Examples Of Blindness In King Lear

King Lear and Blindness In William Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear, Shakespeare takes the family feud to its most extreme case: patriarchs lose everything, their children earn quick riches but perish due to greed and lust, and the hearts of good friends are broken. Curiously, Shakespeare does not indicate that the Machiavellian villains pulling the strings are responsible for the play’s cruel outcome. Rather, he believes some characters’ personal flaws are ultimately to blame. The central focus on people’s inability to see their own flaws in the plot of King Lear enhances the meaning of the playwright because it outlines the character arc of these mentally blind people, notably Lear and Gloucester, and enhances the central theme about actions

When Lear makes the mistake of giving his kingdom up to his daughters, he wants to keep the perks of being king without accepting the responsibilities. For example, Lear loves to be flattered. He gave up his kingdom to Goneril and Regan instead of Cordelia because he values flattery highly. He also instantly hires Caius as a servant when he trips the unlikable Oswald. In giving up his kingdom, Lear wants to continually be flattered without being responsible for the kingdom. Lear and his knights embody his view of kingly power very well. Lear says that when Goneril and Reagan became his “guardians” and “depositaries”, they also “kept a reservation to be followed with such a number [of knights]” (II.4.242-244). However, as the Fool and Regan and Goneril tell him, Lear has no power to keep his knights because he is no longer king. Therefore, Lear is convinced that his exiliation from his family is entirely due to Regan and Goneril’s depravity. In reality, the family feud is the vehicle that brings Lear’s misconceptions of power to

As the end draws near, Lear and Gloucester both are increasingly aware of their own flaws, but they both die because they are so ashamed of the reality. At first, when the gravity of their mistakes hit them, they both try and shield themselves from it: Lear through his insanity, Gloucester though his suicidal thoughts. However, with guidance from Cordelia for Lear and Edgar for Gloucester, both characters start to realize their situation. Despite Cordelia’s efforts to feed into Lear’s affinity for being king, Lear concedes that he is “a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less. And to deal plainly [he fears he is] not in [his] perfect mind” (IV.7.58-61). With Edgar’s guidance, Gloucester says he will “bear affliction till it do cry out itself ‘Enough, enough,’ and die” (IV.6.76-78), but he still hopes that the gods will kill him even if he will not commit suicide. During Lear and Gloucester’s recovery, they both become more appreciative of the family they helped tear apart in the beginning. However, Lear and Gloucester cannot handle the truth of how their flaws hurt their family. In Gloucester’s case, Edgar finally revealed himself, and, as Edgar recounts it, Gloucester’s heart was “too weak the conflict to support–’twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief”