Nature, as a state of being, is a state of artlessness and honesty. It has no guile and can usually be the best state in which to discover truth. Nature also offers up a definite wisdom by allowing those who surrender to its basest state to see, with clear eyes, what is truly going on around them. People, particularly adults, are not so likely to reduce themselves to this state of nature unless � or until � traumatic events in their lives force them to. This is the case with the character of Edgar in Shakespeare�s King Lear. Edgar is the victim of avarice and malice; in order to discover the identity of the culprit, he undergoes several transformations from simple courtier to apparent madman to wizened son and brother. The point of this essay is to trace those transformations and analyze how they affect the play as a whole.

We are introduced to Edgar in the second scene of the first act. He comes on stage after Edmund, his bastard brother, has betrayed him to his father, Gloucester, of which he has no idea. Edgar initially appears to be a rather simple and guileless man, na�ve to any of the devious machinations of his brother. He is an oblivious aristocrat set to inherit his father�s estate and has no inkling of Edmund�s jealousy or envy, so he cannot conceive of him doing any harm. He does seem to love his brother, despite Edmund�s illegitimacy, asking him about his interests and trusting him implicitly. When told of his father�s angry state at some unknown offense, rather than ask questions, or confront his father, Edgar believes Edmund and determines that �some villain hath done [him] wrong� (1.2.150). He then does what Edmund tells him to do and spirits himself away.

Through this incarnation of Edgar, Shakespeare seems to be making a not-so-veiled commentary about aristocracy and its self-perpetuating ignorance. At this point in the play, Edgar is the embodiment of aristocratic privilege, ignorance, and naivet�. With his faith in tradition and law, he cannot fathom that envy and jealousy will intervene in his life to such an extent as to make him leave everything he believes he is entitled to. Also, he does not see that the perpetrator to his inheritance is his own brother. However, Edmund understands Edgar�s �nature� better than Edgar himself does. Edmund sees a �brother noble� who is easily manipulated: �[Edgar�s nature] is so far from doing harms that he suspects none; on whose foolish honesty my practices ride easy!� (1.2.164-165). Through his greater understanding of Edgar, Edmund hopes to dispatch him in order to gain access to Gloucester�s estate. He knows he can�t legally inherit, being an illegitimate son, but he hopes that by getting rid of Edgar, he can at least be more improved in his father�s eyes.

Once Edgar has fled from his father�s manipulated wrath, he decides to avoid capture by pretending to be a peasant. Of course one use for this disguise is as an affectation to avoid recognition and capture until he can escape Britain. There is another purpose to the disguise and reduction in status, though. Edgar hopes to achieve some sort of wisdom or knowledge in the proper time. In order to gain this wisdom, he becomes �Tom Turlygod,� an embodiment of �the basest and most poorest shape that ever penury, in contempt of man, brought near to beast� (2.3.8-9). By removing the trappings of aristocracy, Edgar can get back to basics, away from artifice, and to the truth. He is no longer circumscribed by the blinders of privilege nor by the accoutrements of wealth and nobility, and he can discover the more sordid truths of his life and the events within it.

The changes that Edgar undergoes are also reflected in King Lear himself. Lear also willingly divests himself of the accoutrements of royalty and goes mad. However, these changes do not bring wisdom to Lear. Or rather, if they do, it is much too late for him to learn the necessary lessons from them. King Lear turns his kingdom over to his daughters, and in doing so he willingly gives up his �royalty:� �Tell me, my daughters � since now we will divest us, both of rule, interest of territory, cares of state � which of you shall we say doth love us most? That we our largest bounty may extend where nature doth with merit challenge� (1.1.46-51). Despite this abdication of power to his daughters, Lear tries to maintain his kingly authority. As a result, his daughters, Goneril and Regan, are forced to remind him of his new proper role as merely their father, not their king: �I [Regan] pray you father, being weak, seem so�.How, in one house, should many people, under two commands, hold amity?� (2.4.196, 235-237). This remonstrance by his daughters drives Lear into a state of madness, like Edgar.

Edgar, however, loses his position through the intrigues of his brother. He, therefore has no illusions about his new place. The difference in the two men�s afflictions is that Edgar�s situation is adopted and chosen. Having been divested of his house and birthright, and being hunted by his father�s men, Edgar decides of his own accord to feign poverty and baseness. Because he recognizes his true, albeit temporary, place in the scheme of the world, Edgar does not suffer the effects of duality like Lear does. He is, for the moment, putting on the face of a base, �natural� peasant, stating, �Edgar, I nothing am!� (2.3.21). Lear, on the other hand, tries to maintain his kingly role rather than subjecting himself completely to his paternal role.

