Through Edmund’s soliloquy, in this scene, Shakespeare shows important themes of the play: family, loyalty and class in society. During the author’s time period, these three main ideas played an extremely important role in the daily lives of people. Too many, family came first, everyone took care of each other, and had loyalty to one another. However, during this time period, there was also corruption, and people did everything in their power to get wealth, prosperity and higher class in society. This corruption was shown through Edmund, who was the illegitimate son, the younger brother, and the lowest in his family. Since he was the “bastard”, he was denied everything he believed he deserved which was being the heir to Gloucester’s property
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Shakespeare was showing that people were gradually shifting from tradition, where family was valuable, to materialism, where wealth was important. Edmund has a very angry and passionate tone toward this subject because he is furious at the unfairness of his position, and is ardent to change it. The point of view or perspective of the character makes the reader more cognizant of how life was during this era in the sense of hierarchy, and how cruel and greedy people became. However, Edmund’s view also allows the reader to understand both sides of the situation. It is unjust that the oldest child becomes heir of everything while the youngest is left with nothing. It is unfair how it was viewed as a privilege to be born first because it wasn’t the fault of the younger, or illegitimate children that they were born as well. The Great Chain of Being plays an important role in the play because it reflects the belief of people in which an object had its “place” in the world in hierarchy. This relates to Edmund’s situation because in families, the father, in this case, Gloucester, is on the top tier. During this time period, the older and legitimate siblings were on the higher rungs of the hierarchal ladder, so Edmund was the lowest
Shakespeare was showing that people were gradually shifting from tradition, where family was valuable, to materialism, where wealth was important. Edmund has a very angry and passionate tone toward this subject because he is furious at the unfairness of his position, and is ardent to change it. The point of view or perspective of the character makes the reader more cognizant of how life was during this era in the sense of hierarchy, and how cruel and greedy people became. However, Edmund’s view also allows the reader to understand both sides of the situation. It is unjust that the oldest child becomes heir of everything while the youngest is left with nothing. It is unfair how it was viewed as a privilege to be born first because it wasn’t the fault of the younger, or illegitimate children that they were born as well. The Great Chain of Being plays an important role in the play because it reflects the belief of people in which an object had its “place” in the world in hierarchy. This relates to Edmund’s situation because in families, the father, in this case, Gloucester, is on the top tier. During this time period, the older and legitimate siblings were on the higher rungs of the hierarchal ladder, so Edmund was the lowest