King Lear by William Shakespeare

Lear is a powerful man who does not see how genuine his youngest daughter, Cordelia’s love is, but believes the deceitfulness of her sisters, Goneril and Regan. Kent, one of Lear’s most loyal servants, sees the two-facedness of Cordelia’s sisters and tries to make him look pass the show that Goneril and Regan put on and see them for who they truly are, and Lear refuses. Lear commands to Kent get "Out of my sight!" The play echoes

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

Kent had been banished because he was truthful and told King Lear he had made a mistake about his daughters. King Lear did not want to recognize the truth or be told he had done something wrong. When the “poor man” asks for a job, King Lear is blind to the fact that this is really his old friend Kent acting on his promise help Lear right his wrong. Even as they continue to speak, King Lear’s eyes are never opened. King Lear repeatedly asks, “What art thou?” (1.4.19) Kent just replies that he is a man in need of a job and would like to give service. He pretends not to know who King Lear really is. Even after talking to each other, King Lear is still blind to Kent’s features and asks, “How old art thou?” (1.4.37) It seems awkward that King Lear does not recognize his friend Kent, but emotional blindness can be

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.

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 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

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.

In the first scene Regan and Goneril deceive King Lear with their words, flattering him in order to obtain more land. By lying to Lear about their love and devotion to him, Regan and Goneril believe that he will reward them. However, as the sisters later portray, they have no love for their father, but are only driven by their greed. Because they lust after power, and Lear had the most authority before he split his kingdom, they begin to strip away what little influence and control he had left. Edmund was another character who deceives his father by what he says. He tricks his father, the Earl of Gloucester, into believing that his legitimate brother, Edgar was plotting to overthrow him and take control of all that Gloucester owned. Through his soliloquy, Edmund tells of his jealousy toward Edgar, and he plots the downfall of his brother because he wants power, and because he wants to have all the privileges of a legitimate heir. First questioning, “ Why brand they us?” (1.2. 9) because he believes that bastards are stronger, more motivated because the love that conceives them is truer, and they contain, “More composition and fierce quality.” (1.2. 12).while Edgar was the result of a “dull, stale, tired bed.”(1.2. 13). Unlike the sisters and Edmund, the Earl of Kent changes his appearance out of duty to the King. He is Lear’s ally, a close confidant and completely loyal to the King. When Lear banished him, Kent returns, wishing to still serve the King, but must do so disguised as the servant, Caius. Disguising himself strips him of his power and authority, and he assumes the role of an impoverished man helping Lear. In

This is evident when she states "Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond; nor less nor more." Blinded by his rage, Lear is quick to banish her , proclaiming " Here I disclaim all parental care". Kent advises him to reconsider his rash action and urges him to ‘See better’. Still in a state or anger, he also banishes Kent, exclaiming " five days we allot thee for provision..

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

In Shakespeare’s King Lear, the audience is confronted with many contrasts—a wise fool, reason in madness, insight of a blind man, and the power of the powerless. Through these contradictions, the audience and the characters are challenged to stop limiting what’s within by external appearances. In the beginning, King Lear holds a lot of political agency but has no power over his happiness as he looks to his daughters’ words of love for confirmation. The sisters that verbally express the most love turn out to be evil; the people Lear banishes turn out to be the most loyal. The audience realizes in the beginning that things are not always as they seem.

Deception occurs throughout the play and catalyses the understanding of the human condition. Both Gloucester and Lear are egocentric and succumb to flattery. Dramatic irony features, where Gloucester must lose his sight in order to perceive “how this world goes”, announcing, “I stumbled when I saw.” Similarly, Lear becomes mad upon discovering his daughters’ false love and discovers humanity in his madness. It could be suggested it is the devastation that they undergo through their children’s’ deception that catalyse their self-realisation, outlining that