Edmund: The Villain Who Makes the Best Case for Himself

Edmund's opening speech to himself in Act 1 Scene 2 is an argument. He has been called 'base' and 'bastard' his whole life because his parents were not married. He was sent away for nine years. His legitimate brother Edgar has never had to prove himself. Edmund decides to take what the system will not give him.

He is the play's most efficient operator. Within two scenes he has destroyed Edgar's reputation and gained Gloucester's trust. By Act 3 he has betrayed Gloucester to Cornwall and acquired the earldom. He manages a simultaneous affair with both Goneril and Regan, playing each against the other with a precision that would be admirable in a different context.

His dying change of heart ('Some good I mean to do, despite of mine own nature') comes too late to save Cordelia, but he makes the attempt. Whether this redeems him is a question productions handle differently. He gets a death scene that Goneril and Regan do not. That is not nothing.