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crack_van2009-10-03 09:01 am
pargoletta.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2009-10-03 09:01 am
Entry tags:
The Bastard's Portion by Sunfalling (PG-13)
Fandom: SHAKESPEARE -- KING LEAR
Pairing: gen
Length: 2000 words
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sunfalling
Author Website: http://www.geocities.com/sun_falling/
Why this must be read: For us who live in the modern world, being born out of wedlock isn't such a terrible thing. But in Shakespeare's day, it was an awful fate, one that condemned a child to a lifetime of second-class status, regardless of that child's own wishes or abilities. The Bastard's Portion shows one such child and his growing, futile rage over a destiny that he had no hand in choosing.
I last saw Cordelia at the wedding celebration for her sister, Regan. At sixteen, Cordelia seemed small and fragile with earnestly pretty features and a voice so soft it could barely be heard over the hum of the crowd. I noted that her elder sisters were less attractive, but they wore bright gowns, at least, and put on the airs of royalty. They knew their high stations and showed it clearly. Regan wore a golden chain about her neck with a jeweled pendant the size of a small apple. Goneril, the eldest princess and wife to the Duke of Albany, approached me and presented herself, mistaking me for my brother. “You look much like your father, but are far fairer,” she murmured.
I bowed low and offered an apology. “I am only Edmund, my lady, the bastard son. My brother, Edgar, stands yonder.” I pointed him out among the raucous crowd of the king’s knights. Edgar was entertaining them by imitating their accents and adopting comical voices. The rancid smell of ale and burnt meat hovered about them.
“Oh,” Goneril said. Her reddened mouth drew tight in a perplexed bud. “Such a pity.” I reveled in her obvious disappointment.
The Bastard's Portion
Pairing: gen
Length: 2000 words
Author on LJ:
sunfallingAuthor Website: http://www.geocities.com/sun_falling/
Why this must be read: For us who live in the modern world, being born out of wedlock isn't such a terrible thing. But in Shakespeare's day, it was an awful fate, one that condemned a child to a lifetime of second-class status, regardless of that child's own wishes or abilities. The Bastard's Portion shows one such child and his growing, futile rage over a destiny that he had no hand in choosing.
I last saw Cordelia at the wedding celebration for her sister, Regan. At sixteen, Cordelia seemed small and fragile with earnestly pretty features and a voice so soft it could barely be heard over the hum of the crowd. I noted that her elder sisters were less attractive, but they wore bright gowns, at least, and put on the airs of royalty. They knew their high stations and showed it clearly. Regan wore a golden chain about her neck with a jeweled pendant the size of a small apple. Goneril, the eldest princess and wife to the Duke of Albany, approached me and presented herself, mistaking me for my brother. “You look much like your father, but are far fairer,” she murmured.
I bowed low and offered an apology. “I am only Edmund, my lady, the bastard son. My brother, Edgar, stands yonder.” I pointed him out among the raucous crowd of the king’s knights. Edgar was entertaining them by imitating their accents and adopting comical voices. The rancid smell of ale and burnt meat hovered about them.
“Oh,” Goneril said. Her reddened mouth drew tight in a perplexed bud. “Such a pity.” I reveled in her obvious disappointment.
The Bastard's Portion