Shakespearean plays always contain intriguing characters with many sides, secrets, and stories. The villainous Edmund in King Lear is no exception. Though a supporting actor by theater standard, he is one of the first characters introduced to the audience in the opening scenes. He plays a key role in the subplot of King Lear, and establishes himself as a complex “evil” character. When compared to Regan and Goneril, Edmund is much more cunning in his ambition. His ultimate goal is to prove his importance and value to society despite being born a bastard. Edmund reasons that his legitimacy should not based on who bore him, and he determines to do whatever it takes to rise above this irrational societal law and make a name for himself. He treats people only as tools useful for reaching his goal—as later becomes apparent in his flirtations with both Regan and Goneril. He doesn't have a driving desire to injure his brother or father, but they stand in the way of his goal and so must be removed. His soliloquy in Act I is not very long, but serves to provide significant insight into his character's motivations and personality. Shakespeare creatively weaves the language of Edmund's speech to powerfully convey meaning in a small amount of words.
Edmund's Machiavellian character takes shape within the very first lines of his soliloquy when he appeals to the laws of nature to be his guide, rather than those of man. Societal laws give him no value because of his parentage, but value in nature derives itself from the quality of a person. Edmund's “rhetorical practice is not one of calling up devils and calling down gods...His wit puns on the words of others, or parodies them” (Kinney 681). “Nature,” to Edmund, presents all people as tabula...
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...nly a skillful way to introduce a character, but also a crafting of language full of double meaning and insightful portrayal.
Works cited
Brown, Steve, and McCarthy Marcella. English Open Access. Books Unlimited, 17 June 2003. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
Greg, W. W. "The Staging Of King Lear." The Review of English Studies 16.63 (1940): 300-03. Print.
Johnston, Ian. "Speak What We Feel: An Introduction to King Lear." English 366:Studies in Shakespeare. BC, Nanaisom. July 1999. Lecture.
released for public domain on November 11, 1999. Accessed via internet
Kinney, Arthur F. "Lear." The Massachusetts Review Winter 17.4 (1976): 677-712. Print.
Shakespeare, William, and Kenneth Muir. King Lear. London: Methuen, 1972. Print.
Summers, Claude J. ""Stand Up for Bastards!": Shakespeare's Edmund and Love's Failure." College Literature 4.3 (1977): 225-31. Print.
Edmund’s behavior comes from his desire to attain legitimacy and, thereby, acceptance. Thus, Shakespeare characterizes Edmund as wronged and vindictive through Edmund’s soliloquy about his lack of stature, even when he is as intelligent and attractive as Edgar. Shakespeare supplements this characterization by reinforcing Edmund’s use of deceit and betrayal. Edmund begins to align himself with the Duke of Cornwell and form alliances with Goneril and Regan by first, disloyally revealing his father’s treasonous acts and then, pitting King Lear’s daughters against one another for control of the kingdom. Edmund gradually gains power and status, but at a cost.
As intended in the story Edmund is a static character and represents wit, deception, and the wicked. Yet with all these amazing traits comes the consequences of using the for evil and not good. Sadly and ironically him trying to kill Edgar eventually leads to Edgar killing him out of the rage he feels after their father dies. What goes around always comes around good or bad and Edmund just got the bad side
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...
Mack, Maynard. "The World of Hamlet." Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
King Lear is often regarded as one of Shakespeare’s finest pieces of literature. One reason this is true is because Shakespeare singlehandedly shows the reader what the human condition looks like as the play unfolds. Shakespeare lets the reader watch this develop in Lear’s own decisions and search for the purpose of life while unable to escape his solitude and ultimately his own death. Examining the philosophies Shakespeare embeds into the language and actions of King Lear allows the reader a better understanding of the play and why the play is important to life today.
Shakespeare, William, Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. The Norton Shakespeare. Second ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.
As is intended, Edmund 's psychological development stems not only from his nature as a human being
Mack, Maynard. “The World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
Bullough, Geoffrey. "King Lear". Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973.
I want Edmund now more than ever to showcase his confidence and self-assurance because he has managed to create the perfect plan in order to execute his personal revenge. Edmund says, “Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, […], Edmund the base shall top the legitimate. I grow, I prosper, now gods, stand up for bastard!” Edmund is expressing his desire for personal revenge because he believes that its unjust that people actually think that Edgar is better than him just because he is the legitimate son. During this part of the monologue, Edmund will have an assertive and threatening tone because he believes that his revenge will work.
The possession of a higher power and authority is the foundation of an individual’s excessive pride, which ultimately restricts their rationality and leads to their downfall. In fact, through studying Lear in the love scene, Shakespeare has indefinitely characterised Lear as a hubristic monarch due to his initial power and authority, conveyed through the sennet and majestic plural used in Lear’s entrance and dialogue respectively. For example, Lear’s decision to ‘[divide] in three [his] kingdom’ so that ‘future strife may
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.
Bengtsson, Frederick. “King Lear by William Shakespeare.” Columbia College. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
In these acts, King Lear is shown spiraling into madness and then eventually regaining his sanity. Shakespeare develops his madness theme through several phases. In the first phase, Lear's madness is shown through his strange conversations and the tearing off of his garments; in the second phase, Lear is shown emerging from his madness through verbalizing the reason for his insanity and, in the third phase, Lear is shown overcoming his madness, as exemplified through his tragic vision. The first time the audience meets Lear, he is presented as?arrogant and egotistical? Leggatt, 33, a man who shows no mercy, not even to his favorite daughter when she disappoints him.
Shakespeare, William, and Russell A. Fraser. King Lear. New York: New American Library, 1998. Print.