King Lear · Chapter
Scene II explained
Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, begins his scheme to usurp his legitimate brother Edgar.
What happens
Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, begins his scheme to usurp his legitimate brother Edgar. He forges a letter from Edgar plotting against their father and manipulates Gloucester into believing Edgar is treacherous. Edmund then warns Edgar to flee, feigning concern, and revels in his cunning plan.
Themes in this chapter
Filial Ingratitude
Edmund's plot against his father and brother exemplifies the theme of children betraying parents, paralleling Lear's own familial strife.
Appearance vs. Reality
Edmund presents himself as loyal to Gloucester while secretly scheming, and the forged letter creates a false appearance of Edgar's treachery.
Nature and the Natural Order
Edmund invokes nature as his goddess to justify his ambition, while Gloucester sees the eclipses as disruptions of the natural order leading to familial and political chaos.
Characters to notice
- Edmund
Opens the scene with a soliloquy declaring nature his goddess and his intent to usurp Edgar. He deceives Gloucester with a forged letter and manipulates Edgar into hiding.
- Gloucester
Easily duped by Edmund's forged letter, he condemns Edgar as an unnatural villain and agrees to spy on him. He also laments the recent eclipses and the kingdom's disorders.
- Edgar
Enters as Edmund's brother, unsuspecting of the plot. Edmund warns him of Gloucester's anger and advises him to flee, which Edgar naively accepts.
Key passages
“Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law / My services are bound.”
I worship nature as my deity and follow its laws, rejecting human customs that label me a bastard.
Edmund declares his allegiance to natural law over societal norms, setting the stage for his amoral ambition.
“This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune—often the surfeit of our own behavior—we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
It's a foolish human tendency to blame our misfortunes on astrology rather than our own actions.
Edmund criticizes the superstitious belief in celestial influence, contrasting with Gloucester's earlier reliance on eclipses as omens.
“A credulous father! and a brother noble, / Whose nature is so far from doing harms, / That he suspects none: on whose foolish honesty / My practises ride easy!”
My father is too trusting, and my brother is so noble that he never suspects deceit—their gullibility makes my schemes easy to execute.
Edmund gloats over his successful manipulation of both Gloucester and Edgar.