make friends with the necessity of dying". Shakespeare had particular intentions with Cordelia's death, and was the only writer to have Cordelia killed (in the version by Nahum Tate, she continues to live happily, and in Holinshed's, she restores her father and succeeds him).


title: King Lear

text: Alternatively, an analysis based on Adlerian theory suggests that the King's contest among his daughters in Act I has more to do with his control over the unmarried Cordelia. This theory indicates that the King's "dethronement" might have led him to seek control that he lost after he divided his land.


title: King Lear

text: In his study of the character-portrayal of Edmund, Harold Bloom refers to him as "Shakespeare's most original character". "As Hazlitt pointed out", writes Bloom, "Edmund does not share in the hypocrisy of Goneril and Regan: his Machiavellianism is absolutely pure, and lacks an Oedipal motive. Freud's vision of family romances simply does not apply to Edmund. Iago is free to reinvent himself every minute, yet Iago has strong passions, however negative. Edmund has no passions whatsoever; he has never loved anyone, and he never will. In that respect, he is Shakespeare's most original character."


title: King Lear

text: The tragedy of Lear's lack of understanding of the consequences of his demands and actions is often observed to be like that of a spoiled child, but it has also been noted that his behaviour is equally likely to be seen in parents who have never adjusted to their children having grown up.


title: King Lear

text: Critics are divided on the question of whether "King Lear" represents an affirmation of a particular Christian doctrine. Those who think it does posit different arguments, which include the significance of Lear's self-divestment. For some critics, this reflects the Christian concepts of the fall of the mighty and the inevitable loss of worldly possessions. By 1569, sermons delivered at court such as those at Windsor declared how "rich men are rich dust, wise men wise dust... From him that weareth purple, and beareth the crown down to him that is clad with meanest apparel, there is nothing but garboil, and ruffle, and hoisting, and lingering wrath, and fear of death and death itself, and hunger, and many a whip of God." Some see this in Cordelia and what she symbolised—that the material body are mere husks that would eventually be discarded so that the fruit can be reached.


title: King Lear

text: Among those who argue that Lear is redeemed in the Christian sense through suffering are A.C. Bradley and John Reibetanz, who has written: "through his sufferings, Lear has won an enlightened soul". Other critics who find no evidence of redemption and emphasise the horrors of the final act include John Holloway and Marvin Rosenberg. William R. Elton stresses the pre-Christian setting of the play, writing that, "Lear fulfills the criteria for pagan behavior in life," falling "into total blasphemy at the moment of his irredeemable loss". This is related to the way some sources cite that at the end of the narrative, King Lear raged against heaven before eventually dying in despair with the death of Cordelia.


title: King Lear

text: Harold Bloom argues that "King Lear" transcends a morality system entirely, and thus is one of the major triumphs of the play. Bloom writes that in the play there is, " . . . no theology, no metaphysics, no ethics".


title: King Lear

text: "King Lear" has been performed by esteemed actors since the 17th century, when men played all the roles. From the 20th century, a number of women have played male roles in the play; most commonly the Fool, who has been played (among others) by Judy Davis, Emma Thompson and Robyn Nevin. Lear himself has been played by Marianne Hoppe in 1990, by Janet Wright in 1995, by Kathryn Hunter in 1996–97, and by Glenda Jackson in 2016 and 2019.


title: King Lear

text: Shakespeare wrote the role of Lear for his company's chief tragedian, Richard Burbage, for whom Shakespeare was writing incrementally older characters as their careers progressed. It has been speculated either that the role of the Fool was written for the company's clown Robert Armin, or that it was written for performance by one of the company's boys, doubling the role of Cordelia. Only one specific performance of the play during Shakespeare's lifetime is known: before the court of King James I at Whitehall on 26 December 1606. Its original performances would have been at The Globe, where there were no sets in the modern sense, and characters would have signified their roles visually with props and costumes: Lear's costume, for example, would have changed in the course of the play as his status diminished: commencing in crown and regalia; then as a huntsman; raging bareheaded in the storm scene; and finally crowned with flowers in parody of his original status.


