another sudden realization about King Lear
Albany’s accusation against Edmund at the end is fully based around how Goneril wrote a letter to Edmund asking him to murder Albany and marry her.
Which is pretty similar to how, you know… Edmund wrote that letter from Edgar to him asking him to murder Gloucester, which is what started this whole mess.
There’s a letter addressed to Edmund asking him to help the sender murder someone. Will it
A) lead to him becoming the Earl of Gloucester
B) lead to him getting stabbed to death
Or C) Who Knows.
King Lear: a play where everyone dies, including Edmund
King Lear if Goneril would have never written that letter: a play where most of the relatively good people die, but Goneril and Edmund live happily ever after and rule England together
(Here’s a really bad take: I don’t think Edmund and Goneril would be that bad at ruling a country. Their main grievances are against their families, but neither of them seems to go out of their way to hurt other people. Edmund more than Goneril tbh. But I think that once given the power and respect they want so badly, they might be able to actually pull off running a kingdom well.)