First, we have to define evil. I think that being evil could be defined as acting in a way that will negatively affect others with intent to harm or just without concern.

In my view, there are four characters the stand out as the most evil in King Lear. They are Edmund, Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall. All of these characters stand out as evil in their own ways.

Edmund is the first character whose evilness is exposed when he plots to make Gloucester disown Edgar. Many of his actions throughout the play show that he is more concerned with power than anything else. He starts off taking advantage of his father’s trust in him and succeeds in getting Edgar disowned and becoming the heir. This also results in Edgar having to disguise himself as Poor Tom to get away from his father. When that isn’t serving him anymore, he allows Regan and Cornwall to stab out Gloucester’s eyes, even leaving the room so they can do it and he doesn’t have to feel as bad. The power that he gets makes him want more and he is very willing to sacrifice morality to get it. In the beginning of the play, his actions may seem justified because of how he has been disrespected as an illegitimate son. But as everything escalates he seems much more evil and less justified in his actions. He seems not to see a line between what is a semi-reasonable desire to be acknowledged as a son and leader and trying to destroy the entire kingdom.

Goneril and Regan also acted evil in the play. They lied about how much they loved Lear, saying they loved him a lot when really they did not love him. This got them land and leadership of England. At that point they dropped the false pretenses and started acting cruel to Lear, treating him the way they could now that he had nothing else to give them. They go so far as to make him wander out in the storm, even though they know that he is old and frail. They demonstrate just how little they love him in reality, which harms his mental health. But, like Edmund, it can’t be said that they didn’t have logical motivations for their actions. They were denied power, despite their royal status, because they were women in a patriarchal society. Their husbands were probably chosen for political reasons by Lear. The husbands would control any property that Regan and Goneril got through their inheritance from their father. Their society expected them to be obedient daughters, but they only wanted to play that role while it served them. Once they had better options, they changed course. Still, their disregard for their father is disturbing. Rather than trying to change their relationship by eliminating its heirarchical structure, the daughters simply reversed the hierarchy and started treating their father poorly.

Cornwall’s evil behavior is different because it doesn’t seem justified out of any reason other than cruelty and malice. Cornwall happily joins in targeting Lear despite having no reason to do so. Then, he takes out Gloucester’s eyes without a pause. He seems frankly thrilled to do so. To me, Cornwall seems like the most pure evil character because his violent behavior doesn’t have a basis in him being wronged in the past. He seems to simply take joy in mistreating others. While the other characters are still evil to some extent, they are not as evil as Cornwall.