Act 1, Scene 2 - Key Quotes Flashcards
“Thou… goddess” - E
“Thou nature art my goddess” - Edmund
“base… base” - E
“base, baseness, bastardy, base, base” - Edmund
“I… brother?” - E
“I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines lag of a brother?” - E
“my… true” - E
“my mind as generous and my shape as true” - Edmund
“dull… bed” - E
“dull, stale, tired bed” - Edmund
“Nothing… lord” - E
“Nothing, my lord” - Edmund
“I… spectacles” - G
“I shall not need spectacles” - Gloucester
“oppression… tyranny” - E
“oppression of aged tyranny” - Edmund
“These… us” - G
“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us” - Gloucester
“the… father” - G
“the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father” - Gloucester
“The… child” - G
“The king falls from bias of nature; there’s father against child” - Gloucester
“As… necessity” - E
“As if we were villains by necessity” - Edmund
“My… melancholy” - E
“My cue is villainous melancholy” - Edmund
“Let… wit” - E
“Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit” - Edmund
Evidence that Edmund is rejecting human law and subscribing to natural law (i.e. survival of the fittest).
“Thou nature art my goddess” - Edmund
Edmund’s repetition evidences his anger towards the labels he is given as a bastard.
“base, baseness, bastardy, base, base” - Edmund
Edmund rejecting the idea that the older deserve power more (such as Edgar inheriting their father’s land).
“I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines lag of a brother?” - E
Edmund, saying he is the same as if he were legitimate.
“my mind as generous and my shape as true” - Edmund
Edmund highlights the idea of him having a ‘natural’ bond with Gloucester and he sees sex as natural, not wrong.
“dull, stale, tired bed” - Edmund
Edmund to Gloucester echoes Cordelia to King Lear.
“Nothing, my lord” - Edmund
Gloucester to Edmund references his tragic blindness - it is irony as like Lear he has failed to see the true nature of his child
“I shall not need spectacles” - Gloucester
Edmund through ‘Edgar’s’ letter, insults age, similar to Goneril and Regan’s criticism of Lear.
“oppression of aged tyranny” - Edmund
Evidence of Gloucester’s superstition (part of the old world).
“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us” - Gloucester
Gloucester to Edmund, shows that whilst Edmund sees his plan as ‘natural’ Gloucester sees the opposite; the division between families in unnatural.
“the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father” - Gloucester
Gloucester to Edmund, shows he sees the king’s decision as going against nature as well.
“The king falls from bias of nature; there’s father against child” - Gloucester
Edmund, ridiculing his father’s beliefs that the heavens dictate our fate.
“As if we were villains by necessity” - Edmund
Edmund manipulates the plot like he is writing his own play.
“My cue is villainous melancholy” - Edmund
Last lines of the scene, shows Edmund will do anything to get what he wants.
“Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit” - Edmund
