King Lear The Poison Tree

The Poison Tree

The idea of justice is a practice in which humanity can behave in an impartial, organized manner. Without justice, jury, and verdict; the structure of a civilized society would be a distant utopian thought. So naturally, the distribution of punishment while granting mercy is a responsibility to be guarded and bestowed only to the wise. Unfortunately, often the opposite occurs and the intoxication of justifying a wrong can in fact perpetuate injustice. In Shakespeare's classic play, King Lear, a self righteous and unbridled pursuit of justice by Edmund, brings a shower of unconceived anguish upon everyone involved. A superbly written villain can be intoxicating to readers. A character´s conviction when he embodies the judge,
Although Edmund is ultimately successful in his pursuit of a personalized justice; the family and society that shunned him has crumbled down around him. The bastard son who was beneath them is now ¨victor¨ Edmund´s pursuit was unsuccessful as well. The purpose of justice is to right what is wrong, and the emotional turmoil Edmund sought to justify through punishment of others, never truly healed. Ultimately he died having seen his plans of personal justice fulfilled in the form of vengeance, but he dies without being about to enjoy his kingdom. Our journey with Edmund ends in a powerful, revealing scene as he is dying. The two sisters who were competing for his love, has died in conflict. Edmund´s response to the news is, he was beloved ¨after all¨ and the three lovers shall ¨meet in the afterlife.¨ This scene is powerful because it stresses that Edmund never truly understood what love was, perhaps because he was never shown it as a child, but most importantly, he never understood what justice was either. Edmund was a hurt character whose emotional neglect in childhood twisted into resentment. His personalized pursuit of justice was a contradiction to the very nature of justice is. To bestow justice is to be impartial and unconcerned with personal grievous, all rules which Edmund violated and suffered ultimately suffered due