The subtlety of the importance of Edgar in King LearSay no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Any great literary work arises from the cohesion of many elements to create a memorable and captivating piece. William Shakespeare's plays gained notoriety for their characters' ability to captivate the human mind as well as his eloquent use of language. As a testament to his talent as a playwright, some of his most interesting characters could exist in the background of the play while continuing to drive the narrative of the story. For example, King Lear tells a compelling story of characters who abandon their families to pursue their own interests, unlike the character Edgar who works selflessly to achieve the story's resolution, despite his own betrayal. His selfless devotion to the powerless and his positive influence on even the most depraved characters make Edgar the most important character in King Lear. The audience first hears of Edgar in Act 1, Scene 1, in a conversation between Gloucester and Kent where Gloucester laments his bastard son Edmund and praises his real son Edgar. Gloucester assures Kent that he loves his children equally despite Edmund's early life, because his mother was pretty and he loved bringing him into the world. Although Gloucester loves his children proportionately, Edmund's illegitimacy marks Edgar as the heir to Gloucester's title and wealth. Edmund makes Gloucester believe that Edgar wants to assassinate him, which attributes Edgar's inheritance to Edmund. The emotional trauma of being hunted by his own father turns Edgar into an outlaw beggar who pretends to be disturbed to keep himself safe. From this point in the story, Edgar enters and exits the room in the character of "Poor Tom", muttering unintelligible things. In this way, Shakespeare keeps Edgar in the action, but it doesn't seem important since he wanders in and out of scenes in the first two acts, without doing anything of substance. This allows Edgar to advance the narrative of the story from the background, to the final two acts where he completely changes the lives of three characters. The first character that Edgar positively affects is King Lear himself. Suffering from a broken heart and an immense feeling of guilt, Lear gradually descends into madness. He chased away Cordelia who is the only girl who truly loves him and is now under the thumb of his two spoiled and evil daughters, Regan and Goneril. The audience knows that Edgar's madness is an act to conceal his identity, but there are times when Edgar seems to lose himself in his "Poor Tom" disguise and actually appears to be going mad. The deranged “Poor Tom” becomes a model onto which Lear can project his own problems. When Lear sees Edgar's insane ramblings, he asks him, "What, did his daughters bring him to this point?" / Couldn’t you save anything? Did you give them all? (3.4.62-63). Lear assumes that Edgar found himself in this state of madness because he too gave everything to his daughters and they in turn abandoned him. Kent tries to tell Lear that Edgar has no daughters, but Lear responds, "Death, traitor!" Nothing could have subjected nature / To such baseness as her wicked daughters” (3.4.69-70). Lear refuses to believe that Edgar has no daughters, because only greedy daughters could rob a man of his sanity. Throughout the scene in the cabin, Edgar speaks to himself as "Poor Tom", muttering incomprehensible nonsense. When Gloucester comes to collect Lear from the cabin, Lear refuses toleave without Edgar, saying: “I am going to have a word with this same learned Theban. / What is your study? (3.4.150-51). Lear is convinced that Edgar is a wise man who knows much about the world that others do not. The interaction of Edgar and Lear positively affects the mental state of both characters. Thanks to Edgar Lear, she becomes more willing to accept help from others and is able to accept her daughters' betrayal and her own horrible treatment of Cordelia. Edgar makes an aside, saying that his problems seem much easier to bear now that he has seen the state Lear is in. He realizes that Lear's daughters betrayed him in the same way that Gloucester betrayed Edgar. Edgar announces his intention to stay in the shadows and observe, then prove his innocence when the time comes. (3.6.102-15). Lear's own suffering pulls Edgar out of his act of madness and makes him determined to help Lear and reveal his true identity when the time comes. Edgar is also the difference between life and death for Gloucester, despite the fact that Gloucester's actions forced Edgar to become an outlaw. If Gloucester had not been so quick to believe Edmund's claims about Edgar, Edgar would not have been forced to take on the identity of a mad man and wander the moors as a beggar homeless. Even considering this, Edgar, acting as "Poor Tom", still cares about his father after Cornwall blinds Gloucester for supporting Lear. After losing his eyes and learning the truth about Edmund, Gloucester becomes suicidal. His feelings of guilt are so extreme that he asks poor Tom to drive him to a cliff so he can jump to his death. Instead of complying, Edgar makes him believe that he jumped off an imaginary cliff and that the gods saved him because he is too important to die. Without Edgar, Gloucester could have hired another boy to take him to a real cliff and jump to his death. Edgar's actions lead Gloucester to believe that he is about to end his life and force him to confront his feelings of guilt and regret towards Edgar. In this way, he can move on from the sins of his past to a potentially bright new future, helping to repair the kingdom. Witnessing this, Edgar is tormented at seeing his father this way – shouting, "How should this be?" / Bad is the profession that must play the role of the fool to the point of sorrow, / Getting angry and making others angry. —Bless you, master! (4.1.38-40). Edgar knows he could end his father's suffering if he turned out to be Edgar, but Edgar can't risk the wrong people learning who he really is. Edgar knows he has a greater purpose to serve in this room and must wait until he confronts Edmund to reveal his true identity. Each appearance of Edgar in King Lear builds up to the fifth and final act of the play. Edgar approaches the Duke of Albany in the disguise of "Poor Tom" and gives him a letter stating that if the Duke wins the battle, he should then sound a trumpet to signal that a champion is coming forward. He may look miserable, but he will defend his claims when the time comes (5.1.40-45). Edgar's dedication to his disguise has so far been such that the Duke of Albany neither recognizes Edgar nor knows who the promised champion will be. When the Duke wins the battle against France, Edgar is able to shed his identity as "Poor Tom" and face Edmund as his outlaw brother. Over the course of the play, Edmund became a deceptive and self-obsessed villain, carrying out plans to murder Lear and Cordelia and convincing Regan and Goneril of his intention to marry them. Edmond becomes so conceited that he ignores the Duke's orders.