edmundlear Edmund of King Lear as Nietzsche's Free Spirit Essay

Masters and slaves are constantly discussed throughout Nietzsche’s work, but the connection between them is discussed best in his book On the Genealogy of Morality. The first of the three essays outlines two alternate structures for the creation of values, which is credited to masters and the other to slaves.

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

King Lear is a Shakespearian tragedy revolving largely around one central theme, personal transformation. Shakespeare shows in King Lear that the main characters of the play experience a transformative phase, where they are greatly changed through their suffering. Through the course of the play Lear is the most transformed of all the characters. He goes through seven major stages of transformation on his way to becoming an omniscient character: resentment, regret, recognition, acceptance and admittance, guilt, redemption, and optimism. Shakespeare identifies King Lear as a contemptuous human being who is purified through his suffering into some sort of god.

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,

“As soon as a religion comes to dominate it has as its opponents all those who would have been its first disciples.” Nietzsche was one of the first modern philosophers to rebel against rationalism and when World War I came about, the revolution against religion truly became a legitimate statement. Friedrich Nietzsche strongly believed that many of those that practiced religion were led to the acceptance of slave morality. Religion had always played a fundamental role in society as it sets strict boundaries and standards of what is morally correct and incorrect. However, Nietzsche claims that, “Human nature is always driven by “ ‘the will to power’ ”, but religion will tell one otherwise, saying that one should forbid their bad desires. In Nietzsche’s

“ No longer does she tempt him with empty promises, but instead treats him like a slave.” (Lewis page 91) Edmund no longer wishes to be a part of her plan or on her side. Still being selfish Edmund is only concerned with the well being of himself. He just wants to get out of the sticky situation he is in. However he is no longer has intent on being evil but has not yet decided to be good. “Everything he had said to make himself believe that her side was really the right side sounded silly now” (Lewis page 110). His unconcern for others is changed when he sees the Witch turn a small group of animals into stone. He yells for the Witch to stop and the narrator says, “And Edmund, for the first time in this story felt sorry for someone else.”

In Nietzsche’s aphorisms 90-95 and 146-162 he attacks what he believes to be the fundamental basis of the “slave” morality prevalent in the Judeo-Christian tradition as well as other religions and societies. From the beginning, he distinguishes the two different types of moralities he believes to exist: the “master morality”, created by rulers of societies, and the “slave” morality, created by the lowest people in societies. The former stresses virtues of the strong and noble while looking down upon the weak and cowardly. This type of morality, however, is not as widespread as the “slave morality” that has been adopted by so many religions. Nietzsche looks through the psychology and logic of

William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” depicts aspects of a tragedy such as a flawed hero, the role of fate and catharsis. Throughout the play, King Lear is shown as a respected man held in high esteem by his subjects and servants; however Shakespeare shows the imperfect characteristics of Lear demonstrating the element of a flawed hero. The role of fate is depicted through the different opinions of the characters who such as Edmund and Lear himself. By doing this, the outcome of the play is shown to be the fate of the characters. Catharsis is another element shown through Lear’s views changing and him being remorseful for his mistakes.

“I grow; I prosper,” he says, and these words identify him throughout the play. Deprived by his illegitimate birth and the respect of the lords, Edmund believes respect should be there because of his status. Edmund controls his prominence by elevating himself through his own actions, falsifying personal affluence through dishonesty and treachery. The repeated use of the term “legitimate” in mention to Edgar reveals Edmund’s hatred toward his brother’s aristocracy as their father’s heir. The attack on the “plague of custom,” identifies the feeling of Edmund’s hatred toward social etiquette of feudal Europe and his desire for respect and power.

We have grown weary of man. Nietzsche wants something better, to believe in human ability once again. Nietzsche’s weariness is based almost entirely in the culmination of ressentiment, the dissolution of Nietzsche’s concept of morality and the prevailing priestly morality. Nietzsche wants to move beyond simple concepts of good and evil, abandon the assessment of individuals through ressentiment, and restore men to their former wonderful ability.

In both texts, the authors acknowledge the implicit advantage of birthright in society and the illusion of its role in determining a character. In king Lear those of base birth are considered to be inferior to those born of nobility. Edmund is an obvious victim of this illusion.

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

Nietzsche shares a similar view of man. The important thing in man is his potential; man is striving but for something different, Ubermensch or superman. It represents man constantly striving to overcome himself and become a man whose values are independent from societal conceptions of good and evil. Ubermensch must be willing and able to reject what he is now to become something different and never become content with present values. Similar to Kierkegaard, Nietzsche sees life as a series of stages that take man from the herd to Ubermensch. The first step for man to achieve Ubermensch is to overcome a collective herd view of values because they are not bridges to Ubermensch. Once this herd is overcome, man can begin to concentrate on overcoming himself.

5. Discuss Nietzsche’s theory of “will to power” and “the innocence of becoming”. Does the hypothesis of the will to power successfully “debunk” traditional religion, morality, and philosophical claims to provide the “disinterested” or “objective” truth?