Edmund, The Villain in King Lear

Most of the characters in  play King Lear, by William Shakespeare, have a malicious side or betray another character at one point or another. However, at this point in the play I would say that Edmund is the most villainous character in King Lear. He does not feel any loyalty towards anyone in his life and only is concerned with one thing: obtaining more power from himself. Edmund will not stop until he has all of the power possible, no matter who he must step on to get there. Edmund does not seem to care about anyone but himself, towards the beginning of the play it could have been argued that Edmund only got rid of Edgar in order to get closer to Gloucester. However we soon discovered that was not the case when he also threw Gloucester under the bus to gain power.

Edmund is the most villainous character because he is both manipulative and somewhat violent. Although he does not do anything violent directly he stands by and watches violent acts often. For example he watched Gloucester get his eyes gouged out and did nothing to stop it. He also manipulates many characters. First he manipulates Gloucester into thinking that Edgar is trying to kill him. Then he manipulates Edgar by making him think he was on his side. Both characters seem to have unwavering trust in Edmund, believing anything he says, no questions asked which proves how manipulative he is as a character. Edmund then manipulates Cornwall to be on his side, so that they are both against Gloucester. Cornwall sees Edmund betraying his father as a good thing and rewards him with the title of the Earle of Gloucester. At this point Edmund has successfully manipulated his way into power.

Next Edmund manipulates both Regan and Goneril. He has both of them falling for him and fighting over him, when in reality he most likely just wants to use them to gain more power. Another reason why Edmund can be considered the most villainous character is because he is smart, he was able to plot both Goneril and Regan against each other through is manipulation tactics having barely done anything. On top of these villainous acts he is also probably preparing to betray Cornwall. Edmund will undoubtedly dispose of him too as soon as he has gotten everything of use to him from him just as he did with his father and half brother.