The characters of Shakespeare's King Lear allowed their reputations to represent themselves and were shattered with them. Many surcame to illusion from carelessness. They deceived themselves and others, often going mad during the process of disillusionment. The truth crumbled all illusions and those who accepted the lies with them, leaving them with nothing to call themselves, no identity. Lear, Edmund, and Edgar all accepted some form of illusion as reality, making the nothingness of their lives obvious, when the truth was revealed.

          Lear thought of himself only as King, no more, no less. No longer king, he was nothing. "Only we shall retain / The name and all th' addition to a king. / The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, / Beloved sons, be yours, which to confirm, / This coronet part between you" (Act 1, Sc. 1, Lines 151-155). Divided, his name lost all worth. Lear had the power of a resigned ex-president; all past, none present. He had to start from scratch, building a new, less precarious name, centered around himself, and not his job.

          Like King Lear, Edmund built a false reputation around himself, deceiving everyone, especially himself. He actually believed that Goneril and Regan loved him. "Yet Edmund was beloved. / The one the other poisoned for my sake, / And after slew herself" (Act 5, Sc. 3, Lines 287-289). His entire life was false. Edmund was labled as 'bad' because he was a bastard, an illogical conclusion, that he fought with lies of his own, slandering his father and brother. Pile upon pile of untruths concealed the nothing that was Edmund. Underneath, he was simply possibility, possiblity for good, possibility for evil, a fact proved when he tried to save Lear and Cordelia. Edmund was a good person when he died.

          When Edgar's character was slandered by Edmund, he, like Edmund himself, found a new identity as a 'Poor Tom.' As Edgar, he was left with no past; "Edgar" I nothing am" (Act 2, Sc.6, Lines 20-21). His reputation was destroyed and all of his past deeds were forgotten. As a "Poor Tom," he was at least recognized as a mostly harmless, crazy beggar. ""Poor Tom!"/ That's something yet. 'Poor Tom' was a innocent disguise, covering a good past, but still the same possibility and initial nothingness of every human soul

          Lear, Edgar, and Edmund all dramatically changed their behavior in a very short time. The king became a mad old man. Edgar went from being a good son to a traitorous outlaw who disguised himself as a Bedlam beggar. Edmund, the truly traitorous bastard, became the respected Earl of Gloucester. The past is nothing, but what people make of it. People are nothing, but their present condition, and their distorted reputations. The beauty of nothing is in the opportunity that it holds. Lear, Edgar, and Edmund used this opportunity to change the path of their own lives, whether it was for good or ill, and let the past lie still in the sunshine.