William Shakespeare 's King Lear

The power that makes Edmund corrupt is trust. He uses the trust to manipulate and control his father for the benefit of himself. He frames his brother by composing a false letter to his father implicating a plot to kill Gloucester, that when “our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue forever.” (1, 2, 55-56) Gloucester replies with “this villain of mine comes under the prediction of mine: there’s son against father” (1, 2, 112-117) This shows that Gloucester had great faith and trust in his son Edgar. To better his plan he goes to Edgar and convinces him to run away. The thought that he would frame his own brother for the chance to gain power shows his corruption, and that he will do anything to have more power. Edmund writes another letter, except this implicates his father in a plot with France to kill The Duke of Cornwall. He does this so that “the younger rises [and] the old doth fall” (3, 4, 25) and he will become the Earl. Edmund is so corrupted and blinded by his quest for power that he is willing to jeopardize his father’s

I wouldn’t presume to understand why Edmund would be so distrusting in his siblings. Edmund constantly acts as though he is hiding something, he acts as though he cannot trust anyone. Even before Edmund meets the witch his is always acting shifty. This dishonesty Edmunds exhibits is one of his key personality traits the witch preys upon. She is almost immediately aware that she will be able to manipulate him easily. Unfortunately for Edmund and his family alike, this misplaced faith in the witch makes him follow her nearly blindly, it also leads me to believe he is capable of strong faith in something. If he would have not been left alone he wouldn’t have been led astray by the witch. He also would not have had this opportunity to learn a valuable

Upon hearing this, Edmund presents himself as sympathetic and supportive towards Gloucester. After his father leaves, Edmund reveals to the reader his true intentions of betraying his father and taking his title. This abrupt transformation of attitude and objective is part of the theme of “Appearance vs Reality.” Although he appears to be loyal and innocent to Gloucester, the reality is that he is planning to overthrow Gloucester and is apathetic towards his

As his home life began to deteriorate, little Ed learned devious ways to get around it. For example, to avoid his mother noticing and him being beaten, he would steal a nickel or dime here and there from her purse. These tactics implemented sneaky and criminality skills at a very young age. At school, Ed was always an outsider. He was constantly getting in trouble from preschool to second grade. A little later on, he slowly turned quiet and spooky. Not many people knew him because his life consisted of going to school and then going home, back into the basement. Often, young Ed had frustration and hatred built up on the inside, his outlets were fantasies. He imagined being the last person left on Earth, no one there to yell at him for doing things he wanted to do. Although many people find the thought of “being the last person alive” as scary and uncomfortable, this was Edmund’s escape to paradise. He always thought of himself as evil because he did not know it was normal to have mean thoughts such as “oh I'd like to hit him” or “she's a real b*tch.” Due to him not having an adult to guide him to a new way of acting out in a more positive way, he never grew out of these

In the end of the novel, Edmund showed the traits of a brave and altruistic hero through his actions. Edmund used to be a bratty evil child, but since the middle of the novel, he has begun to become a very heroic person. Given his history, some would say that he could never change, but his experiences with the White Witch allowed him to come to his senses about what side he should be on, and what side he shouldn’t be on. All the anger that was building up inside of him towards the Witch, he let out on the battlefield by destroying her wand and putting an end to the reign of the White Witch. Edmund is now a hero because he no longer is only thinking about himself, he has now gained the trait of altruism and is thinking about the needs of others,

Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, is very savage and cruel towards his own family. His ultimate downfall is his greedy nature. Even though, Gloucester loves both of his sons equally, Edmund feels that his accidental birth has been unjust and wants to take over all his father’s land and subsequently the whole kingdom. We begin to see Edmund’s greedy nature, when he begins to plot against his own brother, Edgar. Edmund uses a forged letter saying how Edgar wants to take over their father’s land.

The sin of greed is perfectly exemplified in the character of Edmund. Throughout the play Edmund’s greed is the motivating factor behind all of the decisions that he makes. Edmund, as the illegitimate son of Gloucester plots against his brother in order to obtain his inheritance completely ignoring all familial responsibility in the pursuit of land and money. At the beginning of the play you see that he merely wants to take his brother’s inheritance but as greed gets the better of him he begins to plot against

At the beginning of the story, Edmund is mean, spiteful, full of pride, and greedy. This causes Edmund to constantly fight with his siblings, mostly Peter, whenever they prove him wrong or does something that he doesn’t agree with, his unstable relationship with his siblings results from his lack of maturity, in other words, he needs to learn to accept his wrongs and not let his pride and spite get in the way of his decisions. We start to see a brief yet strong understanding of Edmund’s personality at the beginning of the book in this passage, “And now we come to one of the nastiest things in this

If I were the director of the play king Lear, I will pick the proposed performance approach of Edmund being resentful and angry to Gloucester because he has endorsed society’s beliefs that bastard sons are inferior human beings. I believe that Edmund has many reasons to be resentful and angry to Gloucester and society in general which will make Edmund more like a villain rather than a victim. Even though, the audience will most likely prefer a more vulnerable character that lays out his heart and demonstrate his true emotional response, I believe that a villain has more of an impact in an audience because they are able to see exactly what decisions the villains have made wrong and what dominant emotions they have lean on that are not as powerful

Unlike King Lear, Edmund has no power at the beginning of the play. Being Gloucester’s youngest and illegitimate son he is not accepted by society or his father. Gloucester says in front of Edgar, “His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge / I have so often blushed to acknowledge him that now I am brazed to it” (1.1.8-9).  Edgar, Edmund’s older brother will inherit their father's wealth, land, and title. Knowing this Edmund’s hunger for power has probably grown through the years, giving him the motivation to act the way he did. In 1.2 Edmund tells the audience that he’s going to con

He lived to care about and show generosity to those who were in his life. Edmund was very naive about the bad nature of all individuals. Also unlike Mondego, Edmund went through a major change of character and mindset in the midst of the movie. His whole personality flipped to its opposing side. Edmund turned into a vengeful soul that only dreamed of seeking revenge, and he fully believed to his core that he had to avenge the wrongs that had been committed against him.

It isn't long before Edmund clearly establishes himself as the villain. Not only is he cunning and deceitful, his actions and thoughts put him in conflict with society's values. He is skeptical about godly influence over society and tells the audience that “My father compounded with my mother under the Dragon's Tale, and my nativity was under Ursa Major, so it follows I am rough and lecherous. Fut! I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firement twinkled on my bastardization” (I, ii, 128-133).

King Lear is frequently regarded as one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, and its tragic scope touches almost all facets of the human condition: from the familial tensions between parents and children to the immoral desires of power, from the follies of pride to the false projections of glory. However, one theme rings true throughout the play, and that very theme is boundless suffering, accentuated by the gruesome depictions of suffering our protagonists experience . There is no natural (nor “poetic”) justice depicted in this pre-Judeo-Christian world Shakespeare presents, as the relatively virtuous individuals (Kent, Gloucester, and Cordelia) in this

Edmund’s frustration at the treatment of illegitimate children was present from the start of the play, as he exclaimed: “Why ‘bastard’?/ [..] When my mind as generous and my shape as true / As honest madam’s issue?” (I ii 6-7). He considered himself an

The opportunity to view both productions of King Lear has appeared twice for me in the past two years. The first time I viewed Trevor Nunn’s 2009 production of King Lear my review would have been based solely on my ability to understand the dialogue and my appreciation of the acting of Ian McKellen. Two years later I have a better understanding of the actual play and while I still enjoy the 2009 production the 1982 production directed by Jonathan Miller presents the words of William Shakespeare in a more accurate and period specific manor.