Edmund Flashcards
(7 cards)
How is Edmund shown as a Machiavellian villain
-Openly rejects traditional hierarchy and legitimacy “legitamte Edgar,I must have your land”
-Showns no loyalty or moral scruples even turning Goneril and Regan against each other
-Downfall due to overreach of ambition
Is Edmund anti establishment
He clearly sets himself up against society he lives in “now gods stand up for bastards!”yet wishes to succeed and thrive within the same society
How is Edmund shown as embracing nature over custom
He calls “nature ,art my goddess”
Shows his rejection of the man made customs that favour legitimacy and hierarchy
-Subverts this by adopting a Darwinian (survival of the fittest approach) and subscribes to his godess nature,a brutal anarchic force
How is Edmund’s fall shown to be just as meteoric as his rise
-Edmund’s forces collapse quickly once Edgar confronts him in trial by combat,exposing his crimes
-He attempts to redeem himself yet his repentance is too late for Cordelia.Shakespeare uses this to show that success built on trecharous is unstable and doomed
How May the audience like Edmund
We loathe Edmund and all he stands for yet potentially admire his own wits and energetic acting
-Yet ultimately we must reject him for his crimes
How is Edmund shown to be cunning and manipulative
He’s highly intelligent and skilled at deception.Forges letters,lies convincingly and plays people against each other
How is Edmund shown as tragic and self reflective in the end
In his final moments he shows a flicker of conscience
-“some good I mean to do” “despite of mine own nature”
-Suggests his complexity as a character not fully evil but shaped by bitterness and circumstance
