Edgar

Also known as: Poor Tom / Tom · Family: Gloucester · Role: legitimate son · First appears: King Lear · Act I, Scene II

As Gloucester’s legitimate son, Edgar becomes the target of Edmund’s plan to seize his land through deception. Edmund deceives him into avoiding Gloucester, while Gloucester accepts the forged accusations, orders Edgar’s arrest, and threatens execution if he is found. Edgar escapes by abandoning his identity and taking “the basest and most poorest shape,” appearing as the Bedlam beggar Poor Tom.

As Poor Tom, Edgar is employed by King Lear as one of his hundred, though he remarks on the king’s garments: “You, sir, I entertain you for one of my hundred; only I do not like the fashion of your garments.” When Gloucester reveals that his son is outlawed and believed to have sought his life, Edgar leads him to Dover’s cliff and survives his father’s staged fall. He then abandons a renewed attempt at suicide and accepts continued endurance. At Dover, Edgar fights Oswald to protect Gloucester, kills him, and discovers through Goneril’s letter her plot with Edmund against her husband.

Before the battle, Edgar gives Albany a letter promising proof of its accusations. After victory, he challenges Edmund, defeats him in combat, and reveals, “My name is Edgar and thy father’s son.” He calls Edmund a traitor and, with Albany, is named among the friends who are to sustain the wounded realm.