in Gloucester's eyes being put out. Edmund feels not the slightest remorse for any of his actions. Later on, after the invading French army has been repelled, Lear and Cordelia have been taken captive and Edmund gives these chilling words to his captain: "Edmund. Come hither captain; hark. Take thou this note: go follow them to prison; One step I have advanced thee; if thou dost As this instructs thee, thou dost make thy way To noble fortunes: know thou this, that men Are as the time is: to be tender-minded Does not become a sword: thy great employment Will not bear question; either say thou'lt do't, Or thrive by other means." Act V, scene iii, lines 27-34. Edmund has just instructed his captain to take Lear and Cordelia away to prison and to kill them, and make it look like suicide. Obviously there is no limit to the depths of Edmund's evil. Shakespeare has created a perfect villain, with no remorse, no compassion, and who is universally despised by readers of the play. In the end, mortally wounded, Edmund does regret his actions and attempts to undo some of the hurt he has caused, and so perhaps we could also say Edmund is one of the characters who undergoes a transformation in the end. However, up until that point, Edmund remains a classic villain, whose human nature is entirely evil. At the beginning of the play, we see Lear as a proud, vain, quick-tempered old king, not necessarily evil, but certainly not good. His folly leads to the alienation of his one truly loving daughter Cordelia, and the revelation that Regan and Goneril's profession of love for him were mere empty words. Turned away by both Regan and Goneril, Lear rails against the storm and screams "I am a man more sinned against than sinning." (Act III, scene ii, lines 56,57). Here Lear still believes he is the victim; and yet there is some admission on his part that he has some guilt in the matter. After the storm, when Lear's madness has run its course, both he and Cor...
