 Let's look at the character of Edward Lyons. Now remember that he is the twin that just by chance, just by the fate of the stars, his mother Mrs. Johnstone chose to give him away to Mrs. Lyons, the middle class family of Mrs. Lyons. And as a result, the journey and the path and the trajectory of his life went in a completely different and opposite direction to his twin Mickey. And there usually tends to be a debate on people's characteristics and what they do and whether the characteristics and where they end up in life is caused because of the nature. So are they clever? Are they academically brilliant because of their nature? Were they born with it? Or because of their nurture? Was it because of the environment that they lived in, that they ended up going to really good schools, good universities, getting good jobs? And Edward, okay, so the character of Edward is a very strong and convincing example of how your nurture, your environment can lead you to end up being very prosperous because, you know, you end up going to being in a very stable family household with a mom and dad around, you then end up, you know, having positive influences that leads you to go on to university, get a good job and be more stable, far more stable than Mickey. Okay. So there's different aspects to Edward's character. And for these different aspects, I'll point out some quotes that you should consider when writing about his character or considering his character within this play. Okay. Now, the first element of Edward, which of course really directly differs with his twin Mickey and blood brothers, is that Edward is incredibly well educated. Okay. Unlike his twin brother, Mickey, Edward is incredibly articulate. He can speak even at a very young age. Okay. When he, Mickey and Linda are hanging out, Edward is clearly way more, you know, clearer in his speech. He has a wide range of vocabulary. Okay. And of course, this foreshadows the fact that he does go on to university, gets a good job and so on. Okay. Now, the first quote to bear in mind, which illustrates this aspect of him being really well educated is when he asks Mickey, don't you know what a dictionary is? Okay. Already, we can see even from a very young age, there's a massive gap that's already existing between Edward who's becoming faster educated, his mom was taking the time, Mrs. Lyons, who doesn't have to have a job. She's just sitting around whilst the husband was working. She takes the time to educate her son. She takes the time to buy him dictionaries, to buy him books. And this obviously creates a vast gap between her and Mrs. Lyons, who's a cleaner, who has to work all the time. She has loads of kids. She doesn't have time to sit Mickey and all her other children down to kind of teach them. Okay. So we can see here already, there's a gap in the education between Mickey and Edward. Also, Edward says obviously as a joke, we have been undergoing a remarkable semi-load experience. Okay. Even his jokes are very fancy and very posh. Okay. Of course here, what this is illustrating is that Edward is very well educated. Okay. Which obviously sets him up very well for later life. The other aspect of his character to bear in mind is of course, he is very middle class as opposed to Mickey, who is working class. Okay. The first quotation which illustrates this is how Mickey and Sammy and all the other kids see him as like a little bit different even if he wants to hang out with them because they say he's a freaking poshie. Okay. The way he speaks is such a posh kid, which obviously illustrates how middle class he is very well spoken and this ties in to how well educated he is. Also, when he states, this is Edward, I've got money, plenty of it. Okay. Which is something that is in dire shortage in Mickey's working class environment. Okay. There's never enough money whilst Edward sees life in terms of plenty, including money. And the fact that he ends up becoming a counselor, Eddie Lyons. Okay. Working in a town hall, he basically becomes a, you know, involved in politics. And again, what this is illustrating is he follows this middle class path in his life, which is completely closed off to Mickey, who instead ends up going to jail, losing his job and becoming really depressed. The other aspect of Edward's character is we learned that unlike Mickey, he is incredibly secure. His life, his, the path of his life is all planned out really nicely and well, but both his mom and dad, Mr. Mrs. Lyons. Okay. So he's incredibly secure. And he first asks Mickey, he doesn't understand the point of getting a job set early on. He has university to look forward to. He has all these things that are laid out for him in many states. Why is the job so important? This is obviously a very middle class thing to say. This is illustrating his security. He doesn't have to worry about getting part-time jobs, getting anything that's put in front of you because he has options. He's a child and he later becomes a man who has options. Also, his security is illustrated when he kind of frivolously and kind of makes a joke stating, if I couldn't get a job, I'd just say sod it and become a bohemian. Okay. Again, here