King Lear Literary Essay: Edmund – An Unsung Hero Undoubtedly, King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s most revered tragic plays. The complex plot, with its unexpected twists and turns, keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as some of Shakespeare’s most interesting characters, namely Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester and brother of Edgar, are revealed. However, Edmund is truly the unsung hero of the iconic play. Although he is perceived as a Machiavellian vigilante, he is indeed a man whose true intent is simply to correct the injustices and inequalities within society. The fact that he has been brought up in a tormenting environment gives him a justifiable reason to stand up against the immoral society in order to correct the iniquitous …show more content…
Edmund has been charged of being a deceptive, cunning, and unscrupulous personality; yet, the reasons for his evil disposition have been greatly overlooked. Edmund –due to his illegitimate status− has been tormented his entire life by the very people who have raised him; the people who are supposed to be the backbone and support of any child. The fact that Edmund has grown up accustomed to insults by his own father easily explains why Edmund is one of the earliest characters able to identify and vocalize the injustices in society: “Why brand they us with base, base bastardy,” (1.2.2-3). The fact that Edmund is questioning society and their ideals indicates that he does not believe in the wrong morals of society, but, on the contrary, rejects them. In fact, he rejects these ideals to the extent where he believes that The …show more content…
On the surface, it is extremely easy to form a conclusion that Edmund is a despicable person due to the fact that he betrays not only his brother, but his father as well ⎯ both of whom placed trust in him. This sense of betrayal is prominent when Regan informs Gloucester that “…It was he/That made the overture of thy treason…” (3.7.87-88). Nevertheless, the reality of the situation is that in order to thrive amongst the cunning, Edmund must accept a Machiavellian approach. In an era where the bourgeoisie are headed by a group debauched ideals, −such as those of Goneril, Regan, and Lear− the only way to succeed is indeed to embody the Machiavellian stance. In a communal society as bollixed as that of Edmund’s, where Kings use artificial love tests to split the kingdom (1.1.44), and daughters conspire against their own father (1.2.295), the only way to rebel against the madness is to use clever tricks to achieve the end goal, which in Edmund’s case, is in fact, righteous. Unfortunately, the society is so depraved that Edmund must sink to this level of amorality to correct the injustice that has been done unto him, and others who share his illegitimate status. In any event, it must not be forgotten that Edmund’s true intention is not to add wickedness to the already tainted circumstance,
Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, embodies the idea of avarice from the very beginning of the play almost until the end. In fact, Edmund seems to become more and more greedy as the production progresses. When Edmund is first introduced in person on stage, after a short exposition of his character by Gloucester and Kent in the first scene, the audience immediately finds Edmund engaged in a plot to strip his father's inheritance from his...
As Edgar takes the role of a "spirit" (3.4.39), he reveals: (1) Edmund's moral condition, by prescribing moral laws that he will break (3.4.80-83); and (2) that Gloucester will be blinded by Edmund (3.4.117). This essay will begin by examining how Edgar's role, as an outcast feigning madness, resembles the life and fate of King Lear, and then will show how his role as a spirit, reveals future events that will come to pass. Edgar's role, as an outcast and madman, corresponds to King Lear in four ways: (1) they both are deceived by family. Edgar is deceived by his half brother, and King Lear is deceived by two of his daughters. Edgar babbles about how Edmund deceived him: "Who gives anything to Poor Tom?"
Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester is not pleased with his status as a bastard. Edgar the legitimate son of Gloucester stands to obtain the lands, wealth and power of his father. Edmund thinks this is unfair and begins a plot to banish his brother and obtain the lands of his father. He begins by writing a fake letter from Edgar saying that he wants to murder his father and wishes to take power by force. Edmund uses his deceiving abilities to make the letter seem genuine. He lies to his father about how he came into possession of the letter: “It was not brought me, my Lord; t...
