Blindness By William Shakespeare 's King Lear

In the play, King Lear, vision and blindness are repeated allegories that relate to the characters, Lear and Gloucester. This exemplifies the theme of self-knowledge and consciousness that occurs in the play. These classic allegorical is inverted in King Lear, producing a situation in which those with well working eyes cannot see what is happening around them, and those without sight are able to “see” clearly. What do I mean? Well, Lear is completely “blind” to the character of his children, while Gloucester blindness is literal. Blindness is echoed through Gloucester and Lear to explain Lear's metaphorical blindness with Gloucester's literal loss of vision.

King Lear is the character who suffers the most from blindness in the play. His three daughters are most likely the main cause of his mental blindness. In the very first act of the play we see that Lear is easily fooled by his two eldest daughters Regan and Goneril, and we also see his inability to realize Cordelia’s true love for him when she tells him the truth. His blindness causes a rift in the family, and Lear banishes Cordelia from the kingdom saying “Thou hast her, France; let her be thine, for we / Have no such daughter, nor shall

“I have no way, and therefore want no eyes./ I stumbled when I saw.” (4.1.18) This quote encompasses the echoing theme of blindness versus sight; an important facet in the understanding of William Shakespeare’s play King Lear. This theme is especially exhibited through the parallel between the two main protagonists King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester, whose hamartia impedes their ability to recognize the truth. Both characters go through similar journey’s as their blindness towards their deceptive children’s motive leads them to act irrationally. It is not until their demise in which they gain sight. The understanding of King Lear’s metaphorical blindness, Gloucester’s literal blindness and a comparison of the two cases, leads to explicating

    In King Lear, the recurring images of sight and blindness associated with the characters of Lear and Gloucester illustrate the theme of self-knowledge and consciousness that exist in the play.

Shakespeare often incorporates sight into his work of literature. He does not think of sight as a physical trait in human, rather, he gives it a symbolic role in his work of literature. It is believed that Shakespeare once said: “the eyes are the window to the soul”. In other words, Shakespeare is saying how by looking at an individual’s eye, it can give us an insight of their emotional state such as happy, anger, despair, etc. Shakespeare also sometimes connects sight with blindness in some plays such as King Lear and Othello, where the character are physical or psychologically blinded from seeing the truth. Literatures critics have a different interpretation of Shakespeare’s view on blindness. One of the critics, Danijela Kambaskovic, state

Blindness is a reoccurring theme in King Lear. Lear’s blindness prevented him from seeing his Goneril and Regan true intentions at the beginning of the play. Although Lear is not physically blind, he lacks insight and wisdom. Lear’s lack of insight is a mental flaw rather than physical quality. Lear’s lack of insight causes him to be unable to see beyond the facade and cannot discern between the truth and lies in his daughter’s statements.

The play King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, the theme of blindness is clearly illustrated in the characters of King Lear and Gloucester. Both characters are blind to the truth because of their unwariness and poor judgment of character. These two characters refused to see the truth about the ones that are loyal to them. This type of blindness in this play is mental. Mental blindness can also be described refusing to see the truth because of one’s personality. The characters blindness was the reason of bad decisions that led to disasters. The nature causes and effects of blindness can be seen with King Lear and Gloucester, as these characters correspond to each other.

In the beginning of Shakespeare’s play “King Lear,” the Duke of Albany is very gray. If the reader were to look up the definition of “sitting on the fence” in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Albany next to it. Although the character Albany begins the play as a complacent character, his character matures greatly throughout the play. By the end of the play, he is one of the only characters left alive and he becomes king of England. Shakespeare’s character Albany in “King Lear” shows questionable character traits in the beginning; but in the end, he shows his worthiness to rule the kingdom.

