Explore Shakespeare's presentation of Edmund in 'King Lear'.

Shakespeare utilises the presentation of Edmund’s evil, manipulative persona to demonstrate the horrific repercussions of having an absence of love within the world of ‘King Lear’. From Act 1 Scene 1, the audience is instantly exposed to the cold, loveless way in which Edmund is spoken to by his own father, and this consequently enables the reader to infer that Edmund has not yet experienced the comfort of familial relations to allow him to understand the advantages of a secure, loving bond. As a result of this geographical and emotional distance from both his father and brother, Edmund subsequently finds it easier to succumb to the unshakable desire for revenge, hence why he consciously avoids recognition of intimacy with family as he plots against Edgar and Gloucester. On the other hand, it could be argued that Edmund’s inevitable death was the result of succumbing to the lustful, gluttonous temptations that the patriarchy during the Jacobean era would have allowed men to pursue, therefore Shakespeare eventually reveals that Edmund’s corruption was the result of having no loving experiences to begin with, rather than a loss of such relationships over time.