In King Lear, the Earl of Gloucester has two sons: Edgar, the good and the legitimate one, and Edmund, his bad and illegitimate brother.
EDGAR: Although he is the son of an earl, WS has given him a much more important role than that of his father. Edgar is also one of the main connections between the main and the sub-plots. Despite all the chaos, confusion and storms, at the end of the play, as the loyal son, he is ready to assume the burden of rule in the wrecked kingdom of prehistoric Britain. Edgar also plays more parts than any other player in the whole of the Shakespeare canon.
He plays an aristocrat, a feigner of madness - Poor Tom - and a rustic. At the end of the play, he also plays the role of a noble knight who accepts the challenge that has been thrown at Edmund. Finally, in a way that imitates Lear's own behaviour, he become qualified to become the country's ruler where he confronts and defeats Edmund, his bastard brother.
George Orwell called Edgar 'a superfluous character, ' but this isn't true. His roles in the play make him vital to its success.
In contrast to multifaceted Edgar, Edmund is a traitorous evil son on whom both the plot and sub-plot intertwine. At the end of the play, Shakespeare makes an attempt to redeem him, showing that nobody can be completely evil or pure. In the end, partly motivated by shame, he informs Albany's party of the plot he has laid against King Lear and Cordelia and indeed attempts to rescue them. Unfortunately he is too late.
As with several of WS's other villains, he is witty and attractive, at least to King Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan but he does try to make amends at the end trying to save Cordelia.
Edmund is aware of his own villainy and seems to delight in it (like Richard III) as this extract from his soliloquy in Act I sc.2 shows:
...Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they thus
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my intention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th' legitimate -: I grow, I prosper;
Now gods, stand up for bastards!
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Next time: Shakespearean Fools.
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