When confronted with Lear�s near madness, caused by his daughters� defection, Edgar pretends madness in order to discover what is going on. Lear is obviously upset and upon seeing Edgar in disguise, wonders whether it was ungrateful daughters that have driven the poor man: �Hast thou given all to thy two daughters? And art thou come to this?� (3.4.48-49). Lear sees in Edgar a mirror for himself. Because he has refused to cast off the trappings of royalty he is still blind to the truth of things. He can�t see other people�s problems; he only sees his problems reflected in others� situations. He also cannot see that Edgar is completely lucid because Lear, himself, is on the borderline of madness because of his daughters. Edgar�s seeming insanity appears to be a perfect escape to Lear, and he succumbs to its seductive embrace: �Thou art the thing itself; unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou are. Off, off, you lendings! Come unbutton here� (3.4.98-101).

Lear�s madness forces Edgar to tears. He is distraught to see such a man as Lear brought down, but through his observance of Lear�s madness, Edgar comes to an even greater understanding of himself and knows that he must reconcile with his father. He also learns that he can ferret out the villain in his own situation. He finally understands �how light and portable [his] pain seems� and that he must �[m]ark the high noises and [himself] bewray when false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles [him], in thy just proof repeals and reconciles [him]� (3.6.102, 104-106). Edgar understands that he must confront his father with the truth of the matter: that he has been belied and has never uttered word one against Gloucester�s friend Cornwall, nor against Gloucester himself.

After deciding to avenge himself, Edgar is confronted with his wronged father, who has been blinded by Cornwall. Through his blindness Gloucester can now also see the truth of what he and Edmund have done to Edgar: �O dear son Edgar, the food of thy abused father�s wrath!� (4.1.22-23). Seeing his father so repentant and brought so low, Edgar slowly dispenses with the mad speech and behavior, hinting to Gloucester his true identity by calling �father� numerous times. After being confronted with Lear�s and now Gloucester�s infirmities, Edgar realizes that playing the mad fool in the face of such sorrows is just wrong. Gloucester has decided, however to kill himself by throwing himself off the cliffs of Dover. Edgar sees this as an opportunity to teach his father a simple but important lesson: basically that all afflictions will pass, and that he (Gloucester) must bear them out. It is also at this point that Edgar has doffed all trappings of madness. He has come to understand human nature and knows now how to deal with duplicity and betrayal. After fooling his father, Edgar undergoes his final transformation to that of avenger of Lear and of Gloucester.

In the final act of the play, the resolution of nature versus artifice is revealed. Edgar is the operative of this revelation. It is through his killing of Oswald that Goneril�s plans with Edmund, as well as Edmund�s plans against Gloucester are revealed. Edmund is revealed to be the liar that he really is. Regan and Goneril are revealed to be the deceitful, underhanded daughters and wives that they are, as well as adulterers. In the end, thanks to his foray into the realm of nature, Edgar is also the only trustworthy person left in the play to tell the accurate and true story of what happened to Lear and Gloucester, as well as the plans between Goneril, Regan Cornwall, and Edmund to kill Albany and take over the country. The final, most important development of Edgar�s character through this trek into nature is his grasp of human nature and his ability to see it for what it is: corrupt, uncontrollable and, ultimately, forgivable. This development is demonstrated in Edgar�s forgiveness of Edmund: �Let�s exchange charity. I am no less in blood than thou art, Edmund; If more, the more thou has wronged me �. The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague us� (5.3.165-170).

Edgar has come full circle, from outcast to leader, within the confines of the play. By no stretch of the imagination does Edgar encompass the play�s main point, but he does provide the vehicle for the messages that the author wishes to convey. Namely, only by reverting to nature, turning away from artifice and relying on instincts instead of tradition, can people really discover truth and wisdom. Edgar�s wisdom comes for a relatively cheap price: temporary exile from his comfortable home. Lear and Gloucester, however are not so fortunate. Because they never revert to a more natural state, never give up their royalty, they do not receive wisdom until they have been destroyed: Lear�s daughters are dead � including Cordelia, and Gloucester loses his son and his sight. Edgar is the sole beneficiary of fast won wisdom at the end of King Lear.