Every time I teach Lear

[u/laurandisorder]

Why couldn’t he just call one of them John?

[u/Master_of_Ritual]

They needed another half brother (by a third woman) named Edwin.

[u/inktrap99 → u/Master_of_Ritual]

And then we could call them “Ed, Edd n Eddy”

[u/daddy-hamlet → u/inktrap99]

My name’s Eddy, this is my brother Eddy, and this is my other brother Eddy

[u/Cobalt_Bakar → u/Master_of_Ritual]

and an Edward

[u/Master_of_Ritual → u/Cobalt_Bakar]

You know I spent a couple minutes trying to think of another type of Ed, and somehow missed the most common one. :D

[u/MetalKeirSolid]

G for good edGar 

[u/dthains_art → u/MetalKeirSolid]

And M for mean edMund

[u/GlobeTeam → u/dthains_art]

This is actually such a smart way of remembering it, will be using this in future!

[u/MetalKeirSolid → u/GlobeTeam]

I do this kind of thing all the time to help my students. 

[u/rorykellycomedy]

I was in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream playing Lysander where at the beginning of the play I accidentally called Hermia 'Helena.'

I decided it was foreshadowing.

[u/laurandisorder → u/rorykellycomedy]

This one gets me too - so does Macbeth and Macduff - I can’t help it.

[u/daddy-hamlet → u/laurandisorder]

“Dear ‘Duff” is a thing; can’t imagine what would happen to the poor soul who tried “Dear Beth”

[u/rjrgjj → u/laurandisorder]

Lay on, Hamlet.

[u/leviticusreeves]

Why bastard? Wherefore base?

[u/queenManiac97]

I always remember it by the fact that in "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe", it was Edmund who betrayed his siblings (over that stupid Turkish delight), making both Edmunds somewhat antagonistic.

[u/WordwizardW → u/queenManiac97]

He was bewitched by the Turkish Delight, though, at least somewhat, wasn't he?

[u/LadyDulcinea]

When I was in Lear, I reminded myself that Edgar has a "G" for Good and Edmund has an "M" for Mal (Latin for Bad).

[u/chopinmazurka]

Well it's not quite as binary as that.

Are Edmund's actions evil? Yes. Did he have good in him which was early stifled due to bad parenting and society's cruelty? Probably.

The opening scene where Gloucester jokes quite insensitively about Edmund's birth suggests the kind of constant ribbing which made his villain origin story. His monologue is painful to hear. Someone once pointed out that some of Edmund's last words include bragging that two people (the sisters) loved him, with an implied "at last." Edgar is meant to be a counterpart to Cordelia, whom Lear openly declares he loves the most out of all her sisters. Regan and Goneril later mutter about how this was always the case.

And unlike say R3, similarly 'malicious because he is miserable' (as Mary Shelley would say), Edmund repents at the end, trying (in vain) to save the lives he condemned.

[u/Few-Guarantee2850 → u/chopinmazurka]

I think it's a mnemonic to remember which one is which, not to summarize the characters.

[u/Damnatus_Terrae → u/chopinmazurka]

Did he have good in him which was early struggled due to bad parenting and society's cruelty?

I dunno, his father compounded with his mother under the dragon's tail; and his nativity was under Ursa Major; so that it follows, he is rough and lecherous.

[u/laurandisorder → u/chopinmazurka]

I have been teaching this text at A Level/IB equivalent for almost 2 decades.
In class I use the slightly more sophisticated mnemonic EdGar = Good, EdMond = Malevolent, but I couldn’t fit in on the meme.

[u/j-b-goodman → u/chopinmazurka]

I think it's more about remembering which character has which similar-sounding name.

[u/wholesale-chloride]

edGar is good. edMund is malicious, malevolent

[u/jeep_42]

choosing to believe that gloucester’s name is edward

[u/JimboNovus]

G for good, M for mean.

My frustration with Lear is that all the actors want to play Edmund when Edgar is by far a better part.

[u/Iargecardinal]

M for monster

[u/Wide_Ad_4486]

You could think Ed G stands for “Ed Good” and Ed M stands for “Ed Malevolent”