# Cornwall — King Lear character guide

> Cornwall in King Lear by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cornwall Edmund, Albany Cornwall

**First appearance:** 0002-act-i-scene-i

## Snapshot

Regan's husband, a cold and violent duke who enforces his wife's will with his own hands and treats cruelty as a form of authority.

## Who they are

Cornwall is the muscle behind Regan's ambition, a man who puts Kent in the stocks and later commits the play's most horrifying act without hesitation. He shares his wife's appetite for power but lacks even her thin veneer of diplomacy, preferring force to persuasion. His willingness to maim and torture in the name of order exposes how quickly noble authority can collapse into savagery.

## In the story

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-i-scene-i)

Present during Lear's division of the kingdom and Kent's banishment.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i)

Arrives with Regan, hears the false story about Edgar, and offers Edmund a position of trust.

### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-ii)

Orders Kent to be stocked despite Gloucester's plea.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-i)

Referenced as the other duke in the secret division, with hard rein borne against the old king.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-v)

Determined to take revenge on Gloucester and trusts Edmund completely.

### [Scene VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-vii)

Orders Gloucester's blinding and carries it out; is wounded in the struggle.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/cornwall
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters