The most blind of all is without a doubt King Lear, because of his high position in society. Lear is supposed to be able to distinguish the good from the bad; unfortunately, his lack of "mind" sight prevented him from doing so. Lear's best exemplification of his blindness occurs at the beginning of the play. First, he was easily deceived by the lies of his two greedy daughters who readily told him what he wanted to hear. Then, he was unable to see the reality of Cornelia's love for him. Lear's last words to the only daughter that truly loved him were; ".... for we/ have no such daughter, nor shall we ever see/ that face of hers again. Therefore be gone/ without our grace, our love, our benison." (Shakespeare I.i 262-265). Gloucester too, has lack of insight. He cannot see the goodness of his son Edgar, and the wickedness of…
He asks Lear to rethink his decision, calling it rash,, and that Cordelia does not love him the least. This ends poorly for Kent, as he is then banished from the kingdom, while Cordelia, although she is now disowned, still marries the King of France, and goes to live with him. Lear’s decision to disown Cordelia turns out to be a horrible one, as she was the only one truthful about her love to her father. Without Cordelia, Lear is forced to live with one of Goneril or Regan. However, both Goneril and Regan are plotting against Lear, and end up leaving him stripped of his power and integrity. Cordelia was the only to be honest, and although it is generally a good trait to have, her honesty towards Lear is what causes her to be disowned. This shows Albany’s quote, as the family was fine before, but when Lear was “striving to better,” he made what he already had worse.…
King Lear reaches a point where he turned into a mad king and easily enraged by anybody that disagrees with his decisions, except his fool. King Lear is an old man who has enjoyed his authority of kingship for a long time and he is giving up everything to his. Lear is ready to hand all of his authority, and income that comes with kingship, but Lear keeps few things in return, first being one hundred knights and the second is to keep the title as “King” by saying “With reservation of an hundred knights By you to be sustain’d, shall our abode make with you by due turn, Only shall we retain The name and all th’addition to a king.” (1.1.132-135). This is an example of Lear’s pride and arrogance because Lear still wants to be known as a king although he owns nothing, no kingdom, and no authority over anything. Lear kept one hundred knights to prove that he is still known as a king and still powerful. As time passes Lear becomes less known in society which makes him furious because he is used to be a powerful king soon afterward becomes unrecognized. Lear is upset to the fact that he is unknown and an example when he shows his frustration would be “Does anyone here know me …/ Who is that can tell me Who I am?” (1.4.215-219). This proves that Lear himself notices that he is a nobody now, and he cannot define himself since he has lost everything, including his daughter and his loyal servant Kent. Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan got everything they wanted from their father, and now they want to take his one hundred knights to make Lear completely powerless. Lear begins his retirement with him keeping one hundred knights and his title and wants to live with one of his daughters for one month. Lear’s knights are the only thing he has left and that is his only pride other than his title. His daughters demand Lear to get rid of his knights in order to stay. Lear lost his knights and losing his knights represents taking…
Both characters suffered from a psychological blindness. Lear were unable to see his two daughters deceiving him, along with being unable to see Cordelia’s true love. He also portrayed this inability to see when he banished his loyal follower, Kent. When he was unable to realize that it was Kent in disguise as his servant, it only reinforces the theme. The consequences of his condition were that “tragedy id inevitable”, his blindness did not allow for him “to recognize the errors of his decisions” this is the direct cause for the kingdom being “torn apart” (Pappril 3). Gloucester also was seriously affected by this blindness. This caused him to not be able to see the true and honorable man that Edgar was, and not see the truly evil person that Edmund was. A part of these two heroes’ journeys was Lear and Gloucester’s ability to overcome this blindness, and regain a true sense for the moral flaws of themselves. Luckily, they began to see the true qualities of the people that they once trusted, or the people that they once rejected. Lear’s “eyesight” began to recover as the play progressed. He began to see the true colors of Goneril and Regan after they refused to let him live with them and locked them out of his castle during the perilous storm. He was faced with the fact that their eulogies that were given at the beginning of the play were nothing but lies to benefit their own selfish causes. Most importantly, Lear was gaining the aptitude to get passed Cordelia’s inability to adulate her father and see that her love truly was so vast that it was indefinable. Lear is able to overcome his haughtiness and results in him begging for forgiveness from Cordelia. Gloucester’s sight begins to make a reappearance in Act IV when he realizes that Edgar was Poor Tom and it was his son who saved his life. He then comprehends that Edmund was completely dishonest and that it…
Dementia can be said as a form of blindness. It causes King Lear to be blind to the truth around him. He only focused on the nice things and the things he wanted to hear and whomever who dared go against it suffered the consequences of his wrath. Cordelia who refused to flatter him with beautiful lies was disowned by Lear and Kent whom dared speak against Lear advising him about his decision was banished from the country. Lear blinded by dementia gave his kingdom away to his two selfish daughters and asked for only the title as the King and the 150 followers as a show of power. Regan and Goneril not wanting to upset Lear quickly agreed with the decision.…