Edmund started out as a very hateful person who enjoyed picking on his younger sister and making up lies that he knew were to be false just for the fun of it. He slowly goes from just being mean to being cruel. One example would be, “It's
He confirms his reasons for disrupting the established order when he claims… This implies that he is complying with the rules of nature rather than the rules that most of the society chooses to follow. Edmund believes that an illegitimate being cannot survive under the man-made laws of society, therefore he must infringe them for all bastards to achieve justice. Edmund decides to ascend the chain by means of deception and betrayal in response to the lack of recognition he receives from society and his father. Considering Edmund was conceived outside of what would be “human society’s harmonious order”, he is not required to uphold the social order within the country, since he was never apart of it. Edmund is aggravated that although his “mind [is] as generous” as everyone else’s, he does not have any connection with society, which initiates his continuous plan to disrupt any stable relationships; in response to being an outsider. When Edmund achieves power, he becomes consumed by the benefits that come with being recognized. After Goneril and Regan threaten their relationship with jealousy over Edmund, he responds with, “To both these sisters have I sworn my love…Which of them shall I take? Both? One? Neither?” This shows that Edmund is inconsiderate of the various relationships he is disrupting due to being newly recognized by society. Even after Edmund is acknowledged by his father through his words, “I'll work the means to make thee capable” he is still unsatisfied. Although recognition from his father was partly what Edmund was striving for, the new influence he has over society has made him protective of his title within society. He must eliminate his father from the social order and repel his brother away from receiving Gloucester’s throne in order for him to be ensured the position on the wheel of fortune, permanently. Edmund’s pinnacle of power causes him to utter, This
The youngest Pevensie brother, Edmund, is the mischievous child among his siblings in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He is a representation of the possibility of what can go wrong when a child is not properly taught and does not follow set boundaries. Edmund’s subversion of set standards is the cause of a great deal of the troubles the Pevensies face in Narnia. For example, when he goes to the White Witch’s castle instead of listening to the others when they say Aslan is the true leader. In order to redeem himself, he must first be renewed and return to an earlier state. He is not allowed to stay indignant, but is reformed when he learns that Aslan is really the true ruler, and Jadis is not. He is allowed to do so because of his status as a child who is still developing. Edmund’s corruption and later redemption show that he is not really wicked, but has an innate goodness.
In the play ‘King Lear”, there is a character named Edmund who plotted against his brother Edgar. Edmund made false accusations against Edgar, so the entire kingdom was on the lookout for Edgar. Once Edgar had found out that the kingdom was looking for him, and that his brother was also plotting against their father, he went into hiding. Edgar gave up his identity, house, and family to keep his father and himself safe. This was a huge sacrifice
Edmund’s discontent with the notion of bastardy is brought up furthermore in his soliloquy at the beginning of scene two: “Thou, nature, art my goddess. To thy law/ My services are bound. Wherefore should I/ Stand in the plague of custom…” (II.1-3). The notion of bastardy in Lear pushes Edmund to place his faith in his born traits as opposed to the system that has labeled him an outsider his whole life. He believes he is equal to his brother in every way—his mind and shape as true—and the only reason he is not aloud to prosper is because of a preconceived idea of the ideal child. Inevitably, Edmund wants to rebel against the system that has stifled him for so long. Gloucester is primarily responsible for Edmund’s actions because he in no way raised him equal to Edgar. Edmund’s goal to usurp his brother and earn the power he believes he deserves is due to the notion of bastardy in the play; Edmund questions “why brand they us with ‘base, base bastardy’” in his first soliloquy (II.10) . After all, even Kent attested to his fine demeanour. But, the steadfast notion of bastardy at the time drove Edmund to the point of betrayal because there was no hope for him in playing by the rules as they are fundamentally opposed to a bastard’s prosperity. With this soliloquy, Edmund positions himself as the more disserving
In the first half of the play, King Lear struggles with the problem of authority and the consequences of giving his own authority away. Lear’s eventual loss of sanity is a result of his ill judgement and unwillingness to part with his power as king. Yet, the issue of authority is not the only theme that is being dealt with in the play. King Lear is also about Lear’s search for identity and wisdom in his old age. The play explores the concept of the human worth in regards to Lear and the other characters associated with him. In addition, the play is about the shifting definition of Lear’s identity and human worth. Although the majority of the play is spent presenting the audience with these issues, the fact remains that the protagonist figure (Lear), and the other innocent character (Cordelia), die at the end although they are the characters who present the knowledge and issues of the play. It is necessary to understand the impact of the deaths of these characters because their deaths have the potential to cancel out the values and issues that they present and embody throughout the play. Yet, in the case of King Lear, the issues with which Lear struggles are not negated with his death. With the death of Lear and Cordelia, the audience gains more than a sense of loss from the deaths of these two characters who have finally come full circle and who have reconciled. The audience, more importantly, is presented with the tragic consequences of events that are set into motion and unable to be reversed or canceled. It is this main issue of consequence that is not negated with the deaths of Lear and Cordelia, but instead, strengthened with their deaths.
