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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. Is Shakespeare's Edmund a representation of a Machiavell

Of all of Shakespeare's plays, King Lear contains Machiavellism in the villain aspect and one can say that Edmund is this type of tragic Shakespearian villain. ... Shakespeare's villain Edmund no doubt has selfish and sinful qualities about him. Edmund moreover believes that mankind is essentially evil and egotistical and employs this Machiavellian idea to further his own designs. Edmund sees that Goneril and Regan are evil creatures. ... Most people consider Machiavelli's The Prince to be the bible of realpolitik. ...

  • Word Count: 1653
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Is Shakespeare's Edmund the perfect representation of a Mach

Of all of Shakespeare's plays, King Lear contains Machiavellism in the villain aspect and one can say that Edmund is this type of tragic Shakespearian villain. ... Shakespeare's villain Edmund no doubt has selfish and sinful qualities about him. Edmund moreover believes that mankind is essentially evil and egotistical and employs this Machiavellian idea to further his own designs. Edmund sees that Goneril and Regan are evil creatures. ... Most people consider Machiavelli's The Prince to be the bible of realpolitik. ...

  • Word Count: 1654
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. A Look at Shakespeare's Edmund

In a sense, he is both victim and villain. ... Edmund has a keen understanding of human nature and an intelligence that excels that of his father. ... In contrasting Edgar and Edmund, we can see that Edmund is clearly more world-wise and able to create situations to his own advantage. ... In comparing Goneril and Reagan to Edmund, we find that Edmund is once again the more crafty and intelligent. ... Edmund knows who they are and it is doubtful they could be physically attractive to him, yet they choose to believe the sincerity of his overtures. ...

  • Word Count: 1702
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Equity and Fairness: The Villains of King Lear

In The Tragedy of King Lear, William Shakespeare draws our support for his villains as well as his heroes, asking us to explore what drives someone to action. ... Shakespeare tests our sensibilities in letting us meet his villains intimately through their soliloquies. ... To this end, Edmund coldly admits that he is aware of what he is doing. ... "That when we are sick in fortune...we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon and the stars; as if we were villains by necessity" (I.ii.99-102). ... The circumstances of Edmund's birth show up as an increasingly clear source of the resent...

  • Word Count: 2076
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The image of Edmund in Shakespeare

This villainy is epitomized in the character of Edmund, bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester. ... As a complete outsider, a cold analyzer and calculator, Edmund personifies an unorthodox malignant view of nature according to which Man, Nature and God fall apart.Edmund, the arbeiter of his own fate, is an embodiment of the New Man and the New Age, the age of the 16th and after, based on ruthless competition, suspicion, glory.Despite some attractive features of the portrait, Edmund is an epitome of the machiavel. Edmund is displayed as a " most toad-spotted traitor." ... His need for ...

  • Word Count: 336
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Shakespearean Bastards

In the plays of William Shakespeare, whether a comedy or a tragedy, one character that is often seen is a villain. This villain may come in many forms, but one of the most popular forms is that of the bastard. ... They are both scheming villains and their villainy leads them into trouble. ... Don Johns schemes and crimes, as well as his punishments, are much lighter than those of Edmunds, because Don John is the villain in a comedy, and does not mean to cause great harm. ... Edmund, one of the villains of King Lear, is evil, but Shakespeare gives him cause. ...

  • Word Count: 2203
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Pains of Being a Villain

Now Lear isn't necessarily a villain except unto himself, and by that I mean he splits up the possible support group he could have had when his madness takes over. ... When Edmund presented himself, they took his bait and he played them like fools. ... Now come the real bad guys, Edmund and Iago. ... Edmund was just a jealous brother that wanted revenge, but then desired to be king. ... To be honest, if villains or ambitious sub-characters for that matter ever knew when to stop, then we would have nothing but boring storylines in our hands. ...

  • Word Count: 1756
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Shakespeare's revenge factors

Othello and King Lear are tragic because two characters, Iago and Edmund exact revenge that is unwarranted. ... In each play, the villain used the weaknesses of those who they intended to harm. ... This is the only tragedy in which it really seems that the villain has won. ... Had Gloucester been a father to Edgar he would have known that Edmund was lying and that Edgar would do him no wrong. ... The death of this innocent and pure character is the factor that shows how unjustified Edmund was. ...

  • Word Count: 1222
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

9. King lear and astrology

This villain of mine comes under the prediction; there's son against father: the King falls from bias of nature; there's father against child. ... Find out this villain, Edmund; it shall lose thee nothing; do it carefully. ... Edmund makes many errors in his attempts to deny any real effect of astrology. ... The fact that Shakespeare let Edmund use these terms incorrectly was not lost on the audience of his day. ... But Edmund does not realize that he is actually playing right into the hands of astrology when he acts against his brother, father and the King. ...

  • Word Count: 1633
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

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