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Q. Consider the idea that Edmund is an attractive villain?

            William Shakespeare wrote many plays during the late 1500's and.
             One of these plays "King Lear" tells the story of a .
             King with 3 daughters and an Earl with 2 sons 1 legitimate and 1 illegitimate. .
             Edmund the younger son is said to be an attractive villain. .
             Attractive and villain are very different things, but as the .
             play progresses we see that Edmund uses these to his advantage. .
             Edmund is a manipulator. This is because he his very bitter about being an.
             illegitimate child. He feels that it is very unfair that his legitimate brother Edgar .
             will inherit his father's wealth over him.
             .
             This is because the play is set in pre-Christian Britain and during this time in .
             history people believed that the gods controlled everything including .
             peoples fortunes. Edmund is said to be at the bottom of the wheel of fortune and .
             he longs to be at the top of the wheel so he formulates a plan to get him .
             all the good fortune he wants and needs the thing about Edmund is that he .
             wants everything now!.
             Edmund is cunning and because Shakespeare includes Edmunds soliloquies .
             (People thinking their thoughts aloud.) We understand his motives we may .
             not always agree with what he is doing but we do begin to understand why? .
             .
             One thing about Edmunds character that is for certain is that he is Cunning, .
             ambitious and manipulative. Edmund also seems to be in the background of a .
             scene watching and listening to what is going on. In a production we have .
             watched Edmunds character is always in the scenes and we wonder why he is .
             there but we know his character has a purpose within these scenes. Also in this .
             production Edmunds soliloquies were not included so we can't understand how .
             Edmunds mind is working the audience wonder what will Edmund do next. .
             The play has many Sub-plots to follow which sometimes makes it difficult to .
             understand. The Message about Edmund in the play is very clear to the audience .
             but not to the people he is manipulating.


Essays Related to Q. Consider the idea that Edmund is an attractive villain?

1. The Power of King Lear

... live like a bird in a cage; as attractive as this image may seem, there is something demeaning about it as well: the majestic lion of a king has been reduced to a tame house pet.16 As if to remind us that Lear may be indifferent to politics but cannot escape its power, Shakespeare punctuates the king's lyrical fantasy with Edmund's curt and peremptory order: "Take them ... (Wheel of Fire, 192), or Derek Traversi, An Approach to Shakespeare (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1969), vol. 2, 164, who sees Lear revealing "the true state of man" in this scene. 13 The idea of breaking with the ...

  • Word Count: 8939
  • Approx Pages: 36
  • Grade Level: High School

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