we can see that it's very secure. His life isn't, you know, hands to mouth. He doesn't think about, I need to get a job in order to survive. For him, you know, life is a bit more smooth. It's a bit easier. He has the, the, the luxury to go to university, to not have to worry about finding himself at university. But even once he finishes university, he can either find a job through the help of his dad or get another job, you know, because he's going to have a university qualification and have more options. The other aspect of Edward's character is that we do learn, especially early on, that he's very sheltered, something that Mickey and the children, the council children that he plays with don't really have. Okay. Whilst his mom is a stay at home mom, she's able to shelter him to really coddle him. Mrs. Johnstone and all these other working class moms have to work all the time. They, they're frazzled. Okay. Therefore the kids are kind of led to their own devices. Whilst Edward is very sheltered. He's very protected and cared for by his mom and dad. Okay. And this is illustrated through the quotes, even the fact that it causes mom, mommy. Okay. Now we can see this when he states, my mommy doesn't allow me to play down here. Okay. When he first meets the kids when he's seven years old, he says, you know, mom doesn't really let me play here, but I do want to play here. Again, what this is illustrated in this is being a little bit rebellious, but he acknowledges even at his young age that he's very sheltered. Okay. Also, he states, mommy, how do you spell bogeyman? Okay. Again, here we can see that there's a strong sense of dependence on his mother, which Mickey doesn't have. Mickey isn't dependent on his mom and he can't be because his mom is always working. And also when his mom is at home, she has to look after, she has to split her attention between Mickey and all these other children that she has. Okay. So really we can see that Edward, who's an only child is really coddled, is very sheltered whilst Mickey by contrast is very independent because he has to be, he has to grow up really fast. The other aspect of Edward's character is we do later realise that unlike Mickey, who's quite loyal, who sees him as a blood brother, Edward forgets this and Linda is the person that Edward really falls for. Okay. The both fall for her whilst Mickey does marry Linda. Edward kind of never loses this hope for a love to be kindled between the two of them. And they do end up having an affair behind Mickey's back. Okay. So firstly, Edward confesses to Linda, I've always loved you. Okay. Once more, we can see here is a little bit to slow towards Mickey. Okay. And also, when we learn that they play their part in a light romance, which is a euphemism for an affair. Remember euphemism is a polite way of referring to something that's quite inappropriate or rude. Okay. So of course, an affair is something that is not very good. Okay. A married woman sleeping with a man who is not her husband is an affair. Okay. We don't usually call it a light romance. It's a forbidden romance. Okay. But what this illustrates is that Edward isn't at all loyal to Mickey, who was actually loyal to him to a fault. Okay. The other aspect of Edward's characteristics to bear in mind is that he's incredibly confident and assertive. Okay. So unlike Mickey, who gets beaten down and down and down and then he even has to resort to taking pills in order to cope with life. Edward is very confident, he's sure of himself and sure of his place in the world. And this is illustrated through the quote, he is bright and forthcoming. Okay. Even from quite young, he's quite confident, he's quite assertive. He has a place in the world and the world opens up for Edward in a way that it doesn't for Mickey. The other aspect that illustrates how assertive he is, is when he's in school, he refuses to give up the locket that Mrs. Johnstone had gifted him. And this is him being assertive against his teacher, a figure of authority. He says, we shall not take my locket. Okay. So of course here, this exclamation sentence shows that Edward again, once more is very assertive. He stands up for what he believes is right, but also we can see here again, he's very confident and sure of his place in the world in a way that a lot of the working class characters are not even Mrs. Johnstone, his own mother doesn't have the same kind of confidence and assertiveness that Edward has. Okay. Which of course is a result of her being working class, her being told what she can't do by the, by society around her, her facing the disappointments of being a working class woman, which Edward is sheltered and immune to. Okay. And of course also Mrs. Lyons is sheltered and immune to. That's really it. When it comes to aspects, remember of Edward's personality. Okay. So remember when you're writing about him, consider that he's well educated. He's very, very middle class. Okay. Unlike his twin brother, Mickey, he's also quite a secure person, very secure, but unsure of himself. He also is quite sheltered by his parents. He's very disloyal towards Mickey, his friend. And finally, he's quite confident and assertive.