There are a wide variety of character types that appear in literature, but none are as intriguing as the aggressively amoral. In Shakespeare's King Lear, the character Edmund is portrayed as an ambitious opportunist whose attempts to obtain power lead to his demise. Although he is clearly not an admirable character, he is by no means a "mere [bad guy]" (Summers 230): Examination of his character according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a psychometric tool designed to measure how people make decisions and perceive the world, reveals the thought processes behind one's actions. Determining his basic attributes, with reference to the four dichotomies which are at the heart of the theory, allows us to read the preliminary aspects of his person. Additionally, exploring the four cognitive functions of one's psychological type reveals one's default behaviors and mental processes, and with them, one's most beneficial strengths and greatest weaknesses. Edmund's defining personality traits describe how his internal attributes and values ​​influence his actions in the play from an analysis through a Myer-Briggs perspective. MYERS-BRIGGS CLASSIFICATION In order to classify Edmund with the type indicator, all four dichotomies must be considered: extroversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. The pairs respectively describe how a person is energetic, gathers information, makes decisions, and leads their external lifestyle.Classification. Of the sixteen available types, Edmund is best classified as Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving or, as stated in the standard Myers-Briggs format, ESTP. He is extroverted in the sense that he draws his energy from the outside world and...... middle of paper ......se of the word, lives even if he does not. Works Cited Leonard, Nancy H. "Information Processing Style and Decision Making. Journal of Organizational Behavior 20.3 (1999): 407-20. JSTOR. Internet. February 5, 2014. Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince. Trans. William K. Marriott . London: Dent, 1958. Print.Mcneir, Waldo F. "The Role of Edmund in King Lear." 187-216. JSTOR Internet. February 11, 2014. Pittenger, David J. “The Usefulness of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.” JSTOR Internet. February 2, 2014. Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare: King Lear. Toronto: Coles, 1993. Summers, Claude J. “Stand Up for the Bastards”: Edmund and the Failure of Shakespeare's Love. 4.3, Shakespeare issue (1977): 225-31 Internet.. 2014.