Despite its undeniable greatness, throughout the last four centuries King Lear has left audiences, readers and critics alike emotionally exhausted and mentally unsatisfied by its conclusion. Shakespeare seems to have created a world too cruel and unmerciful to be true to life and too filled with horror and unrelieved suffering to be true to the art of tragedy. These divergent impressions arise from the fact that of all Shakespeare's works, King Lear expresses human existence in its most universal aspect and in its profoundest depths. A psychological analysis of the characters such as Bradley undertook cannot by itself resolve or place in proper perspective all the elements which contribute to these impressions because there is much here beyond the normal scope of psychology and the conscious or unconscious motivations in men.
Edgar feels persecuted by his bastard brother Edmund, and is exiled into the status of a lower class man, when Edmund reveals Edgar’s true nature to their father Gloucester. In Act Two, the audience feels sympathetic towards Edgar’s treatment by Edmund who wounds himself with h...
Edmund lusted for all of his father’s power, lying to his gullible brother and father aided him in his plan for total authority along with destroying their lives. As bastard son of Gloucester, Edmund wanted to receive all of the power destined for his brother, Edgar, who was Gloucester’s legitimate son. Edmund stated his disapproval of his brother, “Wherefore should I/ Stand in the plague of custom, and permit/ The curiosity of nations to deprive me/ For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines/ Lag of a brother? Why bastard?”(1.2.2-6). Edmund wanted the respect and love that Edgar received even though he was Gloucester’s bastard son. He claimed that he was not much younger or “moonshines lag of a brother” therefore he should be considered just as smart and able-minded as any legitimate son. He built up hatred toward Edgar and in order to get rid of him he convinced his father that Edgar had betrayed him through a letter. The letter that Edmund made read, “If our father would sleep till I waked him, you/ should enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live/ the beloved of your brother, Edgar”(1.2.55-57). Edmund portrayed Edgar as the son that would kill Gloucester only to inherit his money and share his inheritance with Edmund. Gloucester believed Edmund, sending out guards to kill Edgar for his betrayal...
He is the rejected illegitimate son of Gloucester, who only cares for his own blood-son Edgar. Edmund, in the beginning of Act 1, casts an illusion that his stepbrother Edgar is trying to kill their father. “If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live the beloved of your brother.” (1.2.52-4) Edmund writes a letter to himself forging his brother 's signature to make it seem like it came from Edger. Edmund reveals the letter to their father Gloucester causing him to get angry at Edgar. Edmund also convinces Edgar to flee the kingdom because their father is angry at him “My father watches. O sir, fly this place! / Intelligence is given where you are hid”(2.1.20-1). Edmund is trying to cast an illusion of being the good loyal son, while in reality he is trying to take over their father 's wealth. Edmund is the evil son. In addition, Edmund shows his true form of evil madness when he betrays his own father and tells Cornwall about the letter Gloucester gave him to hide, the letter that proves Gloucester 's allegiance to King Lear and the invasion of the French army. “How malicious is my fortune that I must represent / to be just! This is the letter he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France.” (3.5.7-10) Edmund is power hungry and will do anything to get the power he thinks he deserves, even if
As observed in the play, the presence of both morally ambiguous characters and downright evil characters work to create an interesting dynamic. Despite seeming rather one dimensional, the antagonists of King Lear still prove to be compelling characters due to their motivation towards their ultimate goal and their roles in the play’s primary conflict. Thus, not every fictional character is required to have a conscience for the sake of complexity. Even though the capacity to feel remorse is present in virtually every human, this ultimately need not be the case in fictional
A tragic character must pass from happiness to misery whereby he must be seen at the beginning of t... ... middle of paper ... ... born a bastard which continuously haunts him, does what he does as an act against the whole society. Therefore, Edmund’s driving force is to revolt against those in power, against traditional values and against the very make-up of society. He regards this revolution as a worthy cause, and his scheming is aimed at putting himself in power, gaining the throne.