'King Lear''s Edmund is depicted as a villain and as someone who came into existence due to lust, that word which is much connected to Satan.
By ROUBA IBRAHIMIUpdated: OCTOBER 7, 2020 08:14Mother and Baby(photo credit: REUTERS/Erik de Castro)
Some years ago, I was a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, Al-Azhar University, Egypt. In English literature, we were studying King Lear, and although I liked the play, there was an important point I didn't get. Namely, what is the meaning of legitimate and illegitimate sons or daughters? What does Edmund in King Lear mean by bastard and legitimate when he says:Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy lawMy services are bound. Wherefore should IStand in the plague of custom, and permitThe curiosity of nations to deprive me,For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshinesLag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?When my dimensions are as well compact,My mind as generous, and my shape as true,As honest madam's issue? Why brand they usWith base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, takeMore composition and fierce qualityThan doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,Go to th' creating a whole tribe of fopsGot 'tween asleep and wake? Well then,Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.Our father's love is to the bastard EdmundAs to th' legitimate. Fine word- 'legitimate'!Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,And my invention thrive, Edmund the baseShall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper.Now, gods, stand up for bastards!The two words "bastard" and "legitimate" are repeated so many times in the monologue and with different synonyms. Edmund looks so sad and depressed, but why?As an Arab and a Muslim, it was difficult for me to understand this monologue, because if an Arab woman had a son or daughter without marriage, her family would kill her, and so she would prefer to get rid of such a child in the first place. In King Lear, however, Edmund is not a baby; he is an adult; his father talks to him without a problem and doesn't deny him. Importantly, he admits that Edmund is his son.Edmund is depicted as a villain and as someone who came into existence due to lust, that word which is much connected to Satan. Although Edmund in the monologue appears to love his father, he doesn't show any kind of love for this father when Goneril mistreats him. The strange thing in King Lear is: where is Edmund's mother? Why is there nor mention of her name or role?In King Lear, many people would sympathize with Edmund and see that his father is not a good person. But apart from this, in real life, single moms are main characters in the lives of their "illegitimate" children.In fact, I must say the first time I heard the term "single mom" was just some weeks ago, when one of my friends, a European, told me, while crying, that she is a single mom. Honestly, I was shocked and wondered what "a single mother" meant. My friend is a very good and kind person. She is beautiful, smart, and successful. So why has she made such a mistake?,I wondered. "A mistake?" But this is a different culture and maybe this is okay in Europe, I told myself."I know now you think I'm a bad person," she said. "And maybe a bad mom, because I spend almost all my time at work and leave my son alone, especially when I sometimes have to go to other cities to finish some things related to work," she said."Of course not, I see you are a very good person and you are still great in my eyes," I replied. "But why you didn't get married to the father of the child?" I asked."We lived together for ten years, but he cheated on me and we broke up," she answered. What got my attention were the words "ten years." And was it easy for him to break up and leave his own baby?Incidentally, I was reading a post on Facebook by one of my relatives saying, "After having a number of children, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt think of getting married." The same happened when I was talking about Johnny Depp with a European friend and we were arguing if he is married or not. She said he is married and has children. But in Wikipedia we discovered he is not.The question is, what if one of those "illegitimate" sons or daughters grew up and studied Shakespeare's King Lear. Would we have so many Edmunds or at least children with psychological knots?In King Lear, Edmund had a strong desire for recognition denied to him by his status as a "bastard." It was a conscious rebellion against the social order that denied him the same status as Gloucester’s legitimate son, Edgar. He had no thanks for his father and was jealous of his brother. He did all he could to get power. He had no mercy and made his father hate Edgar. He was one of the most complex characters.William Statsky states in his book Family Law: The Essentials, that in the US, if the father of an illegitimate child dies without leaving a valid will, the child faces many restrictions on inheritance. Moreover, "social security laws discriminate against illegitimate children in various phases of the social security system," mentions Statsky.King Lear is not just a book. It is displayed on the screen and on stage, and is considered as one of the biggest classic works. Do children or adults recognize the meaning of ''legitimate vs. illegitimate''? And what do single moms or their ex-partners feel?The writer is an Egyptian artist and a PhD student
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