King Lear & # 8211 ; Blindness Essay, Research Paper

In Shakespeare & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; King Lear & # 8221 ; the issue of sight against sightlessness is a repeating subject. In Shakespearian footings, being blind does non mention to the physical inability to see. Blindness is here a mental defect some characters posses, and vision is non derived entirely from physical sight.

King Lear and Gloucester are the two premier illustrations Shakespeare incorporates this subject into. Each of these characters & # 8217 ; deficiency of vision was the primary cause of the unfortunate determinations they made, determinations that they would finally come to repent.

The blindest of all was doubtless King Lear. Because of his high place in society he is supposed to be able to separate good from bad: unluckily, his deficiency of penetration prevented him to make so.

However, his & # 8220 ; vision & # 8221 ; is clouded by his deficiency of penetration. Since he can non see into other people & # 8217 ; s characters, he can ne’er place them for who they genuinely are. When Lear is

angered by Cordelia, Kent tries to ground with Lear, who is excessively obstinate to stay open-minded. Lear responds to Kent & # 8217 ; s resistance with, & # 8220 ; Out of my sight! & # 8221 ; to which Kent responds:

& # 8220 ; See better, Lear,

and allow me still remain & # 8221 ;

( Act I, Sc I, l. 160 ) .

Kent, one time banished, creates a camouflage for himself and is finally hired by Lear as a retainer. The male monarch & # 8217 ; s vision is so superficial that he is easy deceived by Kent & # 8217 ; s changed visual aspect. He can ne’er see his sure retainer for whom he truly is. He merely learns of Kent & # 8217 ; s baronial and honorable character merely prior to his decease, when his vision is cleared. By this clip, nevertheless, it is excessively late for an honest relationship to be salvaged.

Lear & # 8217 ; s vision is besides blurred by his deficiency of way in life, and his hapless ability to foretell the result of his actions. This, in add-on to his deficiency of penetration into other people, reprobate his relationship with his most darling girl, Cordelia. When Lear asks his girls who loves him most, he already thinks that Cordelia has the most love for him. However, when Cordelia says:

& # 8220 ; I love your Stateliness

Harmonizing to my bond, no more nor less

( Act I, Sc. I, ln. 94-95 )

Lear can non see what these words truly intend. Goneril and Regan are merely seting on an act. Their love for their male parent is non every bit great as they say. Cordelia & # 8217 ; s words show that she has seen her sisters & # 8217 ; facade, and she does non desire to tie in her true love with their false love. Lear, nevertheless, is fooled by Goneril and Regan into believing that they love him and Cordelia does non. Kent, who has sufficient penetration, is able to see through the duologue and knows that Cordelia is the lone girl who really loves Lear. He tries to convert Lear of this, stating

& # 8220 ; Answer my life my judgement,

Thy youngest girl does non love thee least & # 8221 ;

( Act I, Sc I, ln. 153-154 ) .

Lear, nevertheless, merely sees what is on the surface, and can non understand the deeper purposes of his girls & # 8217 ; addresss. As his choler grows from the statement, his foresight diminishes and he becomes progressively rash and shockable. When Lear disowns Cordelia and banishes her from his land he says

& # 8220 ; ? we

Have no such girl, nor shall of all time see

That face of hers once more & # 8221 ;

( Act I, scene I, lines 264-266 )

Ironically, he subsequently discovers that Cordelia is the lone girl he wants to see, inquiring her to & # 8220 ; forget and forgive & # 8221 ; ( Act IV, scene VII, line 85 ) . By this clip, he has eventually started to derive some way, and his sight is cleared. But it is excessively late. His deficiency of foreknowledge had condemned him from the beginning, and really cost him his and his girl & # 8217 ; s life.

In Lear & # 8217 ; s character one sees that physical sight does non necessary warrant clear sight. Gloucester nevertheless shows that physical sightlessness does non convey approximately deficiency of penetration into other people & # 8217 ; s purposes.

