Edmund (King Lear)
Edmund | |
---|---|
King Lear character | |
Created by | William Shakespeare |
In-universe information | |
Family | Earl of Gloucester (father) Edgar (half-brother) |
Nationality | English |
Edmund is a fictional character and the main antagonist in William Shakespeare's King Lear. He is the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, and the younger brother of Edgar, the Earl's legitimate son. In the first act of the play, Edmund resolves to get rid of his brother, then his father, and become Earl in his own right. He later flirts with both Goneril and Regan and attempts to play them off against each other. His mother died during childbirth.
Origins
Shakespeare's source for the subplot of Edmund, Edgar and Gloucester was a tale from
Edmund and Edgar were also the names of the sons of
There is also a more immediate literary forerunner in a play by an unknown author or authors, current in London around 1590: The True Chronicle history of King Lear, and his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia.[a]
Analysis
Gloucester's younger, illegitimate son is an opportunistic, short-sighted character[1] whose ambitions lead him to form a union with Goneril and Regan. The injustice of Edmund's situation fails to justify his subsequent actions, although at the opening of the play when Gloucester explains Edmund's illegitimacy (in his hearing) to Kent, with coarse jokes, the audience can initially feel sympathetic towards him, until his true character is revealed. Like
Edmund rejects the laws of state and society in favour of the laws he sees as eminently more practical and useful: The supremacy of superior cunning and strength. Edmund’s desire to use any means possible to secure his own needs makes him appear initially as a villain without a conscience. But Edmund has some solid economic impetus for his actions, and he acts from a complexity of reasons, many of which are similar to those of Goneril and Regan. To rid himself of his father, Edmund feigns regret and laments that his nature, which is to honour his father, must be subordinate to the loyalty he feels for his country. Edmund thus excuses the betrayal of his own father, having willingly and easily left his father vulnerable to Cornwall's anger. Edmund later shows no hesitation, nor any concern, about killing the king or Cordelia; in the end, Edmund repents and tries to rescind his order to execute Cordelia and Lear, but it is done too late: Cordelia has already been executed by Edmund's order.
Because of
Late in the play, Edmund begins to adhere to the traditional values of society, and tries to repent for his sins, but he crucially delays in rescinding his order to execute Lear and Cordelia.[1] Edmund's declaring Nature as his goddess[3] undermines the law of primogeniture and legitimacy.[1] Another character that Edmund is often compared to is Iago of Othello, but Edmund is seen as the better character of the pair, as he tries to repent.[1] After his betrayal of Edgar and his father, Cornwall, Regan's husband, becomes like a new father to Edmund, as he also has an opportunistic bent.[1]
Edmund's affairs with Goneril and Regan tie the two subplots together very well, although the relationships are not presented in detail, and they do not exist in Plexirtus, the source material for Edmund.[1] He does not appear to have as much affection for the two sisters as they do for him,[1] and although he was effective against his father and brother, he cannot effectively play the two sisters off against each other.[1] When he speaks to Goneril and Regan, he does not speak well, whereas in other situations he speaks very well – this is partially due to his trying to conceal from each his involvement with the other.[1] Edmund is the sisters' lust object, rather than true love, although he himself does not realise this.[1] His marrying the two sisters as he dies is an allusion to, and parody of courtly love, in which lovers separated by circumstance could be married in death.[1]
Spin offs
"Edmund, Son of Gloucester" by Chris Lambert was performed by Exiled theatre in 1996 and toured nationally. The play studied Edmund's back-story from birth to his appearance in King Lear to explore the reasons for his actions. The play starred Adrian Ross-Jones as Edmund and Robert Addie as Gloucester.
Footnotes
- ^
The plot of the play The True Chronicle history of King Lear, and his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia (c. 1590) follows fairly closely the account given in Geoffrey of Monmouth but adds a significant character to whom no name is given, possibly because he does not figure in the original. Known only as Messenger, he does (or tries to do) much of what Shakespeare's character Edmund does:
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l
McNeir, Waldo F. (Spring 1968). "The role of Edmund in King Lear".JSTOR 449655. - ^ "SCOTLAND, KINGS". fmg.ac. Chapter 3, Section B "KINGS OF SCOTLAND 1034-1290", Subsection "Malcolm". Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ a b c
Shakespeare, William. "act I, scene 2". King Lear. Retrieved 15 January 2008 – via University of Adelaide.
Further reading
- Utterback, R.V. (Spring 1976). "Edmund: A most vile traitor". JSTOR 2869028.
- Matthews, R. (Winter 1975). "Edmund's redemption in King Lear". JSTOR 2869263.
- Ellis, J. (Spring 1972). "The gulling of Gloucester: Credibility in the subplot of King Lear". JSTOR 449894.
- Frost, W. (Winter 1957–1958). "Shakespeare's rituals and the opening of "King Lear"". JSTOR 3848928.