‘The Bloody Proclamation to Escape’: Edgar and Romantic Outlawry

In contrast to the ‘gusto and energy’ of his half-brother Edmund and his ‘richer’ alter ego of Poor Tom, Edgar has been critiqued for emptiness—as ‘colourless’ by Arnold Kettle, ‘excit[ing] the least enthusiasm’ by A. C. Bradley, and ‘not even a shadow’ by William R. Elton. Edgar is often perceived as a cipher for legitimacy, as ‘a mere mouthpiece for cliché’, and an emblem for law and a political hierarchy that is otherwise collapsing. This chapter will argue that this characterisation is largely set by Edmund, casting his brother as a dupe in ‘the old comedy’ (1.2.134). Instead of an Attic Old Comedy, in which the ‘foolish’ are swindled, as Edmund imagines (1.2.179); Edgar’s trajectory resembles that of older romance plays, such as Mucedorus and Love and Fortune. Poor Tom emerges as an innovative example of a traditional convention—the future prince, unjustly banished into pilgrim’s poverty. Mirroring Lear’s descent, Edgar’s chivalric adventure is an advent: the unveiling of a prince, a new heir to the kingdom. The upward, restorative trajectory implied by this convention and Shakespeare’s insistent rota fortuna references is then undermined by the final lines of the play, which contributes to the drama’s tragic climax.