1- do you think Edmund from King Lear would be any good at swordfighting/fencing?
...
2- if so (and I know you'll say he is) (because its his type) then how did he lose against Edgar in the final scene?
1- yes
2- Ok so.
Let’s not forget.
That he literally stabbed himself, probably in the arm, a few scenes ago.
He’s literally fighting Edgar with a stabbed arm.
I’d assume stab wounds don’t heal that quickly?
It’s kinda karma, in a way. He stabbed himself to frame Edgar, and then he gets stabbed by Edgar because he stabbed himself. At least that’s how I personally see it.
how my english teacher ruined skakespeare and destroyed all happiness from the world: part 1
Ok this is basically just a summary of everything that she got wrong and every time she was annoying.
1-She said that Shakespeare wrote “Henry the 3rd…. and maybe Henry the 2nd too”
2-(this is a really small complaint but) she said “a lot of really good and nice people die in the last act of King Lear”. And. I mean. Would you call anyone other than Cordelia “good” and “nice”? Oh yeah, Edmund, Regan, Goneril, Gloucester, and Lear are all such good and nice people.
3- She said that they called Horatio to check if the ghost is real because Horatio’s an expert on ghosts
4- She forgot that Ophelia exists
5- Said that “O’er” is pronounced the exact same way as “or”
6- She doesn’t know the difference between Brutus and Cassius
7- Is aware that Hamlet is 30. Thinks that his mother is 40.
8- Doesn’t know what year Hamlet (the play that she’s supposed to be teaching us) takes place in.
9- Explained what dew is, with the full assumption that a class of 17-18 yr old people have no idea what it is.
10- Said that Macbeth was strong and Lady Macbeth was weak- her only evidence being that Lady Macbeth died first (@sargent-major-jane I think you’d agree with me on this; ie that if a teacher would say this, you’d also be kinda annoyed) (because like) (you too appreciate Lady Macbeth and understand what a great character she is)
11- She called Iambic pentameter “iambic penariter”
12- She keeps censuring random parts because they’re “inappropriate”
That’s all I have so far for the first two weeks of trying to learn Hamlet. More complaints to come.
The dumbest idea I ever had- King Lear except the characters have the same magic powers as the Hargreeves’s
Ok so the question was who gets who’s power, and why.
The only characters that are getting powers in the first place are the main ones from the younger generation: ie Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, Albany, Cornwall, Edmund, and Edgar
Now let me tell you who gets what power.
#1- Luther’s power; ie super strength, goes to Cordelia. You’re probably thinking that that’s the worst choice I can possibly make. BUT NO. Imagine it, for like a minute. (I’ll probably come back and explain all of them more deeply, but I don’t really have the patience for it now)
#2-Diego’s power; ie I don’t even know, throwing knives really well?? Goes to Regan. Why? Welp in the one murder she commits her weapons of choice is sword/dagger, so I already have the mental image of her with knives. And honestly I think it would be really cool if she did some knife throwing.
#3-Allison’s power; ie whatever it’s called- some form of mind control I guess? Goes to (and this one should be obvious) Edmund. Because. Come on. Do I really have to explain this? Edmunds goes to Gloucester and is like “hey. I heard a rumor that Edgar wants to kill you”. I mean, that much is actually canon. And Gloucester believing him is also canon. Tbh for all we know, he could have had Allison’s ability the whole time. It wouldn’t have changed the story at all.
#4-Klaus’s power; ie taking to ghosts, goes to Edgar. For 2 reasons. First- when he’s pretending to be crazy he could just spend the whole time talking to ghosts to make the act more realistic. And 2- ghost of Servant 1 comes to warn him about what happened to Gloucester.
#5-Five’s power; ie time travel and teleporting, was SO difficult to find someone for, but I decided it should go to Goneril. Hear me out. It can’t go to anyone who died and didn’t want to die, so that rules out everyone except for Edgar, Albany, and Goneril. Because if it would go to one of them, they just would prevent their own death. Now Edgar and Albany can’t have the time power either, because they’re both at the morally decent end of the spectrum, and would use it to fix everything that happened in the play. Goneril, however, wouldn’t use it to fix anything, and wouldn’t use it to save herself, since she committed suicide. So therefore she has to be the one to have it.
#6- Ben’s power; ie I don’t know, having tentacles, goes to Albany. For the one and only reason of Ben making it clear that he doesn’t like using his power/it’s not comfortable to use, and me believing that if Albany had a power, he wouldn’t use it for whatever reason. (I personally think he’s the most boring character in King Lear)
#7-Vanya’s power, ie sound manipulation or something, goes to Cornwall. Hear me out. I feel like whatever power Cornwall would have, it would be something that can be used in a subtle way. So that rules out a lot of the powers. Vanya’s power could potentially be used in a very subtle way. I feel like the suits him in a way. (I think I’ll come back and explain this one more also)
Anyway that’s it that’s all I have to say. Please enjoy this very cursed take
you peer pressure me closer to reading king lear every day
Good you should read it
Let me tell you all about it (or more specifically, all about Act 1 Scene 1) to motivate you:
So there’s this king, right? His name is Lear. He’s kinda crazy. He comes up with the brilliant idea of dividing up his kingdom among his three daughters.
Now you’re probably wondering, how will he choose which daughter gets which part? Well, his ego is hungry, so he decides to have a “who can praise me the most” contest to determine who gets what.
His two oldest daughters are like “yeah. We totally love you. Also we’re not sus at all.” And to that Lear said “wow! You must really love me! You’re also not sus at all!”