Prior to the loss of his eyes, Gloucester & # 8217 ; s vision was really much like Lear & # 8217 ; s. He was unable to see what was traveling on around him. Alternatively, he merely saw what was presented to him on the surface. His sightlessness denies him the ability to see the goodness of Edgar and the immorality of Edmund. Although Edgar was the good and loving boy,

Gloucester all but disowned him. He was ready to kill the boy who would subsequently salvage his life. Gloucester’s sightlessness begins when Edmund convinces him by agencies of a bad missive that Edgar was plotting to kill him. When Edmund shows him the missive that is purportedly from Edgar, it takes really small convincing for Gloucester to believe it. Equally shortly as Edmund references that Edgar could be plotting against him, Gloucester calls him an “Abhorred scoundrel, unnatural, detested, beastly villain” ( Act I, Sc. II, ln 81-82 ) . He does non even halt to see whether Edgar would make such a thing because he can non see into Edgar’s character. The thought of Edmund being after the earldom ne’er occurs to him. At this point, Gloucester’s life is headed down a way of damnation similar to Lear’s because of a similar deficiency of sight.

Near the terminal of the drama, Gloucester eventually regained his sight and realized that Edgar saved his life disguised as Poor Tom and loved him all along. He realized that Edmund planned to take over the earldom and that he was the evil boy of the two. Gloucester & # 8217 ; s celebrated line: & # 8220 ; I stumbled when I saw & # 8221 ; ( Act IV, Sc I, Ln 20-21 ) is dry. His inability to see the worlds of his boies occurred when he had his physical sight but was mentally unsighted ; but his ability to see the true nature of his boies occurred after holding his eyes plucked out by the Duke of Cornwall. Fortunately, the effects of Gloucester & # 8217 ; s sightlessness throughout the drama was minimum, after all, he was the lone one to decease as a consequence of his tragic defect.

From this point onwards, Gloucester learns to see clearly by utilizing his bosom to see alternatively of his eyes. It is apparent that he realizes this when he says:

& # 8221 ; I have no manner and hence want no eyes ;

I stumbled when I saw. Full oft & # 8217 ; Ti seen,

Our agencies secure us, and our mere defects

Prove our commodities. & # 8221 ;

( Act IV, Sc I, ln 18-21 )

In this, he is stating that he has no demand for eyes because when he had them, he could non see clearly. He realizes that when he had eyes, he was confident that he could see, while in world, he could non see until he was physically unsighted. Afterwards, he sees with his head alternatively of his eyes.

Gloucester & # 8217 ; s vision can be contrasted with that of Lear. While Lear has the physical sight that Gloucester lost, Gloucester has the clearer vision that Lear will ne’er derive. When Lear and Gloucester meet near the drops of Dover, Lear inquiries Gloucester & # 8217 ; s province:

& # 8220 ; No eyes in your

caput, nor no money in your bag? Your eyes are

in a heavy instance, your bag in a visible radiation, yet you

see how this universe goes.

Gloucester. I see it feelingly. & # 8221 ;

( Act IV, sc.VI, ln 147-151 )

Here, Lear can non associate to Gloucester because his vision is non clear, and he wonders how Gloucester can see without eyes. Although Lear has seen his errors, he still believes that sight comes merely from the eyes. Gloucester tells him that sight comes from within. Vision is the consequence of the head, bosom, and emotions put together, non merely physical sight. This is a construct that Lear will ne’er understand.

In King Lear, clear vision is an attribute portrayed by the chief characters of the two parallel secret plans. While Lear portrays a deficiency of vision, Gloucester learns that clear vision does non emanate from the oculus. Throughout this drama, Shakespeare is stating that the universe can non genuinely be seen with the oculus, but with the bosom. The physical universe that the oculus can observe can consequently conceal its immoralities with physical properties, and therefore clear vision can non ensue from the oculus entirely. Lear & # 8217 ; s ruin was a consequence of his failure to understand that visual aspect does non ever represent world. Gloucester avoided a similar death by larning the relationship between visual aspect and world. Had Lear learned to look with more than merely his eyes, he might hold avoided this calamity.

Bibliographies:

Bradley, A.C. & # 8220 ; Shakespearean Tragedy & # 8221 ; , London, 1960

Brooke, N. & # 8220 ; Shakespeare: King Lear & # 8221 ; , London, 1969

Heilmann, R & # 8220 ; This Great Stage & # 8221 ; , Washington, 1960

Shakespeare, W. & # 8220 ; King Lear & # 8221 ; , London, 1994

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL BLINDNESS IN

& # 8220 ; KING LEAR & # 8221 ;

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