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| Character | Edgar | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Lamenting, Frustrated, Insecure, Afraid, Talking to the audience | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Renaissance | |
| Genre | Tragedy, Drama | |
| Description | Edgar disguises himself as Poor Tom | |
| Location | ACT II, Scene 3 | |
Summary
Edgar is the legitimate son of Gloucester, a nobleman loyal to King Lear, the king of Britain. Gloucester's bastard son, Edmund, sets out to inherit his father's fortune and schemes to discredit his brother is his father's eyes. By forging a letter he manages to convince his father that Edgar is plotting to murder him to inherit his wealth. Convinced that his son Edgar wants to kill him, Gloucester sets to catch his son. In this monologue Edgar explains that he managed to escape the manhunt for him and that he plans to disguise himself as a beggar by the name of "Poor Tom".
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| EDGAR I heard myself proclaim'd; And by the happy hollow of a tree Escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place, That guard, and most unusual vigilance, Does not attend my taking. Whiles I may 'scape, I will preserve myself: and am bethought To take the basest and most poorest shape That ever penury, in contempt of man, Brought near to beast: my face I'll grime with filth; Blanket my loins: elf all my hair in knots; And with presented nakedness out-face The winds and persecutions of the sky. The country gives me proof and precedent Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary; And with this horrible object, from low farms, Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes, and mills, Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers, Enforce their charity. Poor Turlygod! poor Tom! That's something yet: Edgar I nothing am. |