But his youngest daughter was like “dad. Does this really seem like the greatest way to decide the fate of your empire?” And to that Lear said “EXCUSE ME. Did you just say that you don’t love me?!? That’s it, you’re banished from here!”
So she’s banished. The king of France marries her literally 2 seconds after this happens though, so she’s ok.
Lear also banishes this other guy who was like “heyyyy maybe banishing your youngest daughter wasn’t the greatest idea?”
Meanwhile, you also have the Earl of Gloucester walking around with his son Edmund (who you keep seeing me post about because I love him) (actually pretty much everyone other than Gloucester loves him tbh). And Gloucester thinks that the greatest way to introduce Edmund to people is by going “heyyy you have you seen my bastard child Edmund?! He’s a bastard! Yup, he was born very much out of wedlock. Oops. But his mom was hot though! So it was worth it!!” (I’m not even kidding he literally says this) (*give me a sec and I’ll post a picture of the actual script of him saying it)
ANYWAY. The scene ends with Lear’s oldest two daughters being like “lol we actually don’t love dad. He actually kinda crazy. Who woulda thought. Anyway, we’re the antagonists now. We’ve decided to take up that role” (meanwhile Edmund’s about 2 seconds away from soliloquizing about how he too decided to take up that role).
So that’s that. That’s Act 1 Scene 1 of King Lear.
Hamlet: for my brilliant plan, I’m going to pretend I’ve gone mad.
Edgar: Me too!
Hamlet: cool.
Edgar: *goes outside*
Edgar: *covers himself in dirt*
Hamlet: what...
Edgar: *starts yelling about poor tom*
Hamlet: what are you doing...?
Edgar: *screeches*
Hamlet:
this isn’t what I meant
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.
The fact that Edmund leaves with Gloucester when Gloucester goes out to get France and Burgundy and just.. never comes back always kinda bothered me.
Like where did he go? Did he go to start evil plotting? Did he use this time to write The Letter ™? Did he leave because he didn’t want to stick around and put up with Gloucester?
Macbeth and the rest of the cast are trying to play on a private server. So far, only Macbeth and Banquo joined. A hacker by the username 3witches joins. 3witches tells them that she, being a hacker, can control their among us characters and the game, and tells Macbeth that he’ll be imposter, and the other imposter will kill him.
3witches also changed the programming of the game so that the two imposters can’t see who the other imposter is. Macduff is the other imposter.
OTHELLO AMONG US AU
The two imposters are Roderigo and Othello.
Iago is a crewmate who causes chaos for fun.
JULIUS CAESAR AMONG US AU
Brutus and Cassius are the imposters.
Mark Antony decides to watch Cassius closely because Caesar said he was sus. He witnesses Cassius kill Caesar, and sees that Brutus is right there witnessing it too without reporting it. He figures out that they’re imposters, reports the body, gets Cassius voted out, calls an emergency meeting, and gets Brutus voted out.
The whole game lasts less than a minute.
TITUS ANDRONICUS AMONG US AU
By some glitch in the game, everyone’s an imposter. The story plays out exactly as it is.
ROMEO AND JULIET AMONG US AU
Tybalt and Juliet are the imposters.
Juliet doesn’t do imposter things, she just hangs out with Romeo/ guards him from Tybalt. Tybalt tries to kill Romeo but kills Mercutio instead. Romeo reports the body and gets Tybalt voted out.
Later on people start suspecting Juliet of being the other imposter, so Romeo frames himself for it and gets voted out. Juliet immediately calls an emergency meeting and confesses to being the imposter. She gets voted out too.
IT’S THE MOMENT NONE OF YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR..
SMALL PREQUEL TO “KING LEAR BUT STAGED SO THAT EDMUND IS 100% MORE SYMPATHETIC AND GLOUCESTER’S 100% MORE OF A JERK”
So. Shakespeare’s great. The best thing about Shakespeare is the lack of stage directions. That way, you can portray the characters in whatever way you want.
Every interpretation of a character is equally canon, so long as you don’t change the script at all.
If you can change the way a whole character is portrayed just by using staging, then it’s not even a headcanon. Your interpretation is 100% canon.
So therefore, according to these rules, Edmund is, in fact, a sympathetic character.
(This is 100% about Edmund. If you wanna read stuff about other characters then this isn’t the post for you)
(Seriously this isn’t about anyone other than Edmund)
(This is your final warning- enjoy!)
(Or don’t I don’t care I’m really tired and I have midterms to study for)
General Staging
-every time Edmund and Gloucester are on stage together, they gravitate away from each other. Kinda like what happens when you try to push two magnets together. If one takes a step towards the other, the other moves away.
-Gloucester rarely ever looks at Edmund. He often walks in front of him when both are walking together. In scenes where a three way conversation is taking place between himself, Edmund, and someone else, he looks at the other person the whole time.
-Edmund faces away from people when he’s lying to them. Often by standing in front of them (but like, across the stage from them so the audience can see them both) (like this—->)
(I deleted the picture accidentally this is not ok now I have to draw it again)
Casting/ Costumes
-(I’m only gonna be talking about the characters that I actually care about how they’re cast)
-Edmund: someone of average height, yet shorter than Gloucester, Edgar, and Cornwall. Around the same height as Albany and Goneril. Taller than Regan. Is attractive (obviously. That’s one of the first things we’re told about him), but leaning more towards cute than hot (as per my analysis in a previous post). Wears shades of grey- all of his costumes make it clear that he’s upper class, but they’re not overly flashy.
