Despite how badly shaken and heartbroken he is by the loss of Edgar, Gloucester smoothly fulfills his duty, performing his role as host. Although Goneril and Regan have criticized Lear for his senility (1.1), here Regan at least suggests that she respects Gloucester's potential wisdom.

Yet, despite his definitive declaration, Gloucester, like Lear in 1.1 and 1.4, is clearly deeply emotionally affected by losing his emotional bond to his legal son—particularly given his old age. Cornwall, meanwhile, praises just the sort of parental respect that neither he nor Regan are going to show to Lea

Staging the entire encounter for the purpose of misleading Gloucester, Edmund has provided yet another instance of manipulating vision in order to produce blindness. Entirely misreading his two sons, Gloucester falls for it and uses his authority to reverse the usual legal order, preferring the illegitimate to the legitimate.

Edmund dupes Edgar as easily as he has mislead Gloucester. Through his trickery he makes Edgar look guilty and himself look like a hero, and turns on its head the usual emotional bond between father and son as well as the usual legal bond between father and legitimate son.

Paralleling the exchange between Gloucester and Kent at the beginning of 1.1, Curan's rumors of war indicate the coming dissolution of the kingdom and the breakdown of order. But for Edmund, who was born outside the law and now seeks to create disorder everywhere, these developments are good news.

Shakespeare's Elizabethan audience would have expected such a conflict since the English know, all too well, that insurrection and conflict between petty lords requires a strong centralized government to maintain control.

In Shakespeare's time, the testimony of a legitimate son would weigh more significantly than that of an illegitimate son; but in this instance, Edgar is not available to present his position.

According to natural order, years of devotion and love should lead to trust, but with the events of Act I, fathers no longer trust their children's love

fathers are easily fooled into rejecting the children who love them most. Lear has rejected the daughter who genuinely loves him, and now, Gloucester has rejected the son who genuinely loves him. These events further support the idea that Lear's earlier actions have rejected the natural order of the world.

Edmund is Machiavellian, like other Shakespearean
villains such as Iago and Richard III. Shakespeare’s
contemporaries misunderstood the works of the influential Florentine writer, Niccolo Machiavelli, believing he proposed that rulers should behave in immoral and corrupt ways.
Edmund’s Machiavellian practices include deception, betrayal and sexual misconduct.

In Shakespeare’s theatre it was not possible to dim the
stage lighting to show that it was night time. Instead,
darkness had to be conveyed to the audience by the comments of the characters (‘Here stood he in the dark’, line 37) and the presence of actors carrying flaming torches (‘Torches! Torches!’, line 32). It is ironic that Edmund calls for light so that everyone can see what is happening, when his real intention is to cover up the truth of what has taken place between himself and Edgar.

Edmund's lines to Edgar at the start of the scene are full of
short, sharp statements and questions, suggesting his command of circumstances. It is possible that Edmund intends to kill Edgar and claim self-defence but is thwarted by the fighting skills which Edgar displays later in the play. Whatever the case, Edmund achieves with terrifying ease the goal of dispossessing his brother which he set himself in Act I Scene 2, indicating how effortlessly evil begins to run riot in the kingdom. When Edmund offers his services to Cornwall we wonder what he is hoping to gain now.

As the play progresses, the character development establishes the roles that the characters will play to a greater degree. Edmund becomes more openly selfish and evil as events grant him the opportunity, as do Goneril, Regan and Cornwall. Lear and Gloucester are complacent and unperceptive when they have authority but respond to their fall with a mixture of disillusionment and integrity which turns them into far more sympathetic figures. Meanwhile Albany, having seen his wife Goneril for what she is, graduates from a rather ineffectual husband into a determined general. Finally, we will see Edgar grow from a bewildered fugitive into an epitome of patience, cunning and even ruthlessness.

Gloucester, unnerved by Edgar's threat, ignores Edmund's injuries and dismisses Edgar without hesitation. His hasty reaction suggests he's self-centered and lacks judgement. Gloucester appears overwhelmed and vulnerable, as seen in his speech to Regan. Like Lear, he seems vulnerable, as indicated by his speech to Regan (‘my old heart is cracked, it’s cracked’, line 89). He's isolated, with Regan and Cornwall assuming a commanding tone.