Part one of term paper
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 we first see Edmund, ...

Part two of term paper
... like his father is easily deceived, and runs. Edmund's evil trickery continues to increase in its cruelty until he commits an inconceivable crime. Edmund has reached a point in his pursuit of power that he will stop at nothing to gain more. He writes another letter. This one is similar to the first, except instead of implicating 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 t ...