para 1 Flashcards
how is Edmund villainy born?
- laws and customs of society hinder edmunds advancement
- thus his villainy is born from this victimisation
how is Edmund presented in act1, scene1?
- through Gloucesters demoralisation
- obscenely humiliates him publicly, labelling him as a ‘knave’ and ‘whoreson’
- uses condescending and bigotry language when considering the ‘good sport at his making’
why is it bad of Gloucester to speak of Edmund in this way?
-to speak of his son in this dehumanising manner would have been mortifying for Edmund and a contemporary 21st century audience
why would a Jacobean audience not have been shocked with gloucester mistreatment of Edmund?
-however in 16th century England, society belief was that if a child was born out of wedlock, they were deemed illegitimate at birth, due to legitimacy being a highly nuanced concept in early modern England, so the insensitive treatment of Edmunds stigma would not have been shocking for Jacobean audiences
why is it key to remember the staging of this scene?
why could Gloucesters cavalier attitude impact Edmund?
- it is key to remember the staging of this scene, due to Edmund being present and therefore humiliated by GlL insensitive joking
- thus gl cavalier attitude towards edmunds conception mitigates for giving Edmund a motive to seek justice
how does gl claim his love for Edmund is?
- he claims his love for Edmund is ‘no dearer’ than his love for Edgar, but it is far from unconditional
- it is more of a tolerant love, rather than acceptant love
- he loves him as ‘bastard son’ rather than simply a son
what does kastan argue?
-kastan argues that Shakespeare views tragedy as the genre of uncompensated suffering
how is kastans theory depicted?
-this is depicted through the immense suffering and injustice that illegitimate children, like Edmund, received in 16th century England
how does the betlittling treatment effect Edmund?
-could be argued that this belittling treatment made edmund a victim of prejudice, which he then internalised as self loathing
how does the insensitivity and lack of acceptance effect edmund?
-it is the insensitivity towards the stigma and lack of acceptance, rather than the illegitimacy alone that motivated edmunds evil nature
what did gl causing edmund an irreversible amount of pain lead to?
-his father caused him an irreversible amount of pain, leading to feelings of exclusion and vulnerability because he feels unloved and unaccepted
what did the psychological damage render edmund to?
-rendered him unable to love others, so he redirects his stigma to his advantage to aid him in his villainy
what comparison can be made between edmund and shakespearean villain Richard 3?
- by the end of the play edmund is presented in the same opportunistic way as Richard
- similarly to how Richard explains the reason for his villainy is ‘since I cannot prove a lover; I am determined to prove a villian’