-Gloucester: If I get even one Santa Claus vibe, I’m gonna punch a wall. He should have zero resemblance to Santa. I just saw a production of Lear where he may as well have been a mall Santa. I wanted to scream. Anyway. Onto what he should look like. I honestly don’t care, as long as i can’t mistake him for Santa. It’s the vibe that counts. ANYWAY. His costume is obnoxiously ostentatious, but it gets gradually more normal as the overall stress level increases.
-Edgar: taller than Edmund, and physically more muscular, but in like “Disney channel movie football player side character who’s no one’s primary love interest and is kinda dumb” sort of way. (Future Edette Editing: What I meant was “he’s a himbo”) He’s not ultra hot, but he’s not exactly ugly either. He’s pretty average looking. He wears shades of brown, because I feel like that suits him.
-Cornwall: tall but doesn’t give off Tall Person Vibes. Preferably with dark brown or black hair, but other colors can work as well. I cannot imagine him wearing anything other than suits that are mostly black with some shades of red somewhere- I don’t care how you incorporate the shades of red into his costume, as long as they’re there.
-Albany: has a dark shade of blond hair, or a medium shade of brown hair. Any other hair color just doesn’t work. (Future Edette Editing: any color hair other than black is fine for Albany). Dresses sensibly and wears really boring costumes.
-Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia have at least a little bit of a family resemblance. Please. Their costumes are similar as well- all wear standard types of clothes you’d expect the princesses of England to wear.
ACT 1 SCENE 1
- Gloucester and Kent enter the stage with Edmund trailing behind them. They’re entering the palace from outside. Idk how England’s weather works, but I decided that the whole play takes place in the fall. I’m not wrong. It does. It doesn’t feel like the sort of play to take place in any other season. You can all fight me on this in the comments, I have no evidence to back up this claim. Anyway, they’re all wear jackets. Because it’s fall.
-As Kent and Gloucester say their first lines, they take their jackets off. It’s hot inside the palace. Edmund leaves his jacket on. It’s not a heavy jacket. He’ll be fine.
-As Gloucester finishes up his first line “…can make choice of either’s moiety” he hands his jacket to Edmund. He does this in a very natural way- it’s clear this is something he does instinctively, without thinking about it. Edmund takes it. He takes it instinctively as well, without thinking about it.
-Kent, watching this says the line “Is not this your son, my lord?”. As in “hey dude. Isn’t he your kid? Why are you treating him like a servant or a coatrack?”
-at “His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge”, Gloucester puts a hand on Edmund’s shoulder in a “yes this is my son” sort of way. He does that a bit too roughly- not in any attempt to hurt Edmund, but definitely showing that he’s doing it for show and not in genuine fatherly affection.
-While Gloucester talks about Edmund, a waiter goes around with champagne glasses. Maybe they have actual liquid (ie water) in them, maybe not. I don’t care. Anyway, both Gloucester and Edmund take one.
-As Gloucester continues talking, he slowly sips whatever alcoholic beverage is in the champagne glass. (Probably champagne, but hey, I’m no expert on alcohol). NO, this isn’t to imply that he’s only speaking Like That ™ because he’s drunk. He is not drunk.
-meanwhile Edmund downs the whole glass, in the standard theatre way of “I don’t wanna be here and I don’t wanna deal with this”
-Gloucester hands his empty glass to Edmund. He seems to suddenly remember that Edmund is, in fact, there. He says him line “Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?”
-At “my services to your lordship” he would bow or something (I don’t know English nobility etiquette, sorry), but he’s currently holding two glasses and a jacket, so he partially bows to the best of his ability.
ACT 1 SCENE 2
- A main set piece for this play would be a door or two on wheels that can be moved around. People really like entering and exiting buildings.
-ANYWAY. Edmund comes in through said door, currently located at the back of the stage. Gloucester house have a portrait of Gloucester family in huge on the wall. Gloucester’s in the middle, with Edgar on one said and Edmund on the other. At this point this should go without saying, but the gap between Gloucester and Edmund is much larger than the gap between Gloucester and Edgar. There’s also a desk and chair somewhere on stage.
-As he starts his first soliloquy, he takes off his jacket that he was wearing in scene 1 and drapes it over the back of the chair
-at “legitimate Edgar, I must have your land”, he turns towards the portrait and looks at Edgar. Then there’s a pause in the soliloquy as he goes over to the desk and writes The Letter ™. Then he continues the soliloquy with “Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund..”
-Gloucester enters. He doesn’t notice Edmund.
-As Gloucester asks Edmund for the letter, he and Edmund slowly circle around the stage, the way you’d see animals circling when they’re preparing to fight each other. They’re not going to fight. Not directly at least.
-Gloucester doesn’t make direct eye contact with Edmund for most of this scene
-Until he does, at the line “Give me the letter, sir.”. The line itself is said very forcefully. Both Gloucester and Edmund have stopped circling each other. They stand at opposite ends of the stage. There is a pause, and then Edmund takes the letter back out of his pocket and gives it as he continues saying his lines.
-Gloucester spends the remainder of the scene looking at the letter instead of at Edmund.
-“Edmund, seek him out..” is said very offhandedly, like he’s giving an order to a servant, rather than talking to his own son
-Gloucester leaves, Edmund sinks into the chair at the desk. He puts his head down on the desk and leaves it there for a solid second. He starts his soliloquy with his head still down. (Future Edette Editing: I still want something here to show that Edmund doesn’t get any enjoyment from this- he’s doing it out of anger, or as revenge, or to gain what should have been his, had things been slightly different, or possibly as a means of survival. Basically, he’s not doing this to have a fun time at deceiving anyone) He’s not enjoying what he’s doing- he’s not rejoicing at what is seemingly his success- he sees that it doesn’t make a difference. Gloucester would rather have no sons than only have him.