As a monarch, Lear recognizes the difference between good and bad, but his impairment of sight rendered him unable to do that. “... By all the operation of the orbs From whom we do exist and cease to be; here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity, and property of blood, And as a stranger to my heart and me Hold thee, from this, forever. The barbarous Scythian, Or he that makes his generation messes To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved, As thou my sometime daughter.” soon after Kent says “See better, Lear; and let me still remain the true blank of thine eye.” Kent tries to open Lear's eyes to his mistake of banishing Cordelia and soon after speaking with Lear, Kent himself. “ ... And on the sixth to turn thy hated back Upon our kingdom: if on the tenth day following, Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions, The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter, This shall not be revoked” remarked Lear. Cordelia does love him the most and because he could not see that, his lack of insight causes him to only see the loveless daughter, not the truth and love behind it. From the

King Lear is frequently regarded as one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces, and its tragic scope touches almost all facets of the human condition: from the familial tensions between parents and children to the immoral desires of power, from the follies of pride to the false projections of glory. However, one theme rings true throughout the play, and that very theme is boundless suffering, accentuated by the gruesome depictions of suffering our protagonists experience . There is no natural (nor “poetic”) justice depicted in this pre-Judeo-Christian world Shakespeare presents, as the relatively virtuous individuals (Kent, Gloucester, and Cordelia) in this

This involuntary inability to see the truth is what leads to the destruction of Lear, Gloucester and Regan’s relationships. Blindness from the legitimacy of one’s words and objectives is evident within these characters who cannot see the truth by the ones they are acquainted with. King Lear is blind to the true intentions of his daughters Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan. Although Cordelia possesses genuine intentions to “love [his] majesty/ According to [her] bond; no more nor less” Lear is oblivious to the fact that Cordelia loves him (1.1.91-92). Due to this blindness obtained by Lear, he banishes Cordelia as well as any relational ties he has with her. Although Lear is blind from the honest and genuine intentions of Cordelia, he is also blind to the cruel intentions of Goneril and Regan which is masked by their kindness. Lear’s inability to see the cruel schemes of his other two daughters, evidently causes Regan to order Gloucester to “Shut up

Samuel Butler, an English novelist, said, “A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide." Blindness is a major theme that recurs throughout Shakespeare’s play, King Lear. Samuel Butler’s quote can be used to describe King Lear, who suffers, not from a lack of physical sight, but from a lack of insight and understanding. Blindness is a factor in his poor judgment. It plays a major role in the bad decisions he makes. It leads to harsh treatment of those closest to him. It is the combination of these consequences of Lear’s failed sight that demonstrate how blindness is a major

In the tragedy King Lear, the term blindness has an entirely different meaning. It is not a physical flaw, but the inability of the characters to see a person for whom they truly are. They can only read what is presented to them on the surface. King Lear, Gloucester and Albany are three prime examples characters who suffered most by having this flaw.

Blindness; there is a number of ways that someone could be blinded such as, blinded by love, by ambition, or by beliefs and traditions, there is also just plain old blindness, the inability to see. With these causes of blindness a great deal of chaos could be sprung up. The theme of blindness is intertwined within the theme of chaos in the play King Lear by William Shakespeare which ultimately leads people to their demise. King Lear’s own blindness and desire for flattery from his daughters lead him through a prolonged madness and finally to his death. Also, Edmunds own blindness towards the inheritance caused him more trouble than he had asked for and lead him to die by the hand of whom he betrayed. Finally, the blindness shown by Regan

In the play King Lear, by William Shakespeare, the playwright shows that when individuals, who lack self esteem and have insecurities, they often lose foresight, driving them to make irrational decisions, resulting in their mental breakdown. In the classic play, expressions are inverted in King Lear, manufacturing a circumstance in which those with good sight, don't have any knowledge of what is going on around them. In the beginning of the play, we viewed that King Lear, makes a very wrong decision of surrendering his throne, his power and wealth. King Lear’s selfish decision soon becomes a big problem. King Lear was so blinded by his decision that he couldn’t see the purity of his most beloved daughter, Cordelia’s for him, from the insincerity of her sisters Goneril and Regan. Even after, Cordelia was disowned by her own father, she went back to England to protect him.