My absolute favorite aspect of King Lear must be Edmund (besides the ending he was given, in which his hard work and efforts were not achieved). In simplest words, I relate to him.

While many parents try their best to remind their children that “families come in all shapes and sizes,” I have found that it’s often only the children who have the non-“default” family shapes or sizes that actually understand and accept that message.

So much of how our communities are set up today are based on the idea that adults should still be married before having children. It was not a fun day when my older sister came home from Sunday School and told my parents that one of her teachers had told her she had been born a sin. It’s a little odd that, in response to pregnancy announcements, people still speculate if the baby was conceived before or after the wedding, and if there wasn’t a wedding, “They aren’t even married!” can often be heard.

Now, it is definitely simply a product of generational core “values” and customs that are being passed down without being updated in a world where behaviors shift quite quickly. And I am able to respect that most individuals believe that having children after a marriage is a safer (mainly economically) and more secure choice.

However, if the inability to understand and be content with some familial situation that is different than someone else’s own is quite common today, I am only able to guess how even more intense it was for Edmund. Because of this, it was not difficult to accept his desire to change his fate as a honorable one, even if he had to deceive some people.

Quite frankly, all Edmund did was take advantage of the fact that his family, and society, did not have high expectations of him at the beginning. We are not given a lot of information about how Edmund would use his power once he acquired it, but there is a chance that, had he not died, Edmund may have been a strong, just, and good man to have in a position of power. After all, he is straight to the point, gets what he wants, and thinks very critically.

Many of us can relate to being compared to a sibling, and to be considered lesser than solely because of how you were conceived is something that would feel incredibly unjust and alienating. If I was in Edmund’s position and lived during a time period where cutting people’s eyes out was something surprising yet allowed for a king to do, I would hope that I would be able to create and execute a plan as well as Edmund did to change my life.