I don’t know why I haven’t posted about this before, but if there was one semi competent person in King Lear, they would have called Edmund out in 2.1 right away-
Edmund: Yeah so I saw Edgar being very sus so I confronted him and told him patricide is bad, but then he stabbed me and ran away
Competent Person: So you didn’t have time to counterattack?
Edmund: no he ran away
CP: then why’s there blood on your sword?
Edmund: …
CP: seems like you stabbed yourself.
Anyway back to Edmund VS Iago, what I feel like isn’t spoken about enough is their relationship with the audience and how they “interact” with them
So Edmund and Iago are both really into soliloquies and asides. Iago more than Edmund, but that’s not the point.
The point is that without their soliloquies and asides, the audience would have absolutely no idea what’s happening.
So they’re kind enough to fill us in. Tell us what they’re about to do and then say “hey look, I did it, just like I said I would!”.
But the major difference that really sets them apart is that Iago constantly gives excuses for his actions, while Edmund never gives excuses for them. I know I know, I’ve said that a hundred times. As did everyone else who’s ever mentioned Edmund on this site. But wait, there’s more to it.
(Here’s where my super cool analysis comes in, except there’s a high chance that I’m completely wrong)
So let’s go on the assumption that they know there’s an audience there- or at least are talking to the audience intentionally and not just talking to themselves.
In that case, why would Edmund not bother justifying himself, when the audience is judging him and he knows it? And why would Iago throw one bad excuse after another at us, when any audience would see right through them and say “nope. That guy’s just racist.’?
Well, in Shakespearean times chances are they weren’t thinking about racism. Iago’s talking to the probably racist Shakespearean audience. He knows there’s a chance he can get them on his side. He’s white, Othello’s black, the audience is racist, so he thinks he has a shot at convincing them, no matter how wrong he is.
Meanwhile, Edmund’s also talking to the Shakespearean audience. The audience is used to the bastard stereotype- which, as a quick google search will confirm, was “treacherous” “plotting/ scheming villain”. Edmund gives up all hope of turning the audience to his side as soon as he’s introduced, because the audience already knows what they expect of him, and frankly, that’s exactly what they’re going to get.
He opens up his first soliloquy with “Thou, nature, art my goddess” and everyone in the Shakespearean audience knew what that meant. No one was sitting around wondering what he means- what his nature is. The audience understood that he was essentially saying “you know how you passed your judgement on me as soon as the play began? Well guess what. You were right.”
Then he goes on to say a few more lines, along the lines of “life is unfair, I deserve more than I’m getting”- which, to be fair, is pretty standard villain stuff to say. Sure, Edmund may be more correct with these lines than the modern day antagonist, but it still sounds like what you’d expect him to say.
Until “Why brand they us with base? With baseness? With bastardy? Base, base?”
We had similar lines earlier- “why bastard? Wherefore base?”,which he used to lead into “when my dimensions are as well compact..”- saying “these stereotypes kinda suck,…. especially when I’m so hot and smart and talented”
But in the lines “why brand they us with base? With baseness…” he gets lost in them. The first time he was able to pull himself out of the mindset of recognizing the unfairness of his situation, but when he brings it up a second time, he dwells on it longer and gets dragged into it. He knows the audience won’t recognize any valid claims he makes against the system or against Gloucester. There’s no point in trying to convince them he’s right. Which (in my opinion at least) is why the transition is so unsmooth. He goes from “why brand they us with base” to “for who in the lusty stealth of nature”, to “Well, legitimate Edgar, I must have your land”.
He switches topics from recognizing the unfairness of his situation, and how it’s never an even playing field for him, and how he’ll always be considered less than Edgar, no matter how hard he works, no matter how smart and talented he becomes- to the topic of “well bastard are better than legitimates anyway”- to the topic of “anyway. let’s get to what you came here for- I’m going to take my brother’s land”
He literally has to force himself to go back into villain mode.
Anyway I’m not sure where I’m going with this, so I’ll leave this as it is for now-