-Edgar enters. Edgar enters in a great mood. His optimism is turned up to a solid 100%.
-“How now, brother Edmund!” He speed-walks over to Edmund, who’s standing near the middle of the stage at this point. He does something brotherly- I don’t know what that would even mean, given that I am a girl with no brothers. He puts his arm around his shoulder or ruffles his hair or something. That’s the vibe I’m going for. The “haha yeah we’re siblings and we totally get along” vibe. Edmund is, however, not vibing.
(-if the second option is what we’re going with, Edmund takes a moment to fix his hair. A very short moment, but a moment none the less)
-Edgar notices that Edmund does not seem to be vibing, and that’s when he continues with his line “what serious contemplation are you in?”
- at “..go armed”, Edmund hands Edgar his own sword. This is the sword Edgar will later use to kill him.
ACT 2 SCENE 1
- On Edmund’s conversation with Curan: This is the first conversation Edmund’s having with someone without there being any uncomfortable tension between them. They talk in a casual way, and it’s clear that outside of the play they would be friends, regardless of status. Why would they be friends? Because I decided they should be.
-Edgar is doubly armed- with Edmund’s sword and with his own. He was planning on returning Edmund’s sword. When they “fight” Edgar uses Edmund’s sword and Edmund uses Edgar’s. They have different types of swords- Edmund’s- which is now Edgar’s- is slightly shorter and lighter. Edgar’s- which is now Edmund’s- is a two handed sword. These details are slightly irrelevant, but I feel like their weapon of choice (even though they’re using each other’s weapons (ie not their weapons of choice)) should match their personalities.
- Edgar just. Has NO idea what’s up with Edmund’s “hey we gotta sword fight now” thing. It should be clear to the audience that he’s ONLY going along with it because he trusts Edmund entirely.
-during the fight, Edmund slashes the family portrait with his sword, cutting a line between Edgar and Gloucester. Is this cliche? Yes. Must it happen anyway, because ✨symbolism✨? Yes.
-Edgar leaves through The Door I keep talking about
- Edmund stabs his non-dominant arm. This is relevant and important.
- “But where is he?” Gloucester hasn’t even noticed at this point that Edmund was injured in the “fight”. “Look, sir, I bleed!” Is Edmund’s attempt to get Gloucester’s attention. It’s his way of saying “I got injured for YOUR sake. THAT’S how good of a son I am!!”
- “where is the villain, Edmund?” The word “villain”, not the word “Edmund” is emphasized. While his seemingly innocent a son is standing there with his arm stabbed and bleeding, he’s more concerned with the son who supposedly plotted against him, but is currently running away now and is of no threat to him.
- (this is the point where I get really into @suits-of-woe’s Cornwall theory, because while I had never thought of it before, as soon as I read it I agreed with it completely. Please go read the theory if you haven’t already.)
- While Gloucester rarely looks at Edmund, Cornwall’s eyes go straight to Edmund as soon as he enters the room. Edmund doesn’t notice- he’s too busy trying to support his stabbed arm in a functional way without bleeding everywhere
-while Gloucester and Regan are talking, Cornwall calls a servant aside and whispers to him. The servant leaves. He asked the servant to get Edmund bandages because his arm has LITERALLY been STABBED and no one’s doing anything about it.
- Edmund’s focused on his arm until Cornwall’s line of “Edmund, I hear that you have shown your father a very child-like office”. Finally, someone appreciates him! At “It was my duty, sir”, it’s clear that there’s some sort of understanding between them. They somewhat get that they’re on the same side. There is a short pause.
- “…and received this hurt you see” Gloucester, being Gloucester, grabs Edmund’s injured arm to “show it off” to Regan and Cornwall. Edmund, master of hiding his emotions and such, winces for a millisecond but then goes back to “ah yes everything is ok and I am totally not condensed rage in human form”.
(Future Edette Editing: I am *so glad* I’m editing this because I really don’t like some of the stuff I shoved in here to try to cater this to a larger audience)
-after “..how in my strength you please”, that servant Cornwall called returns. As he says “For you, Edmund, whose virtue and obedience..” until the end of that paragraph Cornwall takes the bandage and bandages Edmund’s arm- I mean no one else is gonna do it. That, combined with the content of what Cornwall says in the paragraph, lead Edmund to be like “wait. Is this?? A father figure???” “a father figure? For ME???”
(-Hence the Cornwall theory I mentioned earlier)
- “I shall serve you, sir, truly, however else” this is the first line he’ll say in a way that it’s clear to everyone (mainly the audience) that he’s 100% sincere. He’s not trying to be deceptive. He’s not trying to trick anyone. He says it softly and truly means it.
-Edmund’s arm remains bandaged for the remainder of the play. (It’s not heavily bandaged or anything)
ACT 2 SCENE 2
- At “How now! What’s the matter?..” Edmund comes out holding Edgar’s- which is now his, I guess- sword. He’s holding it well enough, considering it’s a two handed sword and he just stabbed himself in the arm, but it’s pretty clear that he won’t be able to win a fight with it. Don’t worry, he’ll get a new sword before his final duel.
-at “no more, perchance, does mine, nor his, nor hers” “his” is referring to Gloucester, not Edmund. This isn’t because Cornwall is ignoring Edmund, it’s because that’s just the order they’re standing in. Edmund entered this scene first out of the four of them, so while Kent and Oswald are on one side of the stage, Edmund stands towards the middle, and Cornwall, Gloucester, and Regan stand at the other side.
