William Shakespeare's King Lear
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear,the issue of sight on many
levels is a recurring theme. Throughout the play Shakespeare shows
that sight does not just come from the eyes. It is shown through the
characters of Lear, Gloucester and how they compare to
each other.
Lear’s character is one that never learns what
it means to see without ones eyes. Lear’s sight is hazed because of
his lack of ability to see inside of people, he can not tell who they
really are. When Lear is angered by Cordelia, Kent tries to reason
with Lear, who is too angry and upset to have an open mind. Lear
responds to Kent’s opposition with, “Out of my sight!,” to which Kent
responds, “See better, Lear, and let me still remain” (I.i.160). Here,
Lear is banishing Kent and never wants to see him again, but Lear
never really saw Kent for who he was. Kent’s vision is not hazed like
Lear’s, and he knows that all he has to do to remain by Lear’s side is
to be in a disguise. Kent later approaches Lear, in his disguise and
Lear excepts him. This shows just how Lear could only see with his
eyes. Kent’s disguise was nothing
fancy, still Lear could not see who it was. If Kent had
really been around Lear for as long as the play implied, would Lear
not be able to tell that it is Kent purely based upon Kent’s
mannerisms? No, Lear can not see that it is Kent behind the disguise
because Lear’s sight is based solely on what his eyes sees. His eyes
saw someone new and that was all Lear needed to convince himself he
did not know who the person was. Lear only learns that Kent is a noble
and loyal person just prior to his dea...
... middle of paper ...
...)Here, Lear does not understand Gloucester because Lear
does not grasp the concept of seeing with no eyes. Even though Lear
sees his mistakes he still feels that sight comes from the eyes.
Gloucester tells him that sight is from within. Sight is a cocktail of
the mind, heart and emotion, stirred not shaken together. This is
something that Lear will never understand.In King Lear, sight is
something that is seen inboth main characters of the two plots. While
Lear showshis lack of sight,
Gloucester learns that sight does not come from the eye. Throughout
the play, Shakespeare is
saying that to see the world the way it is you must use
more then your eyes. The world hides things from the
naked eye, and therefore that is why it can be said that to look at
the world you use your eyes, to see it you use your heart.
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