Winfried Schleiner in his article “Justifying the Unjustifiable: The Dover Cliff Scene in ‘King Lear’” talks about his belief that Gloucester’s imagined fall from the Dover Cliff must happen on the flat stage to be fully effective to the play. I have read the play a couple of times and summarized it as well a couple of times and I do stand on this with Schleiner. Just like Lear, Gloucester also misjudges which of his children to trust and ends up getting tricked by Edgar his son. He is arrested, interrogated, and ends up getting his eye gouged out by Cornwall and I say this happened because of his misjudgement on who to trust. He was blind from the start with who to trust and that was his first fall, but now he is physically blind and is guided
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.
“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.
“Hilleman: A Perilous Quest to Save the World’s Children” documents the dedications of American microbiologist Dr. Maurice Ralph Hilleman. While, initially, this may be an unfamiliar name, he was arguably the greatest and most underappreciated scientist of the 20th century. Often described as “confident,” “bold,” and even “ballsy,” Dr. Hilleman received a Medal for Distinguished Service, given to him by the president, in a single attempt to offer gratitude for his heroic medical movements. However, considering his credit of saving several millions of children, and protecting following generations of fatal diseases, our country and globe should remain perpetually indebted to him.
Bipolar disorder is an affliction that affects many Americans. Children who live with parents who have this disorder often are neglected. Children are often not able to have a voice within their homes. The quality of life, emotional stability and childhood necessities are impacted by children raised by bipolar parents.
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
In the United States there are “2,300,000 people are in jails or prisons today. Incarceration is one of the most common forms of punishment in the country for those who choose to commit crimes. This number includes those who are jailed for a short period and are released on probation, as well as those who are doing time for the rest of their lives. (soapboxie, 2016).
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.
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
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;
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
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).
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
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
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.
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