Blog Post #34

Soliloquy. What is this medium sized cool sounding word? It is often used in Shakespeare when a character is alone on stage expressing ones feelings to the audience. We see here in Act 1 Scene ii that Edmund, the bastard son receives a soliloquy. Before his soliloquy the audience sees Edmund cannot speak unless spoken too, because of course he is the illegitimate son. His soliloquy is as follows:

Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law 
My services are bound. Wherefore should I 
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit 
The curiosity of nations to deprive me, 
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines 
Lag 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 us 
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base? 
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take 
More composition and fierce quality 
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed, 
Go to th' creating a whole tribe of fops 
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then, 
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land. 
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund 
As to th' legitimate. Fine word- 'legitimate'! 
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed, 
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base 
Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper. 
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

The audience feels and sees the anger within the bastard son. He is so hateful toward Edgar, and he is so hateful towards his father. I think a lot of his anger also comes from the fact he is looked down upon, sit in the background, only speak when spoken too. All this built up anger is released in his soliloquy. Anger can be described but a more well put word to describe his speech is evil. He is evil. Because of his evil spirit he fakes a letter from his brother Edgar that says he is going to kill his father. Edmund of course wants Edgar to downfall, but not only that, he plots to erase his title of a bastard son.