King Lear by William Shakespeare

Often times we take our eye sight for granted. We never think about what would happen if we could not see and believe our eyes. There is an old saying that says, “Seeing is believing;” however, what we see is not always the truth. As we read King Lear it becomes clear that people can physically see events, believe that what is being seen is the truth, and be totally blinded to the truth. We choose to see what we want to believe because that is what we want to happen. Many times our emotions take over and what is right in front of our face is blinded by what we want the truth to be. There are several characters in King Lear who are blind to the truth, not because their eye sight is impaired but because they have selective sight and only see what they want to see. Sight or lack thereof, has many literary facets beyond the obvious physical meaning, as intricately portrayed in Shakespeare’s King Lear; where the ability to see the truth is clouded by mental blindness, love, greed, and ambition until a transformation occurs and the characters can truly see the truth.

The Shakespearean tragedy, King Lear, is a significant play that explores the concept of blindness whilst communicating the importance of the theme for the characters King Lear and Earl of Gloucester. Blindness is in literary terms is defined as the inability of the eye to see, however in Shakespeare’s play blindness is perceived to be a mental flaw that people possess and is the catalyst for false decisions that eventually place the two characters into emotions of despair and regret. In the play, Lear’s self-delusion and his inability to determine between right or wrong and genuine or fake, leads him to a remorseful state. The prominent theme of blindness is explored throughout the play and in Act 1 Scene 1, responders are able to sight the

King Lear is easily decieved as he lacks the insight to see beyond what people

Another instance in the play where sight and blindness become an issue is when Oedipus sends to see the prophet Teiresias, second only to Apollo. Teiresias is physically blind and Oedipus holds this against Teiresias. He goes so far as to state, "Your ears are deaf, your eyes are blind, your mind—your mind is crippled!" (p.10). This nonetheless is quite ironic for Oedipus is mentally blind. He is unaware of who he is. Oedipus is the murderer of his father, husband and lover to his mother, and brother to his children. Teiresias responds to Oedipus’ accusation. "I tell you this, since you mock my blindness. You have eyes, Oedipus, and do not see your own destruction. You have eyes and do not see what lives with you… Then darkness will shroud those eyes that now can see the light," (p.11). Here Teiresias warns Oedipus of what his mental blindness has hidden from. He warns Oedipus of the doom and suffering in darkness that awaits him in the future. Finally, Teiresias ends the scene saying, "And if you find the words I speak are lies, then say that I am blind," (p.12). Teiresias knows that his prophet is infallible, and that Oedipus will soon realize who he is. Then, and only then, would Oedipus be aware of his mental blindness.

Both Lear and Riggan are arrogant, egotistical and ultimately ignorant to the surrounding world. Iñárritu and Shakespeare utilise the dialogue of other characters towards the protagonists, in albeit different ways, to show this. Shakespeare utilises the Fool to provide commentary for the audience. In the court of the king, the Fool’s role was to provide entertainment through comedy, but Shakespeare portrays him as the only character telling Lear the truth and thus this is an example of dramatic irony. Through his anecdotes and commentary, the Fool reveals to Lear the truth, but in his ignorance the king does not acknowledge this. Iñárritu demonstrates this through the audial and visual manifestation of Riggan’s younger self. While Shakespeare uses the Fool to tell Lear and the audience the truth, Riggan’s subconscious furthers his disconnection from reality and self-absorption. Additionally, Shakespeare uses eyes as a motif to emphasise this fatal blindness, attributed to age. The plucking out of Gloucester’s eyes is also a direct link to this. Lear’s crown is also used as a symbol of Lear’s poor judgement; by splitting the kingdom between his daughters, Lear “clovest his crown i’ th’ middle”, which ultimately lead to the tragic consequences at the end of the play. Iñárritu explores a similar idea of a limited view of the world through

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

King Lear Essay According to the dictionary, blindness is defined as, "Unable to see; Lacking the sense of sight; sightless", but in King Lear, by William Shakespeare, that is far from the definition of blindness. In King Lear, blindness is not just being physically incapable of seeing, but it is more being morally blind, being blind to the truth. This kind of blindness is demonstrated mainly in King Lear, the Duke of Albany, and the Earl of Gloucester.

When There Is More Than The Ayes Can See Does who are fiscally blind are actually the ones that can clearly see. in the play of Oedipus the king by Sophocles we can see a number of references to blindness and sight and to light and darkness. Real sight does not require eyes but the ability to see beyond of what is in front of us. What these means is that one must not only be able to see something, but also be able to understand it. In Oedipus the king, Teiresias is the only physically blind character, and is the only person that throughout the play can actually see what happen ,and what will happen in the in the future of king Oedipus.

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.

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.

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.

    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.

  The blindest bat of all was undoubtedly King Lear. Because of Lear's high position in society, he was supposed to be able to distinguish the good from the bad. unfortunately, his lack of sight prevented him to do so. Lear's first act of blindness came at the beginning of the play, when Lear disowns Cordelia ordering her ‘out of [his] sight’, through the love test when she decides not to flatter him.

Lear has been driven mad because of his own poor choices and decisions he has taken in his life. His blindness to Gonoril and Regan’s false flattery and his inability to see Cordelia’s real affection has led to his insanity. When he goes mad, the turmoil in his mind reflects the disorder that has descended upon his kingdom. However, his madness teaches him humility and provides him with important nuggets of wisdom by reducing him to his bare humanity, stripped of all royal pretensions. There is a dramatic value in Lear's madness whose roots lie in his moral and spiritual defects, and the cure is his moral regeneration which has come late. Madness is a central theme in King Lear’s characters between the ones that act in an insane way that are the wisest, and the sane characters that act in a foolish and unreasonable way. Lear’s madness is real compared to Edgar’s which is feigned as Hamlet’s. Edgar who has been the victim of a brother’s treachery perfectly enacts the role of a fool in his

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