Edmund, one of the villains of King Lear, is evil, but Shakespeare gives him cause. Edmunds father, Gloucester, treats him like a dog. He talks to Kent as if Edmund cannot hear him. He proclaims to all within hearing, that, Edmunds mother had indeed, / sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband / for her bed (1.1.14-16). Though Gloucester was obviously also at fault in the creation of Edmund, he speaks as though he is not, and he treats Edmund as if his birth was one of Edmunds sins. Shakespeare allows the audience a view into the noble Kents thoughts on this when Kent says, I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it / being so proper (1.1.17-18). He is giving Edmund a reason for being so evil, of course if he has been treated so badly by a father all his life he will be evil. Shakespeare uses the bastard as a symbolic villain, but at the same time he tries to redeem the character a little in King Lear. Don John also eludes to the fact that his birth is the reason for his villainy.
Don Jon is evil for the simple purpose of keeping himself entertained and being an embarrassment to Don Pedro, so he does not get the exact treatment of Edmund. None of the characters mistreat him to his face. But when talking to Conrad he does insinuate that [he] cannot hide / who [he is] (1.3.12-13). People will always treat him with distrust because of who he is. He states the reason for his own evilness that, I am trusted with a muzzle and / enfranchised with a clog. Therefore I have decreed not / to sing in my cage (1.3.30-32). If society believes him to be up to no good no matter what than that is what he will be. Shakespeare gave both Don John and Edmund a reason to be so evil. They were not merely born evil society progressed their evilness and now society and those around them would have to deal with what they created.
Both Don John and Edmund create plans to wreak havoc on their individual communities, and cause problems for their brothers and in Edmunds case his father and the Kingdom.
I - Introduction A Shakespearean play that closely relates to society. ... Has a thirst for land and power but also a desire for the recognition denied to him by his status as a bastard. "Now, gods, stand up for bastards- (I ii, line 22) Wants to inherit father's land. ...
It reflects and is a product of the main anxieties of the period; a divided and unstable kingdom and the growth of individualism over feudalism, and the illegitimacy of the bastard child and the state of the family. ... It is not possible to appreciate Lear fully without historical knowledge of the original King Lear and its meaning to a Shakespearean audience. ... However if assessed in terms of strict Greek or Shakespearean models then Lear falls down somewhat as a tragedy, as it does not belong to a world in which transcendent human values exist. ...
His bastard brother manipulates their father to believe in Edgar's unreal intents of patricide and usurpation, so the latter, in order to escape's the father's deadly wrath, is left with no choice but to conceal his identity: No port is free, no place/ That guard and most unusual vigilance/ Doest not attend my taking. ... A "progress narrative" underlies the interpretation of other characters' motives for disguising themselves in the Shakespearean corpus. ... The shakespearean play is more than the sum of sequential events or the literal plot. ... Thus, it is pos...
What prompts Iago to commit such a bastardly act one may ask? ... The noted Shakespearean critic, Phyllis Rackin, concludes quite appropriately, Othello saw a simplified universe defined by grand ideals, with himself as the noble protagonist of heroic adventures. ...
Many critics regard "King Lear" as the greatest, and most tragic, of William Shakespeare's plays; indeed, some claim that it is the most tragic play ever written. And yet, it is difficult to see why we should regard "King Lear" as a tragedy for the King is basically a pathetic old man, vain and foolish, rash in his judgment and incapable of controlling his emotions. This characterization seems to preclude viewing Lear on the Aristotelian model of a tragic hero, as someone raised above the ordinary level of humanity, except in the most conventional sense of his social status. Moreover, in ...
