Regan and Goneril are two
jealous sisters who both
want to marry Edmund.
Edmund is another character
who suffers from jealousy
and greed, he is jealous of his
legitimate brother and plots
against him to gain power
and respect from his Father.
Regan and Goneril are also greedy, their greed is obvious when
they falsely confess their love for King Lear in order to gain the
Kingdom. They both speak exaggerated, fake words to Lear to
convince him that they are the daughter who loves him the
most.
Goneril: “A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.”
REGAN: Why should she write to Edmund? Might not you Transport her
purposes by word? Belike, Something--I know not what: I'll love thee much,
Let me unseal the letter.
OSWALD: Madam, I had rather–
REGAN: I know your lady does not love her husband; I am sure of that: and
at her late being here She gave strange oeillades and most speaking looks
To noble Edmund. I know you are of her bosom.
OSWALD: I, madam?
REGAN: I speak in understanding; you are; I know't: Therefore I do advise
you, take this note: My lord is dead; Edmund and I have talk'd; And more
convenient is he for my hand
Than for your lady's: you may gather more.
If you do find him, pray you, give him this;
And when your mistress hears thus much from you, I pray, desire her call
her wisdom to her. So, fare you well
Regan and Goneril also feel jealousy towards their sister Cordelia as she is the only natural
daughter and they know she is Lear’s favourite daughter.
Similarly, Edmund is very jealous of his brother Edgar as he feels that he deserves all
that Edgar is given by their Father (Gloucester) but he does not recieve as much as he
is the illegitimate son.
“Goneril and Regan joined their armies to
fight Cordelia's army, and were successful;
and Cordelia and her father were thrown
into prison. Then Goneril's husband, the
Duke of Albany, who was a good man, and
had not known how wicked his wife was,
heard the truth of the whole story; and
when Goneril found that her husband
knew her for the wicked woman she was,
she killed herself, having a little time
before given a deadly poison to her sister,
Regan, out of a spirit of jealousy.”
Regan and Goneril’s desire for power is satisfied after they win the kingdom over the
natural daughter, Cordelia.
“But both harbor sexual desire for Edmund, which destroys their alliance and eventually
leads them to destroy each other. Evil, the play suggests, inevitably turns in on itself.”
“Only at the close of the play does Edmund show a
flicker of weakness. Mortally wounded, he sees that
both Goneril and Regan have died for him, and
whispers, “Yet Edmund was beloved” (5.3.238). After
this ambiguous statement, he seems to repent of his
villainy and admits to having ordered Cordelia’s death.
His peculiar change of heart, rare among
Shakespearean villains, is enough to make the
audience wonder, amid the carnage, whether
Edmund’s villainy sprang not from some innate cruelty
but simply from a thwarted, misdirected desire for the
familial love that he witnessed around him.”
Bibliography
• http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plots/learps.html
• http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear/canalysis.html