Preview

What Is The Loss Of Reason In King Lear

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
504 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The Loss Of Reason In King Lear
1. In the play King Lear we see that Gloucester lost his eyes but gained his “sight,” physically he lost his eyes but in reality her finally understand what is true and false in his world. In the beginning of King Lear Gloucester is in love with his sons and adores Edgar over Edmund, until Edmund frames Edgar into betraying his father, this is the first incident where Gloucester is blinded by what is really in front of him. In the famous song, “Amazing Grace” we sing, “was blind but now we see,” this can be related to Gloucester because he had a moment in the end of the play where he realizes what is right, but the truth kills him. With help from his son Edgar AKA Poor Tom Gloucester understands who is a true character and the people he can trust, eventually he understands that his bastard son is wrongfully framing Edgar and Edmund is the one he should be punishing. …show more content…
I think that the only way Gloucester really could have gained his sight, is by some sort of moment in his life where there was a realization that something was wrong. After he physically lost his eyes there was a span of time where he was right in the middle of having sight and understanding sight; for the duration of this time he attempted to commit suicide, but with the help of his son, Edgar, he didn’t, he felt as if he had committed suicide and went through with it but in the end he gained the feelings he wanted to gain from suicide. When Gloucester finally gained this new “sight” everything started moving so fast, with the realization of who is honest and real son is, Edgar claims that the shock kills him. I think if Gloucester was alive longer than he was, he’d enjoy to know that his biological son loved him for him, and that he no longer needed to worry about Edmund stealing the power because Edgar is more intelligent than everyone

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Loyalty doesn't run in Edmund's blood. In Act 3 scene 3 Gloucester believes by telling Edmund he's been helping Lear is a good thing. The things he doesn't know is that Edmund is a "snake" and will tell Cornwall this information. The audience knows that Edmund is a "snake" but Gloucester is blind in the mind. When an opportunity is there for Edmund he grab this opportunity and betrayed his…

    • 71 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through ‘The Tragedy of King Lear’, Shakespeare represents a distinctive voice in which influences the way we perceive the role of power play in our world as it broadens our understanding of the universality and complexity of power play. Compared with the 21st century film ‘Brassed Off’, we are presented with an insight into the various means of attaining power and its ability to uncover the true nature of people within their struggle for supremacy and control. Shakespeare presents 'The Tragedy of King Lear' as the struggle for power and the political and filial machinations that the desire for power can create. Shakespeare focuses the distinctive voice around the central character King Lear who represents a conceited oppressor whose fall from power prompts the downfall of the Kingdom that he once controlled. The main cause of his demise is his failure to understand and possess a clear vision of the people around him. In Lear's eyes, he sees his eldest daughter Goneril’s facade to be a loyal and true expression, 'Sir I love you more than word can wield the matter/Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty', although Lear's inability to see the truth results in his manipulation and the banishing of his loyal acquaintances; his youngest daughter Cordelia and his dear friend Kent. Although Lear can physically see, it is the understanding, awareness and direction that he lacks and is blind to. In contrast to Lear being physically capable of seeing, Gloucester becomes physically blind but gains the form of vision that Lear lacks, and consequently Gloucester evades a corollary comparable to Lear's. Here Shakespeare presents his distinctive voice on power play through the depiction of the manipulation and motivation behind the characters struggle for sovereignty. His clever use of his characters and their relationships allows us to gain an insight into the condition of the human psyche throughout their individual attempts at power and highlights the complexities associated…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Lear Essay

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Edgar saves Gloucester’s life and gives him hope to live. When Gloucester wants to commit suicide, Edgar leads him to what Gloucester believes is the edge of a cliff. Edgar’s response to Gloucester after he asks if he has fallen makes Gloucester believe he is saved from falling by some divine power: “From the dread summit of this chalky bourn … Therefore, thou happy father, think that the clearest gods, who make them honors of men’s impossibilities, have preserved thee” (IV.vi.71, 89-92). Edgar’s actions seem mad and cruel at first, but are then proven helpful for his father by making Gloucester believe he is pushed to attempt suicide by a fiend inside of him that failed by the hands of the gods: “That thing you speak of, I took it for a man. Often ‘twould say ‘the fiend, the fiend!’ He led me to that place” (IV.vi.95-97). Gloucester believes Edgar when he says that “some fiend … parted from [him]” (IV.vi.89,84) so he claims to have heard the fiend telling him to kill himself, therefore convincing himself that he wants to live on. Because Gloucester believes he actually attempted suicide and was saved, he has found a reason to live in that if the gods wish him alive, then surely there must be a valid reason for him to live on. In addition to some divine power wanting him to live, he also justifies living on by convincing himself that he only attempted suicide in the first place because he was pushed to do so by some evil creature with “a thousand noses…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During Edmund’s rise to power, Edgar is forced into hiding, and his father is branded a traitor. Gloucester’s eyes are put out when he is caught by Regan and Cornwall, and dies later in the play, knowing what Edmund has done. It is Edmund who orders the death of Cordelia, Lear’s youngest daughter, and Lear. It is also because of him that Goneril and Regan are both dead, due to his promise of marriage to both of them causes them to fight over him, and ends up with Regan being poisoned, and Goneril committing suicide. Edmund’s power is short-lived, as he is defeated by Edgar shortly after taking the power for himself. Edmund realizes that what he has done is wrong, saying, “I pant for life. Some good I mean to do, / Despite of mine own nature” (5.3.280–81). In saying this, Edmund recognizes that the end results did not justify his actions, and that he wishes to repent for his wrongdoings. This is another example of how Albany’s quote comes into play, as when Edmund is “striving to better,” and become better than his brother, he made what was fine before into a tragedy.…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    King Lear Play vs. Movie