ACT 3 SCENE 3
-Gloucester is angry in this scene. Why is he angry? Because I say so. He says all his lines in an angry and bitter way. Which may be counterproductive- having Gloucester be angry about how Lear is treated may make him more likable, which isn’t my goal. But I don’t care.
-Edmund says his paragraph at the end in a bitter and angry way too. Because ✨ parallels ✨
ACT 3 SCENE 5
-Cornwall is Gloucester’s opposite when it comes to how they react to/ treat Edmund. While Gloucester rarely looks at him and has an anti-magnetic effect, Cornwall stands near Edmund on the stage and looks at him both when he’s speaking to him and when Edmund’s replying. And not in a “good eye contact is important” sort of way, because Edmund faces away from people when he lies to them. Just for staging reasons, not because he can’t lie when facing people.
-Cornwall knows Edmund’s lying- he shows this by constantly moving so that he’s nearly always standing beside him instead of behind him (not actually directly behind him; scroll up for General Staging, where I explained this.)
-At “go with me to the duchess” Cornwall puts a hand on Edmund’s shoulder, directly paralleling Gloucester in Act 1 Scene 1. Because I really like ✨parallels✨. Except Cornwall, the same guy who said “thou shalt find a dearer father in my love”, does this in a much more- fatherly, I guess?- way than Gloucester did.
-At “if the matter of this paper be certain…” Edmund does what he does when he lies; ie tries to turn away and takes maybe half a step back. He pretty much trusts Cornwall enough to not walk halfway across the stage when he lies, but not enough for him to either lie directly to his face (or just tell the truth, I guess- but that’s because the whole point of this is to stick to the original script and use only stage directions to make Edmund more sympathetic).
-At “True or false, it has made thee earl of Gloucester…” Cornwall puts his other hand on Edmund’s other shoulder (wow I’m bad at describing things)
Here are some stock photos to help ya visualize this-
THIS is putting one hand on a shoulder. Note that the two people aren’t necessarily facing each other.
AND THIS is putting both hands on shoulders-
(So imagine that, but minus how aggressive that looks, and minus one of the people’s arms. Also a whole lot less tense/intense.) (Anyway. Moving on.)
-at “thou shalt find a dearer father in my love” (…cue me googling “how on earth do fathers show affection?” Because I really want to get the point across that edmund’s like “a father figure??? For me???” And Cornwall’s like “👍. A father figure. For you.”) HECK I GOT IT. Hear me out. Cornwall pats Edmund on the head (in like, a fatherly way), and with the other hand hold The Letter ™ (even though this is a different “the letter”) and looks it over. This is the first time he looked away from Edmund since this conversation started. In a way that portrays “yes you are my son now I have claimed you as my own” but also “you are not necessarily my top priority- I can give you the fatherly love and affection you desire, but it’s not exactly unconditional. You did well today, good job! You keep up the good work and I’ll keep up my end of this; ie providing you with the fatherly love you never received in your childhood” ( @suits-of-woe I am trying here. I am struggling. I’m so sorry for ruining the Cornwall Theory like this- I’m trying my best to convey it via my amazing stage directions, but I can see pretty clearly that I’m epically failing at this).
ACT 3 SCENE 7
-Cornwall walks onto the stage first, followed by Goneril and Regan close behind them, and Edmund last.
-at “Farewell, sweet lord, and sister”, Cornwall nods at Goneril in response (this has nothing to do with Edmund, I always just thought it was weird that he doesn’t respond)
- at “Edmund,.. farewell” Goneril had already left the stage, Regan is standing next to Cornwall at the opposite end of the stage. Edmund’s about to exit when Cornwall says “Edmund”. He turns around- expecting Cornwall to say something more to him or something. There’s a pause. Cornwall doesn’t have anything else to say. He just says “Farewell”. Edmund nods and leaves the stage.
ACT 4 SCENE 2
-oh heck I gotta stage an Edmund and Goneril scene now
-I don’t wanna?
(Future Edette Editing: and so I won’t!! I don’t normally describe things as cringe, but that’s what this was. I only put this in because I felt obligated to talk about every scene. Oh well- I guess 4.2 isn’t getting stage directions from me)
ACT 5 SCENE 1
-Edmund enters first, dressed in some sort of military commander uniform. Because. Like. There’s a war going on. His sleeves are rolled up/cuffed up to elbow length, and his arm is still bandaged from when he stabbed it.
-there is a tent with a desk in it on stage. Hold on let me illustrate this:
(Future Edette Editing: yeah there was an illustration here, but I’m changing some stuff so I deleted it)
It’s all on wheels so it can be moved around the stage- whichever piece is the most important to the scene will be more up front.
-Edmund stands at the desk which has some military plans of some sort on it.
-Edmund is armed with a brand new sword (Cornwall’s sword? Maybe? Who knows?) (UPDATE: yeah hi future Edette here- I decided that it is, in fact, Cornwall’s sword)
-With Regan, Edmund also doesn’t get that she’s flirting with him right away.
-and then. Then he’s like “OH WAIT” “WAIT SHE’S FLIRTING” “WAIT SO I GOT 2 GIRLFRIENDS??” “OH WOW THIS IS FANTASTIC” “THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE” (lol Edmund it’s also the last week of your life)
-he 100% realized at “No, by mine honor, madam”.
-Albany stands at the opposite end of the desk. He never moves any closer or further from Edmund than the opposite end of the desk. Goneril would have moved closer but Albany is blocking her.
