Part 1 of Essay
Shakespeare' King Lear is a story of treachery and deceit. The villainy of the play knows no bounds. Family lines are ignored in an overwhelming quest for power. This villainy is epitomised in the character of Edmund, bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester. Edmund is displayed as a " most toad-spotted traitor." When w ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... his brother to his father, it implicates his father in a plot with France to kill The Duke of Cornwall. The King decides that Gloucester's supposed treachery cannot be tolerated and orders that his eyes be torn out. At this point, Edmund seems to be unequivocally evil. This is undoubtedly false. Two of the other characters of the play, Goneril and Regan surely equal Edmund's ferocity in their quest for power. Our first glimpse at the two surely begins to prove that fact. In this scene, the King asks tha ....