es to badger and ridicule her for her lack of affection and love for him. He does this to anyone who does not put him on a pedestal. He feels that he rightfully deserves to be on. The King of France finally courts Cordelia even though she is "rich for being poor." She is the only true person in the play, and in the end pays for this by dying. This shows that you cannot always be truthful and get what you rightfully deserve. Cordelia deserved her dowry but does not get it because she is not the type of person that the King wants her to be. The ones that prevail in the first act of the play are those that are dishonest and false. This helps set the stage for the rest of the play. The next deceitful person in the play is Edmund. He is the bastard-son of Gloucester and wants everything that Edgar has. In the beginning of Act 2 he draws his sword on Edgar and tells him to pretend like he is protecting himself because he hears Gloucester coming. Edmund says: "I hear my father coming; pardon me; In cunning I must draw my sword upon you; Draw; seem to defend yourself; now quit you well. Yield! Come before my father! Light, hoa, here! Fly, brother. Torches torches! So, farewell." (II.i.29-35) Edmund tells Gloucester that Edgar attacked him and that he even drew blood from Edmund. The motive behind this is also greed and envy. Edmund is envious of the fact that he will not inherit any title from Gloucester because he is a bastard and not the biological and rightful son that Edgar is. Edmund goes on to say: "With his prepared sword he charges home My unprovided body, (lanced) mine arm: And when he saw my best alarumed spirits Bold in the quarrel's right, roused to th' encounter, Or whether ghasted by the noise I made, Full suddenly he fled." (II.i.60-65) He incriminates Edgar for attacking him and gets Gloucester to sympathize with him and send out a warrant for Edmund and the death to anyone who helps to hide him. Edmund is just as bad as Go...
