Blindness By William Shakespeare 's King Lear

In Shakespeare's, King Lear, eyes are a major factor throughout the play. Shakespeare used "eyes" as symbolism to show how the characters in the play and people today see the world differently. Shakespeare portrays eyes' significance through King Lear and Gloucester. Lear's failure to see what is truly there is the main cause of most of his problems, while Gloucester learns to use his unfortunate disability as an advantage. Lear can physically use his eyes, but he is blind in the sense that he lacks perspective.

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.

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

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

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.

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

“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.

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

Although it is never too late to learn, those lessons learned in old age are the most difficult and the most costly. In his play KING LEAR, Shakespeare illustrates that wisdom does not necessarily come with age. The mistakes that Lear and Gloucester make leave them vulnerable to disappointment and suffering at a time in their lives when both should be enjoying peace and contentment. Although both Lear and Gloucester achieve wisdom before they die, they pay a dear price for having lived life blindly.

Within the Shakespearean play, King Lear, blindness hinders characters from making just and moral judgements. The rash decisions made by each character have a strong influence on character progression and their downfalls within the play. The central idea of blindness as a tragic flaw is portrayed throughout many different characters. Most frequently, it is easily depicted within King Lear, Gloucester and Edmund where all three characters are confronted with battles when coming face to face with family. Lear’s conflict with family pertains to his two disloyal daughters and the fact that they constantly demine him. Gloucester battles with his two sons, Edgar and Edmund, when dealing with legitimacy versus illegitimacy. Finally, Edmund internally struggles with himself as being an illegitimate son and an outcast of society. Through their processes of realization, they endure many hardships and act on impulse rather than logic and reason. It is through these characters where King Lear highlights how impulsivity leads to blindness.

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

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

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.

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.