Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

As for the mercy

Which he intends to Lear and to Cordelia,-

The battle done, and they within our power,

Shall never see his pardon; for my state

Stands on me to defend, not to debate.

 

-Edmund

King Lear                Act V, Scene i, Line 69

 

End of scene with a nice rhyming couplet.

So, Edmund is the consummate schemer. I’ve been reading (actually re-reading) a book recently with a character that reminds me a quite a bit of Edmund. It’s Steerpike in The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. Both Steerpike and Edmund share the characteristic of appearing to be constantly scheming. In both cases they don’t waste time with anything that’s not going to further their agenda. In both cases that agenda is advancement of themselves.

I always wonder, when I see these parallels to Shakespeare’s works in other literature, whether these later authors drew from Will.

I suppose we’ll never know.