Two brothers, opposites of each other fight for the love of their father; one is deceitful and the other is truly loyal. In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare the actions of the brothers Edmund and Edgar form the sub-plot that reveals one son's dark side and the other's love and loyalty towards their father. The bastard son Edmund has no claim to his father's land, so he feels he must be greedy and obtain it through betrayal and deceit. Where as Edgar the true son humbly accepts his position in life even with it takes a turn for the worse. In order to gain his inheritance Edmund must not only betray his brother and father, but his country as well. For betrayal Edgar gets revenge on Edmund and Edmund gets the justice he deserves. Throughout the play Edgar and Edmund show their differences through their loyalty and rebellion, their humbleness and greed, and finally their revenge and justice.
             Firstly, Edgar is kind hearted and has a trusting nature which makes him unable to notice the evil in his brother until it is too late. He believes that Edmund is truly trying to help him, when in fact he is betraying him. Edgar takes to heart that Edmund wants to help when he says, "Pray you, Away!" (Act 1, Scene 2, line 173) Since he does not suspect his brother's treachery, Edgar finds no fault in being loyal to Edmund's wishes. Edgar goes into hiding at the advice of Edmund. He does not know that while he is gone he is allowing Edmund to turn his father against him. Edgar doesn't see how family can betray family and he puts his life in his brother's hands. Edgar lies and he hides his identity when he is unfairly accused. He is loyal to his father when he lies in order to save his life. When his father, blinded and cast out of his home, wishes to kill himself by leaping off the cliffs at Dover, Edgar agrees to help him. Edgar convinces his father that they are at the edge of t...