Shakespearean Shenanigans // Ian Blair

 As the sounds of battle and triumph reverberated throughout the battlefield, it seemed as though the mutiny had succeeded in its mission. The dreadful duo of back-stabbing sisters had turned against their other family members, and they had seized the power for their own...almost too perfect a plan right? Well, not quite. The untied loose end that Albany, Reagan, Goneril, and others couldn't have predicted was Edmund. Edmund has been the real villain the entire time, waiting to play out his own vision of taking the position he wanted. In my eyes, this isn't a tragedy of King Lear, but a tragedy of Edmund the illegitimate. A man who, from birth, was injected into a society and system that had odds stacked astronomically high against him. A man who was rejected, cast aside, and disgraced with nothing but poverty as his birthright simply because of his origin. Seriously, how did people really expect someone of his circumstance to develop? That's rhetorical, but you get my point. Thing is, Edmund nearly succeeded in taking the throne for himself. With both Goneril and Reagan wishing for his allegiance, thereby giving him a choice of a Queen once their husbands were out of the picture. After the battle in act five, he puts himself so close to the throne he can probably dream the reality...until it all (metaphorically speaking) goes up in fire. Edmund's move here is outlined in his exchange with the Captain character in scene three, where Edmund seems to be putting some...shall I say contingencies? in place for the next step of his plan:

"Take thou this note: go follow them to prison:

. . . if thou dost

As this instructs thee, thou dost make they way

To noble fortunes . . ." (Shakespeare, 132).

This note entails a plan to have Cordelia eliminated and Lear powerless to do anything about it. As we see later in act five, Edgar and Albany end up halting Edmund's efforts, but not without the loss of all three sisters (5.3, 225-233) and the king himself (5.3, 311). Edmund sees his own demise after a brief confrontation with Edgar, and completes the hallmark of Shakespeare's endings: virtually everyone ends up dead or wishing for it. This entire play in really an ending, not just of a royal lineage, but also to the life of an individual who never asked for the cards life dealt him in the first place. Where there is a lack of, there is a need for, and all Edmund ever wished for was for respect, due diligence, and the power that he felt he deserved. Greediness and betrayal will be all that is remembered of him, rather than him exposing why systems based on family name cannot truly work. He's not just an antagonist, he's also a victim. 

What do y'all think? Was Edmund just a victim of circumstance, or did he choose his fate willingly by following a path of destruction?


I commented on Braylan's & Emma Kate's posts.

Comments

  1. The Mahn-sterAugust 30, 2021 at 11:41 AM

    On the one hand, fate dealt Edmund a bad hand, which set him on his course. On the other hand, he followed this course through to the end, quite literally. He could have chosen another path, and there is no doubt he knew that the path he was on wouldn't end well, he basically declares this to be the case after pledging himself to both sisters in Act 5 Scene 1. Yet he still follows it through. At this point, it is certain that he has chosen his path himself, but beforehand, it is possible that he was more a victim of the cards he was dealt than an antagonist.

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  2. Braylan StringfellowAugust 31, 2021 at 9:34 AM

    I think Edmund is a result of both. His circumstances did not help him out at all. His circumstances certainly caused him a lot of his problems that he had no control over. However, he did control his fate by taking actions to change his circumstances. This is what resulted in his doom.

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