Appraisals of characters in Shakespeare's King Lear
Profiles of Lear 'good'
characters Category Edgar Kent Cordelia Albany Appearance not flash, younger, not as confident as might be,
sensitive shabby, older, gaunt plain, slight, maidish, low of voice, alert avuncular, poised, gentle, easily led, to get things right, to teach restraint, aware of the
error of excess not boastful, careful of exaggeration, few words, a
natural goodness, not wimpy. calm, patient, slow to anger, not devious,
knowledgeable Motivations caring, loyal, honest loyalty, devotion, honesty love, justice, tragic justice, balance, pity Appraisal misunderstands Edmund, weak?, untested, driven by care
and pity, endures hardship for his father unable to be diplomatic, free of anything underhand,
predictable to a fault hides her goodness = (expects it to be enough?), accepts
fate, strong devotion to the truth as only guide to life respected by Lear, strong in himself, puzzle what he saw
in Goneril to marry her
G. Smith 1999
Profiles of Lear 'bad'
characters: Category Goneril Oswald Cornwall Appearance lusty, young, dark, 'wolfish visage', late 30s foppish, weasel, oleaginous sly, like Regan ambitious, hungry, self- important, cagey,
manipulative aggressive, manipulative, sycophantic, unscrupulous, ambitious ambitious, untrustworthy Motivations power-hungry, cruel, deceitful gain, greed, self-seeking, hard, pitiless gain, opportunist, opportunist Appraisal unscrupulous to be feared repugnant conspirator
G.
Smith 24/4/1999
Lear |tall, proud, energetic, bearded, ageing| choleric, mercurial, irascible, bullying, cruel, blind to others' goodness| foolish, unpitying, loveless, excess, self-pity| tragic
Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, presents an interesting counterpoint to Edgar and a study in a major theme of the play. He presents himself unashamedly as the illegitimate son at his solo entry I.ii.1-23: "Thou Nature art my goddess. . . Now gods stand up for bastards." His blatantly lies to his father: "I dare pawn down my life for him"(89). His solo comments on the eclipses and current evils and blaming Nature or the stars (I.ii.123-139) he calls "an admirable evasion" of responsibility. He celebrates his bastardry and finds in it an impetus to connive to outwit Edgar for his inheritance. He derides his brother's credulity and naiveté as "foolish honesty" (1.ii.187). He embodies the prototypical Cain and Abel myth again.
As events unfold for Lear, he shows his opportunism at news of the wars between princes: "This weaves itself perforce into my business" (II.i.15) and in identifying his cue for parricide: "The younger rises when the old doth fail" (III.iii.25). He finds an ally in Cornwall and opens Act V with collusion with Regan and ends Scene i.56-70 with his delight in having to choose which troth he'll honour. He throws down his gauntlet to oppose Albany V.iii.98. He fatally wounds Edgar. His dying wish to short-circuit the order for Cordelia's hanging: "Some good I mean to do despite of mine own nature" (V.iii.246) seems lame and insufficient to redeem him in our eyes. This note of chivalry in his dying repentance is yet another unsettling incongruity in the play. His role is quite stereotyped; he refers to his own nature and bastardry as both as his cause celebre and raison d'être.
Terms to describe Edmund might include lusty, young, dark, ambitious, hungry, self-important, cagey, manipulative, calculating, power-hungry, cruel, deceitful, and unscrupulous. He typifies the Hobbsean world where the only ties are those of self interest. Bradley identifies four major themes in the play and Edmund plays an active part in portraying all of them: exposure, vivisection, punishment, concealment. He is the agent provocateur par excellence. No wonder Wilson Knight calls him "that wittiest and most attractive of villains." Neither is he a model of the new Renaissance man, free of the shackles of religion either. For through him, the good suffer more than the evil and love becomes a synonym for suffering.
325 words Posted 7/5/99