How malicious is my fortune, that I must repent to be just! Tis is the letter which he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the advantages of France. O heavens! Tat this treason were not, or not I the detector!
(Edmund, lines 7–11)
Scene 5
King Lear, directed by Lucy Bailey, Theatre Royal Bath, 2013
Act 3
A room in the Earl of Gloucester’s castle
Cornwall and Edmund enter. Cornwall says he will have revenge on Gloucester for his treason. Edmund pretends to be upset at having to turn his father in and says it may be unnatural behaviour in a son. Edmund shows Cornwall Gloucester’s letter about the French invasion. Cornwall asks Edmund to go with him to tell Regan the story. Edmund says that if the contents of the letter are true, Cornwall has a difficult task ahead of him, that of repelling an invasion. Cornwall replies that whether the letter is true or not, it has given Edmund the title of the Earl of Gloucester. He tells Edmund to find his father so that he can be arrested.
Edmund says in an aside (a private thought spoken aloud that only the audience and not the other characters onstage can hear) that if he finds his father helping Lear, it will give his story more credibility. He tells Cornwall that he will do as he asks and pretends that it will cause a conflict between his loyalty to Cornwall and his loyalty to his father. Cornwall tells Edmund that he trusts him and will be as a father to him from now on.
