Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-19

lie has Wronged the family the condi-
tons of whose existence he has trampled
under foot. and, at the same time, made
II the instrument of the direst Injustice
against an innocent being. But his
wrong against his own child is still
greater; 1t is a born out cast from the
institutions of society. If guilt, is ever
requited at the hands Of the injured
that father Is bound to receive punish
ment from that son. Edmund invokes
nature against the plague of custom. for
by nature he is in every way, as good as
his legitimate brother. Therefore he will
have his rights. particularly his share
in the paternal estate. even If he assail
and destroy everything high and holy in
his attempt He must turn against all
institutions for they have made him an
outcast from society and deprived him
of his just inheritance. Yet it is from no
fault of his own that he finds himself
punished for crimes which he new
err committed. That which is called
morality shuns him. SCOTS at
him. tramples him into the dust.
All the safe guards which have
been built up to protect the individual.
as family, state. law, are turned to his
degradation and destruction.
The illegitimate child is. therefore,
the natural villain. hostile to the fam
lily. to society. to law. to morality; in
him institutions become contradictory
to their purpose. and he must bear the
sting of their wrong. Hence he Wor-
ships nature, for there alone he is the
peer of all. Still he is villain, for
such every man must be called who
deliberately and persstently assails the
ethical principles of the world; If he
follows these principles they crush
him. Edmund has taken his choice; he
prefers honor and distinction through
.villainy. to shame and degradation
through virtue. But still the fatal out
come of his career, whatever may have
been it's cause. cannot be averted.
Edmund. accordingly, begins to work
out his schemes. He turns against his
legitimate brother because the latter
is the bearer of all those ethical ele-
ments which crush him. He turns
against his father who was the orig
inal author of the wrong, the evil con-
sequences of which, however, the child
must endure.
Still filial affection is his duty. under
all circumstances: moreover he has
been given an education and is loved
seen to be the same as that of fear,
filial ingratitude and parental wrong.
Edmund finds his father just in the
mood to be successfully deceived, for
the latter is excited over the occur
ences at court. especially over the ban
ishment of his friend. Kent 1t is the
season of treachery, Gloster thinks, and
the son proceeds to inject into his mind
the deadly suspicion against his brother
Edgar and at the same time artfully
conceals his own motives. GlOster is
superstitious fundamentally: he sees in
nature, in the eclipses of the sun and
moon, the collision of the moral world
he is always ready to assign to blind
physical causes the obliQuities Of mans
actions.
BY thus ignoring human freedom he
would seem to try to get rid of his
own guilt. Edmund is just the oppo-
site of his father in this respect; he
does not believe in these external in
fiuences, but announces in the boldest
terms the self determination of man.
He is the conscious villain, and takes
upon himself the full responsibility of
his own act. He quickly perceives the
weakness of his father, and uses it to
his own advantage. Equally Well does
AiG SIdSp tlU ullIlZG the weak Slue
his brother Edgars character, with
whom he is next brought into contact.
At first he touches the same chord
which lay so deep in the parental ma
interpretation. But the plan does
not work we'll. Edgar is not supersti-
tious but he is wholly unsuspecting.
Accordingly he does what Edmund
urges him to do-avoids his father.
Edgar is at first concealed by his BROTH
err from the wrath of the parent, Men
he is inveigled into making the pre-
tended assault upon the latter, after
which he takes flight. He must be
imagined as possessing primitive in
nocence which knows of no such thing
as deception in the world.
Upon this utter guilelessnesS Ed
mund relies with success. The honest
and faithful son has now been driven
from home. The true and ethical re-
lations of the family have been immoral
hilated by the faithless and immoral
son.
But that is not all: Edgar is pursued
as murderer is outlawed and a price
is set on his head. The institutions of
society are invoked to destroy him.
Though true to BOTH yet family and
state have turned against him in favor
of one who is false to both. Edgar
without domestic or even civil protec-
ton, has to flee and in some way avoid
the oppression of society. He can only
assume the meanest and most loath-
some DISCUSSES. and wander over the
country. feigning both madness and
beggary. Still he will remain faithful
to his parent in spite of his wrongs.
for fidelity is ever faithful.
Nor will he go mad like Lear, from
his fall. though he descends from bein.
nobleman's son to the lowest denth of
humiliation The bad son is infinitely
the intellectual superior of his father
fol- he believes in mind and relies upon
thought. He works through intelligence
He thinks that the world is moved solelv
through that form of intelligence called
cunning.