    • 1862 Words
    • 8 Pages

    When Kent and Gloucester enter, Kent asks if Edmund is Gloucester’s son, Gloucester responds affirmatively, however he mentions that Edmund is only his illegitimate son. Gloucester tone here is a cold and distant. This illustrates…

    • 1862 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Lear Research Paper

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gloucester follows his heart and sneaks out of his castle to find the insane Lear and lead him to safety. Once Regan and Cornwall receive information concerning Gloucester's actions, they capture him upon his return to the castle and torture him. Regan curses him as she plucks out tufts of his beard, and Gloucester is virtually taken prisoner in his own house. As he screams in agony, Cornwall plucks out Gloucester's eyes, as Regan coaxes on the evil that is taking place. This fails to show any justice, and seeing what befalls Gloucester because of his righteous actions is not very encouraging for any other characters to do the "right thing" in a similar…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play King Lear, both Lear and Gloucester come to realise the mistakes they have made after faced with adversity.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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…

    • 2231 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Lear Slideshow

    • 417 Words
    • 3 Pages

    These unfortunate events happened because Gloucester distrusted his son. Edgar’s loyalty is showd when he guides his Edmund Betrays Gloucester “This courtesy, forbid thee, shall the Duke instantly know, and of the letter too. This seems a fair deserving, and must draw me that which my father loses - no less than all. The younger rises when the old doth fall.”…

    • 417 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deception In King Lear

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Emotions can severely influence ones' behavior, choices, and perception. Giving lead to dismissing your most humble, honorable servant, loved one, or true friend. King Lear doesn't learn this until he has been defeated both physically, and mentally, losing everything that was true and upright to him Kent and Cordelia. Gloucester loses both his eyes when he comes to the revelation about Edmund, and that Edmunds plot that played out so easily because of his emotions worked him into a blind and rash decision about a supposed…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lear and Gloucester are similar because they both had a high status. Gloucester is a duke and Lear is a king. They both had a long beard, the beard could symbolize the significance of intelligent or the age is getting older. They both had a bad son or daughter caused them has nothing. Gloucester lost power and his mind because Edmund frames Edgar, this effected he can believe in nobody .Lear lost his power, Cordelia and Kent. Lear believes in Cordelia 's siblings lies even he didn't need that hundred soldiers, so there are no one besides him…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Lear Essay

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Secondly, the God’s cruelty was thrust upon many people as they begged for justice. Lear asks “show the heavens more just” (III.iv.39) as he considers the nakedness and poverty in which “Poor Tom” lives. Lear does not understand why the God’s continue to allow his own daughters to treat him as horridly as they do, much the same as why they continue to leave Edgar (Poor Tom) naked and in poverty in the streets. As well, when Gloucester tries to commit suicide, Edgar convinces him that, while Gloucester sees it as an injustice, the God’s not allowing…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gloucester, much like King Lear, misjudges his children and chooses to side with the one who is least loyal. Before he became part of King Lear 's court, Gloucester was an adulterer and conceived a son, Edmund, out of wedlock. Edmund is so angry about his illegitimate status that he becomes bitter and plots against his brother by making it look as though Edgar tries to kill him and their father. Edmund obviously longs for a higher status in the kingdom because of how people of a higher hierarchy are viewed. The irony of this is that Shakespeare writes this theme into the play as it mimics real life. "Distinctions within the aristocracy and, more importantly, between aristocrats and commoners are enforced, both on stage and in public, through performance" (Spotswood, 265). Edgar is forced to leave the kingdom so that he is not killed. But the division of this family does not stop Edgar from staying loyal to his father. Through the years, he disguises himself so he can keep in touch with his father. "In their disguises, their imaginations, and their degraded condition, they reflect the sufferings of the weakest in their society" (Selden 145). Edgar stays by his fathers…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar And Cordelia

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The tragedy of King Lear shows many parallels between characters within the plot. This is evident especially of Cordelia and Edgar. Though dissimilar in character, throughout the play Cordelia and Edgars lives mirror each others. Cordelia and Edgar are both treated unjustly by their fathers, they both naively create their own fate, however the outcome of their actions and perspective differs greatly. Cordelia and Edgar both follow a similar fate by being treated unjustly by their fathers.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The storm that Lear describes is not entirely literal, it represents the tests and the tragedies that he endured. Shakespeare makes it clear that, even though the tests drove him deeper into madness, they opened his eyes each time and started his path back towards sanity. Lear doesn’t stop here; rather, he moves to a digression about justice. Lear delves into an intellectual conversation, saying, “Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, // and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks. // Arm it in rags, a pygmy’s straw does pierce it.”(4.6.181) In this quote, Lear is saying that money can cover up injustice to the point where it is unreacheable, but without money justice is easily served. In this final scene with Lear, Shakespeare…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays