King Lear- Characterizing Edmund

King Lear: Option 1 In the opening passage of Act I, scene ii in William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear”, Edmund is giving his famous bastard soliloquy in which he is expressing his feelings towards his father, his brother, and his situation. This excerpt portrays Edmund as an antagonist who is discussing the problem of legitimacy versus illegitimacy and how this problem relates to natural family relations. Shakespeare uses meek literary techniques, such as diction and syntax, to further characterize Edmund and the problems he stumbles upon. Through this passage, Shakespeare characterizes Edmund as an antagonist. He does this by expressing Edmund’s rash feelings towards his legitimate brother, Edgar. Towards the end of his soliloquy, Edmund declares, “Well then, legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.” This comment depicts Edmund as an evil brother with an evil plan who considers betraying his brother and the natural order within a family. His revengeful behavior further develops Edmund’s character as evil and sinister. Edmund also calls upon the gods, “Now, gods, stand up for bastards!” Here, this evil-driven character has a moment of desperateness. It is almost as if he realizes he is making a rash decision and messing up the natural order within a family relation, however, in order to fulfill the emptiness he feels as being the illegitimate son, it becomes a necessity. This moment of desperateness for his brothers land, parallels to his desperate wishes to be viewed more than the illegitimate son. Because his father had relations out of wedlock, Edmund is titled the illegitimate son, whereas his brother Edgar remains legitimate. Edmund’s title prevents him from receiving his father’s land, the reasoning behind the evil scheme he commits in order to take land away from his brother. The title of illegitimacy creates inferiority in Edmund, as well as, creates a preconceived notion for other characters that Edmund is an inferior wanna-be. Edmund says, “When