-as Edmund leaves he puts on his military commander hat of some sort and adjusts it while looking in a mirror or some other reflective surface. Just to show he’s still the same Edmund from act one- he still cares about his appearance to an extent.
-at “the enemy’s in view, draw up your powers.” Edmund half-jogs in back onto the stage- showing that he wasn’t just commanding the soldiers ( if he was he’d have been walking at a moderate pace), but he was actually with them, to some extent, fighting along side them on the battlefield.
- (Future Edette Editing here: yeah so I deleted the notes on the soliloquy here. I didn’t like them. Oh well.)
ACT 5 SCENE 3
-wow it’s hard to make this Edmund guy redeemable/sympathetic when he kills off Cordelia. Like. He really didn’t need to do that
-why, Edmund. Why must you do this.
-you’re making my job here (ie to make you sympathetic) very difficult.
-ANYWAY. I’ll do what I can for this scene
-The captain here? Yeah, he’s Curan from earlier. Edmund made him a captain. There you have it, Edmund’s one semi-redeeming factor for this scene
-I really don’t know how to have this part play out in a way that makes the audience sympathize with Edmund. This is the best I can do.
(Future Edette Editing: yeah so honestly killing off Cordelia and Lear was a logical and strategic move to make, tbh. ((Not morally fantastic. But logical.)) Because yeah Albany would have left them alive and then what? They’d get the throne? Let’s be real here- the country’s already collapsing- the last thing you need is Lear or Cordelia on the throne. Even *Albany* would do a better job than either of them. And he wouldn’t do anything at all. So. Yeah.)
-I’m so burnt out right now I know this isn’t the quality content you came here for but I don’t know how to get this back on track either. ANYWAY I am dedicated to finishing this. Let’s go! There isn’t much left to the play! I’m almost done!
-at “Sir, by your patience, I hold you but a subject of war..” Albany speaks in a very harsh tone- talking to Edmund as if he were a child who interrupted class for like the eighth time that day. Albany’s just salty that his wife likes Edmund more than him.
(Future Edette Editing: Sorry if this doesn’t flow well here anymore- I deleted a bunch of stuff)
-as the argument continues, Regan and Goneril get more frantic because they see they’re not winning.
-Albany gets louder and angrier because he’s frustrated that his wife likes Edmund more than she likes him. Also because at this point, he pretty much hates Edmund.
-Edmund, however, is the quietest out of all the yelling people around him. He doesn’t like arguments- or rather, he doesn’t like when he’s the one the argument is directed towards. He tries to stay calm and talk in a level voice. As everyone around him argues he tries to step in between them and silently play the role of peacekeeper.
-at “Nor in thine, my lord” Edmund is still calm./ not yelling at him. He says it like he’s stating a fact, not contributing to the argument.
-at “half blooded fellow, yes!” My book’s translation to modern english say “Bastard, it is!”. And like. No one’s called him a bastard for like 4 whole acts now. All I have to say to this is Big Oof. (Is that a dead meme? Yeah. Probably.) Edmund is surprised at first- then glares at him- in a way saying “oh? You want to go there? We can go there. I’ll gladly fight you with my own two hands.”
-at “I will mainly my truth and honor” he draws his sword, which I have now decided definitely is Cornwall’s sword. Why does he have it? Idk, Regan probably gave it to him.
-As Edgar and Albany talk before the fight, Edmund swings his sword at nothing in particular- the way you’d see people warming up for a fight. This sword is not a two handed sword, so he’ll be fine even with his stabbed arm. As I mentioned earlier, he stabbed his non-dominant arm, so his sword arm is fine.
-at “In wisdom I should ask thy name..” he does something to indicate that he might know it’s Edgar. What does he do? I don’t know. Something with a whole lot of ✨symbolism✨. I’ll figure it out before posting this. Or maybe I won’t. (Future Edette Editing: Yeah so I figured out what to do here slightly after, and I have a whole post about it- but to sum it up, he looks at the *mysterious masked man*’s sword (which as you may recall was his). And he’s like “oh. Oh. Ok then.”)
-they fight. Edgar (as I previously mentioned) is using the sword Edmund gave him at the beginning. Edmund is using Cornwall’s sword.
-As they fight it’s clear that they’re pretty evenly matched. (I mean. Then again, Edmund was just helping in battle like two seconds ago while Edgar was just chilling with his half dead/dead father. So. Edmund’s trying to win a duel after just doing a bunch of exhausting physical activity while Edgar is not.) (Edmund would win if they were fighting when they were both at their strongest)
-(I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, but I’m gonna restate it so that you don’t mess up on how you imagine the fight going down. There’s only one valid interpretation of it, and it’s my own interpretation. That has literally never been used in any production. Yup. That’s the only valid way to imagine the duel.) ANYWAY. As they fight, Edmund seems to be about to win, when Edgar hits his already stabbed arm. Edmund loses focus in that one moment, because. Like. That’s painful. (I was gonna say he drops his sword, but does he? Does that work? I don’t know. If he does or doesn’t, it’s valid either way). Then Edgar stabs him. With is kinda even more painful, and somewhat fatal.
-After he’s stabbed, some random soldier brings him to the tent toward the back of the stage, where he stays until he’s brought off stage
Here’s an illustration to help you picture this:
-Edmund is more focused on his wound than the conversation. His tone and body language for the rest of the play conveys “You won! I lost! I’m sorry! Can I get medical attention now??”
