King Lear: Seeing Clearly

1076 Words5 Pages
1956 AP English Charters – 1st Period “King Lear: Seeing clearly” In King Lear, there are many similarities in the characters of King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester. Both characters struggle in many of the same ways, Lear’s daughters Regan and Goneril want to betray him, in the same way Gloucester’s illegitimate son Edmond wants to do to him, which leads Lear and Gloucester into exile. I plan to explore the many parallels that exist between the two characters. Shakespeare shows a parallel between two themes, blindness and madness. The two characters who suffer the most in the play are Lear and Gloucester. While Lear slowly goes mad, Gloucester in blinded but remains sane. Both seem to be able to receive things more clearly after they lose their power. Lear realizes only as he begins to go mad that Cordelia really loved him while Goneril and Regan were nothing but flatterers. He comes to understand the weakness of human nature at the same time when Gloucester comes to understand which son is really good and which one is bad at the very moment of his blinding. Gloucester’s physical blindness symbolizes the metaphorical blindness that affects both Gloucester and King Lear. The parallels between the two men are made very clear to the audience: both are blind to the truth, both have loyal and disloyal children and both end up banishing the loyal children while making the wicked ones their heirs. Only when Gloucester has lost his sight and Lear has gone mad does each realize the errors they’ve made and who should be held accountable. Betrayal rears its ugly head in more ways than one in a tale about two men blinded by false acts of love. King Lear wanted to divide the kingdom among his three daughters. He planned to give up the responsibilities of government and spend his old age visiting his children. He then commanded his daughters to say which of them loved

More about King Lear: Seeing Clearly

Open Document