Comparing 'King Lear: Similarities Between Power And The Glory'

Defending Evil: A Short Essay About Two Not So Villainous, Villains.

The Novel The Power and The Glory written by Graham Greene and the play King Lear written by William Shakespeare both display some very interesting and complex characters, most notable perhaps are the villains or antagonist if you might. The two that I will be discussing are The Lieutenant from The Power and The Glory and Edmund from King Lear. Both are portrayed to have a Machiavellian sort of Character. Meaning they both believed that it does not matter how you reach your goal just as long as you reach it. Their goals were also very clear to the reader and so were their reasons, even though they might not have been agreed with they were understandable. Because of this
He does not mind at all betraying his brother as long as it means he in the end receives the land not even when he is certain that his brother might be killed in the process. Later on he went as far as to physically harm himself (II,i) in a fight he staged with his brother so that he could further sell his fake stories about his brothers ideas to kill their father. After this he believed that he should not wait to get the land, (III,iii) Edmund betrays his father by informing Cornwall of his father's treason causing his father to be tortured and banished,leaving Edmund all the land. However, he did not stop there, after Cornwall's death he tried to coerce himself into the Crown, by attempting to trick, kill or do both to anyone who poses as competition. The Lieutenant in The Power And The Glory who was driven by complete hatred of the Catholic Church would stop at nothing to apprehend the priest even if it meant killing innocent people. He does not hesitate to take and execute villagers when they do not give up the whereabouts of the priests and sees this as necessary to reach his ultimate goal of