title: King Lear

text: All theatres were closed down by the Puritan government on 6 September 1642. Upon the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, two patent companies (the King's Company and the Duke's Company) were established, and the existing theatrical repertoire divided between them. And from the restoration until the mid-19th century the performance history of "King Lear" is not the story of Shakespeare's version, but instead of "The History of King Lear", a popular adaptation by Nahum Tate. Its most significant deviations from Shakespeare were to omit the Fool entirely, to introduce a happy ending in which Lear and Cordelia survive, and to develop a love story between Cordelia and Edgar (two characters who never interact in Shakespeare) which ends with their marriage. Like most Restoration adapters of Shakespeare, Tate admired Shakespeare's natural genius but saw fit to augment his work with contemporary standards of art (which were largely guided by the neoclassical unities of time, place, and action). Tate's struggle to strike a balance between raw nature and refined art is apparent in his description of the tragedy: "a heap of jewels, unstrung and unpolish't; yet so dazzling in their disorder, that I soon perceiv'd I had seiz'd a treasure." Other changes included giving Cordelia a "confidante" named Arante, bringing the play closer to contemporary notions of poetic justice, and adding titilating material such as amorous encounters between Edmund and both Regan and Goneril, a scene in which Edgar rescues Cordelia from Edmund's attempted kidnapping and rape, and a scene in which Cordelia wears men's pants that would reveal the actress's ankles. The play ends with a celebration of "the King's blest Restauration", an obvious reference to Charles II.


title: King Lear

text: In the early 18th century, some writers began to express objections to this (and other) Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare. For example, in "The Spectator" on 16 April 1711 Joseph Addison wrote ""King Lear" is an admirable Tragedy ... as "Shakespeare" wrote it; but as it is reformed according to the chymerical Notion of poetical Justice in my humble Opinion it hath lost half its Beauty." Yet on the stage, Tate's version prevailed.


title: King Lear

text: David Garrick was the first actor-manager to begin to cut back on elements of Tate's adaptation in favour of Shakespeare's original: he retained Tate's major changes, including the happy ending, but removed many of Tate's lines, including Edgar's closing speech. He also reduced the prominence of the Edgar-Cordelia love story, in order to focus more on the relationship between Lear and his daughters. His version had a powerful emotional impact: Lear driven to madness by his daughters was (in the words of one spectator, Arthur Murphy) "the finest tragic distress ever seen on any stage" and, in contrast, the devotion shown to Lear by Cordelia (a mix of Shakespeare's, Tate's and Garrick's contributions to the part) moved the audience to tears.


title: King Lear

text: The first professional performances of "King Lear" in North America are likely to have been those of the Hallam Company (later the American Company) which arrived in Virginia in 1752 and who counted the play among their repertoire by the time of their departure for Jamaica in 1774.


title: King Lear

text: Charles Lamb established the Romantics' attitude to "King Lear" in his 1811 essay "On the Tragedies of Shakespeare, considered with reference to their fitness for stage representation" where he says that the play "is essentially impossible to be represented on the stage", preferring to experience it in the study. In the theatre, he argues, "to see Lear acted, to see an old man tottering about the stage with a walking-stick, turned out of doors by his daughters on a rainy night, has nothing in it but what is painful and disgusting" yet "while we read it, we see not Lear but we are Lear,—we are in his mind, we are sustained by a grandeur which baffles the malice of daughters and storms."


title: King Lear

text: "King Lear" was politically controversial during the period of George III's madness, and as a result was not performed at all in the two professional theatres of London from 1811 to 1820: but was then the subject of major productions in both, within three months of his death. The 19th century saw the gradual reintroduction of Shakespeare's text to displace Tate's version. Like Garrick before him, John Philip Kemble had introduced more of Shakespeare's text, while still preserving the three main elements of Tate's version: the love story, the omission of the Fool, and the happy ending. Edmund Kean played "King Lear" with its tragic ending in 1823, but failed and reverted to Tate's crowd-pleaser after only three performances. At last in 1838, William Macready at Covent Garden performed Shakespeare's version, freed from Tate's adaptions. The restored character of the Fool was played by an actress, Priscilla Horton, as, in the words of one spectator, "a fragile, hectic, beautiful-faced, half-idiot-looking boy". And Helen Faucit's final appearance as Cordelia, dead in her father's arms, became one of the most iconic of Victorian images. John Forster, writing in the "Examiner" on 14 February 1838, expressed the hope that "Mr Macready's success has banished that disgrace [Tate's version] from the stage for ever." But even this version was not close to Shakespeare's: the 19th-century actor-managers heavily cut Shakespeare's scripts: ending scenes on big "curtain effects" and reducing or eliminating supporting roles to give greater prominence to the star. One of Macready's innovations—the use of Stonehenge-like structures on stage to indicate an ancient setting—proved enduring on stage into the 20th century, and can be seen in the 1983 television version starring Laurence Olivier.