lly complex character of the play. In a sense, he is both victim and villain. In essence, this means that personal embarrassment and public humiliation are a continual torment for him his entire life. Concerning the illegitimate sons of royalty in England at that time. Edmund can be seen as being balanced in society between being nobility and being a commoner. He looks at society's rules in a negative sense and he feels legally neglected and treated unfairly, bearing the comparison with Edgar in mind. Edmund deciphers the subtle structures of his environment that tries to degrade him on a low, 'base' level (1.2.10-22). However, by questioning the rules, values and conventions of society, Edmund shows us that society does not fulfill the needs of mankind, it is the society that is "stale"
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