Blindness in King Lear
“Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind” (4.1.46-47). In the tragedy King Lear, blindness is a key theme that is repeatedly mentioned and represented in many different forms. Throughout the novel, blindness is most often developed in the forms of mental and physical blindness. For King Lear and Gloucester specifically, blindness leads them to decisions that they will later regret in the play, and Gloucester’s actual blindness is a mirror image of Lear’s spiritual blindness. King Lear’s main plot and Gloucester’s sub-plot are almost identical, and by both of them being blinded for a majority of the novel, they both come to realize the truth in what is actually ...
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her, France; let her be thine, for we / Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see / That face of hers again” (1.1.264-66). We also see Lear’s blindness when he banishes one of his loyal followers, Kent. Kent attempts to protect Cordelia from her father’s blindness, but ends up being banished for it. Later on, Kent creates a disguise for himself, and is eventually hired as a servant by Lear again. Lear’s inability to determine who Kent actually is, is a big indicator of how blind he actually is. As the play advanced, Lear began to gain his vision back and realized that Regan and Goneril were the evil ones, not Cordelia, when they locked him out of the castle during a huge storm. In the moment of this storm we not only see Lear realize that he has been blind, but he also reaches his peak point of madness.
Gloucester was another character that suffered from major blindness, a blindness that was not only mental, but physical as well. Throughout the novel, his blindness ...
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"Blindness in King Lear." Essayworld.com. February 2, 2017. Accessed May 18, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blindness-in-King-Lear/106086.
"Blindness in King Lear." Essayworld.com. February 2, 2017. Accessed May 18, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blindness-in-King-Lear/106086.
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