King Lear #1

Edmund is the Earl of Gloucester’s bastard son, and therefore, does not have any legal right to the throne. Edmund’s envy and ambition lead him to plot against his father and his half brother, Edgar, who is the legitimate son of Gloucester. Not only is Edmund driven to obtain power and land, he also wants others to realize how he is denied equality and rights just because he is considered a bastard. He does not think it is fair that Edgar, who shares the same father, has the right to all the land and power, but he has none. He thinks he is just as worthy of it as Edgar.

Even though Edmund is devising a scheme against Gloucester and Edgar, he is able to suppress his emotions and act as if nothing is wrong. For example, when Gloucester tells Kent that Edmund is his bastard son and then introduces him, Edmund acts like nothing is wrong and is very polite. He does not seem bothered that his father was appeared embarrassed about his illegitimacy. I know that if I were in that position, I would not be able to hold in my anger and I would show Gloucester that I had a problem with how he was talking about me. After all, Edmund did not have any control over being born and who his mother was.

Gloucester perhaps treats Edmund with great disrespect because he reminds Gloucester of a mistake he made. Gloucester had an affair with another woman and Edmund is the evidence. Also, Gloucester probably does not treat Edmund fairly because Gloucester does not want to hurt his reputation since he values appearances more than reality. If people find out about his illegitimate son, it could change their view of him. In addition, he might not want to be nice to Edmund because he wants to remind him that he is not his real son and will never be able to obtain the power or the throne.

A modern day equivalent to this could be when a family has step-children. One of the parents might remind their step-children that they are not blood-related and therefore they are not their kids. This could be a way to show power and dominance over the children or it could be a means of disowning them so they have no responsibility for them. The step-children could also tell their step-parents that they are not their real parents so they do not have to listen to or obey them.