-Headcanon that Edmund would have lived if he would have gotten some medical attention sooner
-at “yet Edmund was beloved” he does a little sarcastic laugh (not like a laugh laugh, more like a cynical nose exhale?)- he sees the irony of how all three of them trying to take their rightful power, and all dying at the same time as a result of it.
-while Edmund tells them they still have time to save Cordelia, he sinks down/lies down. He already accepted the fact that he’s going to die.
-while he’s delivering this news, Edgar and Albany look at him in shock and then at each other. From there to the rest of the scene, no one looks at Edmund again. Not because they don’t like him, just because they find him irrelevant now (which Albany outright states a few lines from here).
-When Albany tells the soldiers to take Edmund off the satge/away from there, he doesn’t look at Edmund, he just vaguely motions to him.
-At “Edmund is dead, my lord” “That’s but a trifle here”, Albany barely turns to look at the messenger. He doesn’t care that Edmund is dead. No one does. The wheel has come full circle. No one cared about Edmund at the start, and he’s just as irrelevant now. Edmund wanted to be something to people. He would have wanted them to react to his death. If they had celebrated it, he would have been happier than if they ignored it. He doesn’t even get that much.
Due to the fact that the audience needs to be told things via physical action makes this job of mine (ie making Edmund more sympathetic) (that I definitely did not have to do) a whole lot more difficult.
I gotta add in some more stage directions to really push the points I’m going for. So that even the dumbest audience member will get my point.
Casting/ Costumes
-Curan, who I have previously decided is the Captain Edmund talks to later, has red hair. Like, a bright shade of red. Since it’s not a common hair color, the audience will be able to recognize that the same servant is now the captain.
- regarding Cornwall’s costume- This is a very valid example of what I was trying to describe (but like- plus a black jacket)
-Edgar and Gloucester have a very strong family resemblance to each other. Edmund does not. In fact, Edmund looks almost nothing like them. (For example, if Edgar and Gloucester have dark brown hair, Edmund would have light blond hair.) (I know, I know- that’s not necessarily how genetics work. BUT. That’s also not not how genetics work.)
-EXCEPT. Now hear me out because I’m right. Hear me out. This is good. Edmund and Gloucester share the same, very distinctive, eye color. So that when Gloucester’s eyes get stabbed out, it’s also severing the one strand of a connection he had with Edmund. ✨Symbolism!✨
ACT 1 SCENE 1
-At the start of the scene, the stage already has people on it. It’s like. A party kinda but not really? It’s a royal event- a bunch of noblepeople would be there. The Door ™ (and by now (assuming you read part 1) you should know that The Door ™ is one of my favorite set pieces here) is on the stage towards the middle in the back.
-you can see Gloucester, Kent, and Edmund walking towards it, ie to enter and join the other guests in the room. There is no wall between “behind” the door and in front of it. Only an implied wall created by how the set is set up. So you can still see them.
Here’s a not-so-helpful illustration:
I do recognize how unhelpful that illustration is. I’m sorry.
-As they approach the door, Gloucester pauses, waiting. Kent stands behind him- waiting to see what he’s waiting for. As you’ve guessed by now, this Earl of Gloucester is waiting for his bastard son to open the door for him. (Headcanon that Gloucester treats Edmund like a servant 99% of the time. Headcanon that Edmund would rather be a servant, because at least servants can quit their jobs.)
-Edmund opens it. Kent’s just like “what- what just happened?”. But Gloucester enters, and Edmund seems to be waiting for him to enter as well, and so he does. (It was this, combined with everything I wrote in Part 1, that makes Kent ask “Is not this your son, my lord?”, ie ??he’s not a servant tho?? Why, Gloucester?? Why are you like this??)
-As I mentioned earlier (I think- Unless I was just planning on mentioning it, and I didn’t actually get around to doing so) (I don’t exactly write these things in order), Extras are already on stage. The whole stage has a “ah yes this is an upper class event. The people here are all fancy rich people” vibe.
-As Gloucester has his epic conversation with Kent, other less high ranking noblemen stand around them as well. They don’t say anything or join in- probably because they’re less higher ranking.I know nothing about the hierarchy of English nobility, but let’s just say that Gloucester and Kent are pretty high ranking people.
-anyway the only purpose of doing that is for the “make Gloucester 100% more of a jerk” aspect of this.
-ie, he’s not just insulting Edmund in private, or in front of a close friend of his. He’s insulting him in public, in front of all the random noblemen.
-everything else I wrote in Part 1 about this scene stays the same.
ACT 1 SCENE 2
-Edmund stands by the desk as he talks to Edgar. (As you’d remember from part 1, he was sitting at the desk as he started his 2nd soliloquy).
-at “Some villain hath done me wrong!” Edgar slams his hands down on the desk. Edmund backs away as he says his lines “That’s my fear….”. He sees that Edgar is really angry (yeah, no kidding.), and is like “oh…. oh he would not hesitate to kill me with his bare hands at the moment.”
ACT 2 SCENE 1
-at “and of my land?….. loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means to make thee capable”, Gloucester is still facing away from Edmund/ not looking at him. He motions vaguely to him at the words “loyal and natural..”. The line is said in a way making it clear that by it he’s actually saying “well Edgar’s not a valid heir to my stuff anymore, what’ll I do with my land??…. ah, I guess Edmund will have to get them. Oh well.”
