Justifying The Unjustifiable Analysis

Lear can "see" through a sympathetic lens, after having exchanged the pride for shame, revealing to us that mental blindness can be more damaging than physical blindness. While Gloucester, who willingly admits that "[he] stumbled when [he] saw," is only able to "see," though sightless, after he has suffered (4.1.20). Only through the physical pain of losing his sight was Gloucester able to see the truth of his sons. Unquestionably, the plots of Lear and Gloucester run similar courses. However, Shakespeare employs Gloucester's plot to clarify Lear's plot. Through the physical blinding of Gloucester, Shakespeare provides an equivalent, which contextualizes King Lear's theme of consciousness and allows Lear's own metaphorical blindness to be fully

This leaves Lear without change, although he is gaining internal knowledge he is unable to fully use it because of his inability to make conscious sound decisions. Once Lear is able to think clearly again he realizes once again the mistakes he has made, this realization allows him to improve the knowledge he has leading to a slight increase in power. However just as he acts on his knew found knowledge he and Cordelia die in capture, leaving him again with no power. While this is occurring Gloucester is hitting another low point in his amount of power. After seeing Lear’s state he attempts to commit suicide, after he thinks he is dying he states, “Away, and let me die” (4.6.60). This action shows that he no longer has power because he has given up. The actions of those around Gloucester allow him to finally know the amount of disloyalty of those surrounding him when learning the truth about his sons, and their untrue attitudes towards him, gaining insight about

     In King Lear, the subplot of Gloucester corresponds to the major plot of King Lear. Both fathers have their own loyal legitimate child and their evil and disloyal child. They are both honourable men, who have children that return to them in their time of need. Gloucester and Lear are both tormented, and their

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.

In the play King Lear, the two characters Gloucester and King Lear, both run on very parallel paths. the turning point in the play where the reader starts to feel sorry for them is as soon as things start to go bad for them. Early in the play, Lear makes bad decisions on which daughters to give his land and power to, while Gloucester is making Edmund feel bad for being a bastard. Their decisions blow up in their faces and the reader starts to feel bad for them. King Lear is driven to madness and Gloucester has his eyes gouged out and want to kill himself. The impressions on both of these characters change throughout the course of the play in the same way.

“Why Don’t We Complain” is an essay written by William Buckley Jr.. He discusses his reasoning for why people do not want to complain in the modern age. The purpose of his essay is to convince people to complain more rather than accepting the conditions around them. He starts off by describing his time on a hot train.

Starting the play with the revelation of Edmund’s plans to see his half brother and father’s downfall, we receive an image of a father who cares only for pure bloods of higher class per say. One can conclude that this man is obviously high class and stereo typically favors the older, direct bloodline son, nevertheless, we can’t take a rash conclusion so fast. Thus, we wait for the plot to develop and let us glance into the true selves of the characters further. We come to the knowledge that Lord Gloucester realizes he values his ties with the king to a great extent, him risking and losing his title as lord due to aiding King Lear. Afterwards, we see him come to appreciation of virtues of honesty and his sons after he is captured by the Duke, losing his eyes as punishment. Gloucester as a character has developed greatly, going forth through challenges and misdemeanors against his pride and being, ending disgraced and blind. Yet, he holds a calm sense to himself, valuing what he has left and becoming more than humble with others. This is a transformation worthy of Shakespeare himself, rather impressive at the very least. This man has lived through the betrayal of his bastard child and being blinded violently for helping a distressed king, he has sacrificed much with spiritual values in return. Astounding that he didn’t suicide out of pure remorse that he will never be able to witness the world again. Unfortunately, he does die of a mixture of happiness and shock when he is revealed that Edgar still breathes life, so he has that going for

Gloucester’s belief of human nature is that fathers will always be respected and honored by their children. This view blinds him to seeing that human nature is susceptible to being twisted and corrupted even by his own child. Gloucester is a very loyal servant of King Lear and he expects that same loyalty from his sons. Edmund, with no love for his father, sees this flaw of naive trust of loyalty and finds the perfect opportunity to betray Gloucester in his blindness. Gloucester was blinded to the fact that Edmund would ever dare to betray him.

Gloucester realizes he made a mistake in trusting Edmund, and after the incident on the cliff, Gloucester believes the gods spared him because

In King Leare, Shakespeare uses the theme of sight to illustrate the characters’ failure to see the truth. In the cases of Leare and Gloucester, their inability to properly discern their reality leads to their own downfall. Although Leare’s blindness leads to madness, and Gloucester’s fails to decipher his son’s deception, the progression of their state throughout the play leads to each individual’s development of knowledge. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses figurative sight as a flaw in the character of King Leare.

Gloucester signifys this by showing pure insight despite him not having physical eyesight. Before the loss of his eyes, Gloucester's vision was like Lear's in many ways. He could not see what was truly going on all around him. He only saw what was presented upon him. When Edmund takes him the letter from Edgar, Gloucester believed it was really from Edgar without second-guessing.

The theme of consciousness is underscored by the Gloucester plot in King Lear. Gloucester, like Lear, is an aging man who has yet to learn the true nature of his children. In this way, he shares Lear's metaphorical blindness, but Shakespeare does not stop there; he adds the physical impairment of vision to Gloucester's character as well. It is mentioned that Gloucester requires the need of "spectacles" in order to read the fabricated letter his son Edmund presents to him. Ironically, even with the use of an instrument to heighten his vision, Gloucester is still unable to see things as they truly are. With no prior provocation, and hardly any "ocular" proof, Gloucester immediately believes that his

Like Lear, Gloucester fails to see the true nature of his children and also invokes the language of nature in blind ways. After wrongly condemning Edgar he calls Edmund a "loyal and natural boy" (II. i. 85).

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;

            The downfall of Lear is not just the suffering of him alone but the suffering of everyone down the chain of being.  For instance, Lear's pride and anger caused Cordelia and Kent to be banished, and Gloucester loses his position and eyes.  Everything that happened to these characters are in a chain of reaction and affected by Lear's tragic flaw.  If Lear did not lack of personal insight and if he did not have  such an obstinate pride, he would not have banished Cordelia and Kent, then Goneril and Regan would not be able to conspire against Lear. Without the plot of Goneril and Regan, Gloucester would not have been betrayed by Edmund and lose his eyes and status due to the charge of treason.  Moreover, the chain of reaction was continuous