Goneril and Regan tell Lear exactly what he wants to hear; that they both love him more than anything, even their husbands. Lear seems to be entertained by the fact that each daughter is competing against one another for his love and trust. It is for this reason, when, unlike her sisters, Cordelia finds it hard to lie and Lear acts in the way that he does. "Let it be so! Thy truth then be they dower!... Here I disclaim all my paternal care... And, as a stranger to my heart and me Hold thee from this forever... Be as well neighbored, pitied, and relieved As thou my sometime daughter" (1.1.108-119) Lear's anger-ridden speech does not hide his frustration, and it is obvious that this will have a negative impact later in the play. Driven by his blindness, Lear begins to make many mistakes. He not only loses his devoted daughter; but also banishes his most loyal servant,…
An indicator that people are beginning to realize King Lear is getting worse is when his knights leave his side. The Fool explains to Kent that the majority of knights have realized King Lear’s leadership and power is coming to an end; “There’s / no laboring i ' th ' winter. All that follow their noses are led / by their eyes but blind men, and there’s not a nose / among twenty but can smell him that’s stinking” (II.iv.60-62). Lear than has an encounter with Reagan who wishes him gone back to Goneril, this upsets King Lear. This is where King Lear begins to realize he made a mistake by vanishing his beloved Cordelia, according to Anthony Daniels in “Diagnosing Lear”. Lear is aware that his behavior has been unusual, but he believes this is due to his old age. The stress being caused by his daughters, Reagan’s and Goneril’s, as well as their abusive behavior towards Lear can be said to be a reason as to why Lear’s disease got worse so quickly…
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true”(Kierkegaard). Blindness in King Lear is seen as a mental flaw rather than a physical flaw it can be associated with madness that blocks your inability to see things clearly. In the play a handful of characters were blinded by the truth. Albany was blinded by his love for Goneril. Lear was blinded by his love for his daughters and couldn’t see past their lies. Gloucester and Edgar were blinded by Edmunds trickery.…
Although tormented by the fact that even when he was important and had value he held nothing, he was also confronted with the physical issues his selfishness had caused other people, like his Fool who followed him into the storm, and Kent his loyal servant who had been exiled, or even his entire kingdom whom he hadn’t taken care of properly. After this realization, Lear’s perspective of the word “nothing” changed. While Lear had to lose everything to really understand what it meant to have nothing, Kent and Cordelia demonstrated that the true value of their loyalty remained in their actions not their words. What makes this a tragedy aside from death and Lear’s hamartia, is the Kings’ inevitable full turn of the wheel. Once he realized where he had gone wrong, there was no way to stop what came next. However, in the end it did not mattered for Lear learned the true meaning of love and what it meant to have something. He might have had it all and lost it, but when Cordelia forgave him and saw her once again, he wished for nothing more, because he had realized her love did not belong to her tongue but her heart, one that despite his ignorance, forgave him, brought him peace and wisdom.…
Sometimes the blind can "see" more than the sighted. During a scary movie or a horrific event, people may cover their eyes, choosing not to see the truth. As human beings, we often become entrenched in the material world, becoming oblivious to and unable to see the most apparent truths. Oedipus, the main character in Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex, could not see the truth, but the blind man, Teiresias, "saw" it plainly. Sophocles uses blindness as a motif in the play Oedipus Rex. Oedipus, known for his intelligence, is ignorant and therefore blind to the truth about himself and his past. Yet, when Teiresias exposes the truth he is shunned. It is left to Oedipus to overcome his "blindness," realize the truth, and accept fate.…
Lear makes a second mistake when he casts out the two people who truly care for him: Cordelia and Kent. Cordelia’s honesty enrages the king. He completely disowns her, stating that he loved her the most but she does not love him at all. When Kent tries to intervene and show him that Cordelia truly does love him, Lear ignores his words and tells him to be silent. Kent, knowing how wrong Lear is, still attempts to inform the king of…
William Shakespeare is one of the most successful and well-known playwrights in the world. His plays even though from a way back in the past have still survived today and are still held in very high esteem. The context of William Shakespeare’s King Lear proposes many differences from our world today.…
He’s been left out in the storm with nowhere to go and is begging to go mad. After being kicked out of his kingdom Lear has a realization that he was ignorant and unaware of what was going on around him. King Lear was blind to Kent’s real intentions and what Kent was really trying to show Lear. Kent begins by saying:…
Throughout the novel, many of the characters can be pointed out as crazy and disillusioned .As different characters are seen to be talking to themselves and show various sides of their characters, I chose King Lear as one who reveals to me the most surprising and unexpected in the scenes through soliloquies and monologues.…
In the book Macbeth, Duncan may have arguably had one of the more obvious blindness’. It is easy to support the fact that Duncan had blind trust in Macbeth’s character, because he truly believed that Macbeth’s inner thoughts and personality were expressed fully through his outer actions. Since Macbeth appeared loyal, by slaying Macdonwell Duncan believed he was honourable and loyal, Macbeth single handily stopped the rebellion led by the former Thane against Duncan, which caused him to rethink his choice of Thane, and re-assign the title to Macbeth. The play reads, “No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive / Our bosom interest: go, pronounce his death/ And with his former title greet Macbeth.” (Act I, ii, 73-75) These lines in the play express…