Edgar gives a soliloquy after he is forced into exile by the false accusations of his brother, Edmund. Edmund tells Gloucester and company that Edgar had come to ask for his aid in the assassination of their father. Edmund states that when he refused, Edgar stabbed him with a sword. Gloucester sends his servants after Edgar.
In reality, Edmund tells Edgar to flee due to the approaching Gloucester. After his departure, Edmund stabs himself with the sword.
In his soliloquy, Edgar decides that he must change his identity for the sake of his own protection. Through his soliloquy, he expresses the necessity of making himself a different person: from Prince to pauper, from civilised to beast-like. Though he makes himself vulnerable to the natural elements, he makes himself safe from the chaotic court.
How does Edgar's soliloquy and the Fool's interjections in Act II Scene iv. complicate a view of circumstantial etiquette as well as disguise and social transparency?
The question of morality and good behind disguise and transparency seem quite clean cut within a general context. However, within a political context, morality quickly becomes disintegrated from this subject. Deception and two-facedness become mere skills in a court context: a mode of persuasion, communication, and protection. In this play, those who choose blunt honesty over vain praise (such as in Act I via Cordelia and Kent) receive rejection initially. However, towards the end of the play, as the empty bubbles of praise pop, only genuine words last.
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