Examples Of Blindness In King Lear

King Lear has a serious problem with keeping his composure throughout the story. His release of anger to all of his daughters and servants turned on him later in the story. King Lear has a blatant issue and should have done something about it, since he didn’t realize he was hurting the victim and proceeded to make them feel inferior to him.

Sight is perhaps the easiest deceived of all the senses as it cannot comprehend error. The human eye is unable to perceive the intangible, leading to false judgement based on appearances alone. In King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, Lear divides his kingdom between two of his daughters, banishing the third because he believes she does not love him. Simultaneously, the Earl of Gloucester is tricked by his son into believing that the other son wishes his father dead. Both characters trust that their perceptions of others’ personalities are accurate. However, the characters cannot rely solely on what they can see and instead must look past intentional false impressions created to deceive.

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

Tyler Addison Dr. Martine Bourdeau English 112 5 June 2015 Blindness: Sight and Truth in Oedipus the King Is there one meaning to the ability to see? I am able to see the floor, the sky, you, but I cannot hear the words you are speaking. Are the blind able to see more than the sighted?

After having both eyes gouged out by the Duke of Cornwall, Gloucester exclaims: “O my follies! Then Edgar was abused” (3.7.91). Unaware of Edmund’s betrayal, Gloucester had earlier told Edmund about his alliance with France in their invasion of England. Wanting to remove his father from power, Edmund conveys this information to the Duke of Cornwall and as a punishment, Gloucester has his eyes gouged out. This quote is important because it ties directly into the theme of “Blindness vs Sight.” Although he is literally blinded, it is at this moment that Gloucester is able to see the truth. Previously, he believes his son Edgar has betrayed him and therefore places his trust onto his other son, Edmund. Upon losing his vision, he finally regains his sight by realising Edgar’s innocence and Edmund’s treachery.

Blindness can be defined as the one’s inability to see, however, Shakespeare defined blindness as not only a physical flaw, but also a fatal mental flaw one possess. This can be seen though Shakespeare’s symbolic uses of blindness in the play King Lear. In the play, Shakespeare uses King Lear and Gloucester to portray his vision on blindness. King Lear is the ruler of Great Britain, rewarding individuals who flatters him and punishing individuals who speak up against him. This is the mental flaw of blindness Shakespeare is speaking of. King Lear is in a sense blinded by his own power, incapable of seeing the truth. Similarly, Gloucester is deceived by his illegitimate son, Edmund. In Shakespeare’s words, Gloucester is psychologically blinded

King Lear's fool is undoubtedly one of the wisest characters in the play. He is not only able to accurately analyze a situation which many other characters are blind to, but he is also able to foreshadow the actions of many characters and many other incidents to come. The main instruction the fool gives to the king is to beware of doing things that are unnatural, such as giving his inheritance, (splitting his kingdom among his daughters) to his daughters before he his dead. By doing this unnaturally, Lear must face many adverse consequences, such as losing his identity, self-worth, and respect from his daughters.

Lear was not the only character to suffer from blindness, Gloucester too, had lack of insight. He could not see the goodness of his son Edgar, and the wickedness of Edmund. A forged letter was the only evidence needed to convince Gloucester that Edgar was plotting to kill him. Immediately after reading the letter Gloucester screams in a rage;

These classic tropes are inverted in King Lear, producing a situation in which those with healthy eyes are ignorant of what is going on around them, and those without vision appear to "see" the clearest. While Lear's "blindness" is one which is metaphorical, the blindness of Gloucester, who carries the parallel plot of the play, is literal. Nevertheless, both characters suffer from an inability to see the true nature of their children, an ability only gained once the two patriarchs have

Blindness can be defined in two ways. Literal blindness is not being able to physically see the world around. Metaphorical blindness can be used to represent people who act and react as if they were blind, as if decisions made do not affect anyone around. In King Lear, blindness is shown both ways. The characters of Lear and Gloucester struggle because both have been blinded by selfishness. Lear and Gloucester’s blindness push them to make bad decisions and trust the wrong people, both only gained vision when becoming powerless.

The fact that King Lear is not aware that he is Lear further proves that he is loosing his mind. He keeps asking the Fool if Lear would act the same way that he is acting. Lear’s mental decay is a cause of chaos because he is the ruler of England, and if the ruler is not able to successfully process thoughts and ideas, much less comprehend who he is, then the country will not be able to run smoothly, and as a result, chaos will ensue. This proves that chaos is more powerful that authority because the chaos within Lear is overpowering the authority within Lear, which causes his mental decay. In the following scene, Lear begins to notice that he is in fact descending into madness. Lear’s realization of his madness is triggered by the Fool’s line, “Thou should not have been old till thou hadst been wise” (1.5.41-42) The Fool’s line relates to the idea that when people age, they become old and wise. But the Fool believes that Lear is not wise, and therefore should not be old. Lear hears this line and

King Lear is one main character that makes impulsive decisions without reflecting on the possible consequences. King Lear specifically makes rash decisions while being blind to the fact that the love from his two daughters, Goneril and Reagan, is fake. Within the first scene of the play, Lear asks his three daughters, Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia, “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” (1.1.52). This exact line is the very beginning of Lear’s blindness. Readers are able to recognize that Lear possesses a great amount of power as he refers to himself using the royal ‘we’. Throughout the rest of the play, readers see his deterioration of power until it becomes obsolete. Lear acts unwisely as he values the words that comes from his daughter’s mouths rather than the true meaning behind them. This is also represented when Cordelia simply answers her father’s question with “nothing, my lord” (1.1.92). This response from Cordelia causes Lear to feel humiliated and banishes Cordelia as he believes that “nothing will come of nothing” (1.1.95). Ironically, the word “nothing” carries a crucial meaning as it is associated with bad events and is the opposite of what Lear intends it to mean.

Lear cannot deny his ultimate role as the king. He desires to maintain his name and his rights as king, but to give control of the kingdom to his daughters and their husbands. However, this cannot work: "We know immediately that he is doomed to painful disillusionment by his assumption that his identity as king, father, and man, being fixed in the macrocosmic scheme of things, must remain unshaken without its worldly supports" (Egan 32). So, King Lear's exercising of this nonexistent power establishes his tragic flaw and the problem of the play: the power of the kingdom must reside in Lear only.

In King Lear, blindness is more than just the lack of physical sight, but a lack of judgement and understanding of others’ true intentions. Much of the suffering in King Lear stems from impetuous decisions and beliefs. Both King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester were blinded in their own respective ways. Lear’s blindness was more moral, leading to poor decisions that led to suffering, while Gloucester’s blindness was ignorance to his sons’ true intentions, leading to suffering as well.

However Lear is blind to the fact that his two eldest daughters are deceiving, while his youngest daughter, whom he has banished, actually loved him the most. Lear is blind to their deception, and makes the mistake of splitting his kingdom between Goneril and Regan, this will eventually cause Lear to lose