ACT 2 SCENE 2
-Not exactly a stage direction, but a second reason for why “his” in the sentence “no more, perchance, does mine, nor his, nor hers” is referring to Gloucester and not Edmund: Kent’s response to this is “I have seen better faces in my time”, so “his” can’t be Edmund, since practically the first thing Kent says about Edmund in Act 1 Scene 1 is “hmmm yes that is a Nice Looking person”
-I’m revising what I said in part 1 (mainly just about where Edmund is standing on stage/ where everyone is standing on stage)- I’m changing this scene to be more in favor of @suits-of-woe’s Cornwall Theory. (HEY PEOPLE, GO READ THE CORNWALL THEORY. I don’t just link it here for fun- I link it so you all can go read it)
-SO
-just to reiterate what I said last time about this scene- Edmund enters to break up Kent and Oswald’s fight with a sword (more specifically- Edgar’s two handed sword that he just used to fight Edgar and stab himself with). His arm is wounded from that one time about two seconds ago when he stabbed it. It’s been bandaged. He’s holding the sword well enough, but it’s clear that he wouldn’t be able to actually fight anyone with it.
-NOW MOVING ON TO NEW STUFF
-at “..come, I’ll flesh ye..”, Kent draws his sword and challenges Edmund. (Wait. His sword’s already drawn, right? Ok then nevermind, he just challenges Edmund.)
-Gloucester, Cornwall, and Regan Enter, and walk a bit onto the stage.
-At “Weapons! Arms! What’s the matter here??”, Gloucester notices the fight and takes like 5 steps away from it. It’s clear that he’s like “nope nope nope not dealing with this today-”
-Regan stays where she is. She’s not particularly scared of the fight, and knows that neither Kent nor Oswald would dare injure her, considering she’s literally the king’s daughter.
-Cornwall, however, at his lines of “Keep peace, upon your lives! He dies that strikes again!” moves to stand in between Edmund and Cornwall- ie facing Cornwall, in a way that would be protecting Edmund. He also is confident neither Kent nor Oswald would hurt him- he’s higher ranking than both of them.
(Illustrated for your convenience) (Scribbled out Edmund bc I didn’t know how tall to make him)
-Cornwall can see clearly that Edmund is in no condition to fight (at least not with a two handed sword). As the next few lines are said, Cornwall takes the sword from Edmund, in a “don’t worry about this- I got this” sort of way. He gently pushes Edmund towards where Gloucester and Regan are standing- in the same sort of way; showing “hey. I’ll deal with this. It’s not your job to defend us. Go chill with the rest of The Group.”
ACT 3 SCENE 3
-remember when I said Gloucester is angry in this scene?
-yeah well I gotta really push that point using some ✨stage directions✨ rather than just “Gloucester yells a lot”
-ANYWAY
-The Door ™ is turned sideways for this scene, and Gloucester and Edmund enter from the side of the stage
Here’s a totally helpful illustration
-Gloucester is clearly angry, Edmund is Hiding His Emotions ™.
-Gloucester starts his lines while he grabs the doorknob and forcefully opening the door. As Gloucester storms on to the main part of the stage, he slams the door behind him, right before Edmund could walk through it after him. Because of course, Gloucester has to forget that Edmund exists at lest once a scene. Edmund stands outside the door for a sec, as if saying “……wow.”. Then he enters and joins Gloucester inside.
ACT 5 SCENE 3
-As Albany says “Half blooded fellow, yes!”, last time I wrote that Edmund is momentarily surprised, then glares at him. This time I’m here to change this a bit-
At first I was picturing it like This:
But then I was like, “no,, that won’t make Edmund 100% more sympathetic- that would only make him like 65% more sympathetic.”
-anyway, we gotta raise Albany’s aggression level. Because if they’re equally aggressive to each other The Audience might just. Not get it. They won’t get that we’re out here trying our hardest to make ya sympathize with Edmund.
-So. And Hear me out. Because this DOES have a point. I’m gonna get to it. So to raise Albany’s aggression levels here, Albany grabs Edmund’s tie or jabot (whatever neck piece the costume has. I don’t care how historically accurate the costumes are) and pulls him towards him (in like. An aggressive Way.) He lets go as soon as he finishes saying that one line- he only did it to prove he was serious about challenging Edmund. Either way, he did It in a more pulling forward motion than a grabbing on motion, and so now Edmund is standing on the other side of Albany. (Was this basically just a way for me to change where Edmund is standing? Maybe.)
-now that Edmund is standing on the other side of Albany, the scene continues as I wrote it out in part 1- ie Edmund glares at Albany. Except Albany is no longer standing in front of him (ie facing him).
Here’s an illustration to help out-
So far, Edmund never glared at anyone (or showed his anger in general) straight to a person’s face. He always only lets his mask fall when he’s alone or when the subject of his anger can’t see him. So now it’s more consistent- their positions on the stage changed so that Edmund can still glare at Albany, and also doesn’t have to drop his act.
people, you’ll never guess what- I solved the one flaw (lol as if there’s only one flaw) in the “King Lear but staged so that Edmund’s sympathetic” thing-
So remember this—->
Well. I have an idea.
A fantastic idea.
A superb Idea.
The world’s greatest idea.
ANYWAY
At that line, he looks at the Mysterious Masked Man’s sword.
Which you may remember, was his.
Because the sword Edgar is using is the one Edmund gave him in 1.2
Edmund sees it and is like “well. That looks familiar…. oh. OH. Oh yeah I’m probably gonna die now.”
UPDATE: I’m gonna tag the people who’ve interacted with the original post by adding on/ sharing opinions, because Opinions are Good: @butchhamlet @suits-of-woe
(2nd update: no pressure to comment on this, btw! Idk if you’re interested in me elaborating on details like this or not)
