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In Shakespeare's King Lear, Edmund, the illegitimate sone of Gloucester, plans to attain a piece of the land by causing ill feelings between Gloucester and his legitimate son, Edgar. In his monologue at the beginning of Act 1, scene ii, Edmund's tone shows by using sarcasm, questioning, and ridiculing the bitterness that he had been denied what his brother and most others take for granted. Beginning on line 6, Edmund questions the wrongdoings of his origins. Just …

…they go to "creating a whole tribe of fops". This nasty way of referring to legitimate children displays the bitterness with which Edmund views these innocent children. Edmund has been viewed as a lower class citizen all of his life due to the fact that he is a bastard. This has caused him to grow bitter over time, which is shown in this dialogue when he uses sarcasm, questioning, and ridiculing to convey his tone.