A Comparison of Cordelia and Edgar in King Lear In order to make his own work more interesting, Shakespeare uses literary techniques that keep the reader attentive and 'on the edge'. One expedient that Shakespeare uses to keep his readers' attention is using characters that sharply contrast each other. In King Lear two characters that sharply contrast are Edgar, Gloucester's legitimate son, and Edmund, Gloucester's illegitimate son. These two characters are extremely opposite in nature. …showed first 75 words of 959 total…

…showed last 75 words of 959 total…him take his life away; his father was too precious to him. Edgar and Gloucester sojourn back to their kingdom rejoined. Cordelia's characterization, complemented by Edgar's, makes them seem comparable. Edgar and Cordelia are separated from their fathers, and later they are reconnected with them. Also, these two characters have broken relationships with their siblings. These similarities in Cordelia and Edgar reveal Shakespeare's use of characters that parallel each other within his play King Lear.