He has no qualms about manipulating people, and he is unapologetically selfish. Hypocrisy barely bothers Claudius: he pretends to be a loving stepfather to Hamlet even while sending him off to be killed. Claudius doesn’t let his conscience get in the way of the job that needs to be done.

Claudius is wary of Hamlet and knows Hamlet is dangerous from the opening moments of the play. He tries to keep Hamlet in Elsinor, rather than allow him to go back to school, in order, presumably, to keep watch over him and keep him under control. Claudius only “seems” to be friendly and kindly toward Hamlet.

His does indeed manipulate Hamlet’s two friend into spying on Hamlet and luring him onto the boat to leave. As does he manipulate Gertrude into thinking that he loves Hamlet and will make him leave for England in order to save his life. Everything he does or says is to benefit himself.

Claudius Lines 87-117 Claudius tells Hamlet that while grief for his father is appropriate, it’s inappropriate for him to continue grieving for so long. He tells him it is weak and unmanly to wallow in this grief. He tells Hamlet to think of him as being a new father to him.

Prince Hamlet’s conflict with Claudius primarily concerns his uncle’s role in his father’s death and his decision to immediately marry Gertrude. Hamlet then vows to avenge his father’s death by murdering the king and realizes that he is also in danger, which is why he decides to feign madness.

Background: Ophelia’s syndrome is the association of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and memory loss, coined by Dr. Results: In Hamlet, Shakespeare presents Ophelia, “divided from herself and her fair judgement”, from the grief that “springs all from her father’s death”.

The soliloquy is essentially all about life and death: “To be or not to be” means “To live or not to live” (or “To live or to die”). Hamlet discusses how painful and miserable human life is, and how death (specifically suicide) would be preferable, would it not be for the fearful uncertainty of what comes after death.

In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, king Lear’s hamartia (tragic flaw) is his arrogance and excessive pride.

The moral of King Lear is the idea that a person’s actions speak louder than words alone. It is very easy to say one thing and do another.

3.164-165). But unlike Shakespeare’s other great villain, Iago, Edmund does repent and tries to rescind his order to execute Cordelia and Lear.

Cordelia is hanged in King Lear because she supports her father against Edmund and her sisters.

Edmund is pleased that two women died out of love for him. As he is about to die it himself, Edmund confesses that he ordered Lear and Cordelia put to death. His confession saves Lear (for about five minutes), but comes too late to spare Cordelia’s life.

He adds that he revealed himself to his father only as he was preparing to fight Edmund and that Gloucester, torn between joy and grief, died. Edmund repents his crimes and determines to do good before his death. He tells the others that he had ordered that Cordelia be hanged and sends a messenger to try to intervene.

Perhaps fittingly, it is the sisters’ rivalry over Edmund that brings about their eventual deaths. Edmund swears his love to both, and says, in a soliloquy, that ‘Neither can be enjoyed / If both remain alive’ (4.7. 58–59). The envious Goneril poisons Regan, and then stabs herself.

In the final act, Goneril discovers that Regan desires Edmund as well and poisons her sister’s drink, killing her. However, once Edmund is mortally wounded, Goneril goes offstage and kills herself.

The most evil character may deceive one into thinking she is less evil than she is, but upon closer inspection it is quite clear that the most evil character is Goneril. Nevertheless, some may think Edmund, Cromwell, or Regan are the worst, but for a variety of reasons Goneril surpasses their evil.

Conclusion The progression in the play makes clear to us that Edmund was a tragic hero who suffered more and did bad less as compared to other characters in the play. He commits sins and in the end gets punished for them and the audiences feel pity for him.

Edmund or Edmond is a fictional character and the main antagonist in William Shakespeare’s King Lear. He is the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, and the younger brother of Edgar, the Earl’s legitimate son.

Goneril is attracted to the young, handsome, and obedient Edmund. Such qualities make him more attractive to her than her own husband. Goneril expects obedience from a man, but she also wants strength and a willingness to take what he desires — characteristics that match her own.

Of all of the play’s villains, Edmund is the most complex and sympathetic. He is a consummate schemer, a Machiavellian character eager to seize any opportunity and willing to do anything to achieve his goals.

Themes

• Justice. King Lear is a brutal play, filled with human cruelty and awful, seemingly meaningless disasters.
• Authority versus Chaos. King Lear is about political authority as much as it is about family dynamics.
• Reconciliation.
• Nihilism.
• Self-knowledge.

Edmund

Edmund, Goneril, and Regan all act as antagonists in King Lear, but the real antagonist may be the idea of power itself. In the beginning of the play, when they have relatively little power, Goneril and Regan flatter Lear to stay in his favor and beguile him into surrendering his power.

The aging king of Britain and the protagonist of the play. Lear is used to enjoying absolute power and to being flattered, and he does not respond well to being contradicted or challenged.

King Lear Summary King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and banishes the third one who loves him. His eldest daughters both then reject him at their homes, so Lear goes mad and wanders through a storm.

Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers.