Loyalty essay

In Act one scene two the character of Edmund, who the audience met briefly in the
previous scene, laments his illegitimacy and starts to think on his inheritance from his
father the Duke of Gloucester, possibly spurred by witnessing Lear sharing his to his
daughters in scene one.He reveals to the audience, through a soliloquy that the has
plotted against his brother and father to gain of the formers inherited land. His exact plan is
revealed as Gloucester enters and sees the letter that Edmund is holding. It is a letter from
Edmunds brothers Edgar, although the audience knows it is forged by Edmund, which
implies that he wants to murder gloucester and split the land and money. Shakespeares
mastery of of dramatic irony comes into play as the audience a fuming Gloucester and
bewildered Edgar latter in the scene both being tricked by Edmund whilst knowing his true
intentions. This contrived conflict between Edgar and his Father is set up as a subplot for
much of the rest of the play.
Loyalty plays an interesting part in Edmunds deception. The audience dislike Edgar, not
only for his evil intentions but also the he manipulates the people he professes Loyalty to.
His character constantly changes according to what is required. We see this through his
speech. The scene starts with a strong declarative thou, nature, are my goddess. This
shows the audience early on that Edmund is sure of himself and very strong-minded. It
also shows the audience he sees no real authority apart from that of nature. This sets up a
concept to be compared later in the scene . The soliloquy uses many rhetorical
interrogatives such as Why bastard? and exclamations such as Fine word, legitimate?
to make Edmund seem filled with rage. His anger and ardent devotion to nature all
disappear, however, as soon as his father enters. Then he adopts a formal mode of
address your lordship and the adjacency pair between him and Gloucester implying that
he only speaks when spoken to. Not but a page earlier he was in full flow speaking a fully
fledged monologue in iambic pentameter but now his utterances are short and in prose.
The juxtaposition of the two unnerves the audience and makes them think What is he up
to?. That question is answered when the letter is opened and read aloud. It is supposedly
written by Edgar and yet it adopts exactly the same tone as the soliloquy the audience
have jet seen. They know from that point that Edmund is a villan using his loyalties to his
own ends.

The Loyalty between Parent and child is presented interestingly in this section in
comparison to the previous scene. Cordelia loves Lear dearly and yet is punished where
as the other sisters and Edmund are being praised for lying and cheating their fathers. The
audience assumes that the play will follow Todorovs narrative law of equilibrium- tensionresolution and that the antagonists will get their comeuppance. one of the central
messages the audience receive from King Lear is one of loyalty: those that seen loyal
may betray you and visa versa. This extract foreshadows events to happen later in the
play. Gloucesters line I shall not need spectacles is a grim precursor to Act three scene
six in which he has his eyes stabbed out by cornwall. The action of Edmunds deceit in this
scene has its reaction in the later scenes. One of the reoccurring themes of King Lear is
nothing which appears in this scene through the dukes line The quality of nothing hath
not such need to hide itself. Lear reacted strongly to nothing and now Edmund is
betraying his loyal and trusting father using nothing; a false letter. The social norm in
Shakespeares period is unending loyalty to ones father and so gloucester is
unsurprisingly shocked when he reads the letter, personifying it as some beast that
breeds in Edgars brain.