March 2021

Also thoughts on “Our father’s love is to the bastard Edmund as to the legitimate”

It’s not though?

And this line bothered me, because 1.1 proves that it’s definitely not. So what’s the deal here? I don’t think he’s in denial- he’s not the type. He seems to be very aware in the rest of his soliloquy that he’s not exactly the most loved guy around here. So how can you read this line and make it valid?

Here are some options- but please feel free to add your own or enlighten me on how it’s actually supposed to be read

1- “(Now) our father’s love is to…”- as in “with this letter our father’s love will be to the bastard Edmund as to the legitimate”

2- (*sarcastically*) “our father’s love is to…- as in “oh yeah. Totally. Yeah, our father totally loves bother of us equally. Seems legit.”

3-(*said as a quote*) “our father’s love…”- as in he’s quoting probably Gloucester and others, who have told him that Gloucester loves both of them equally. Which has always come across as a blatant lie to him.