2016: I have no way and therefore want no eyes. I stumbled when I saw, Gloucester.

How does King

Lear explore the notions of sight and blindness?

To have sight, allows people like you and me to fall to deceitfulness and lies. The ability of sight can
actually be a burden as to witness the reality of things may not need actual eyes but to open the
eyes with a different perspective. It is in King Lear where there can be times where the eye cannot
see the reality but instead the blindness that can see the truth. This allows the readers to have a
different perspective on not just on the reality of things but the truth of good and evil in its natural
sense.

In King Lear, blindness can give you the sight to distinguish between both reality and illusions. As
Gloucester becomes blind from the sister Regan he says to Edgar “That slaves your ordinance that
will not see because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly” With this Gloucester while blind sees
the truth with his blind eyes as he sees with a different perspective and he can see through the
people who lies, with this it is parallel with King Lear but instead of Lear losing eyes he loses his
mind. With his errors of banishing Cordelia and Kent’s claims of “See better, Lear" illustrating the
blindness that Lear has and the correspondence with Gloucester as they take the same path of
blindness of the evil within and then the point of anagnorisis. The reality and the illusions that are in
the play come forth from the source being good and evil where the reality being the evil within and
the illusions being the faked innocents.

Another point is that where the notion of sight can sometimes blind the true loyalty in people.
Loyalty is an important ideal as Kent is loyal to Lear even after banishment and even after Lear loses
his mind. Kent’s dedication to Lear is tremendous and goes to the very extent “So may it come thy
master, whom thou lov'st, Shall find thee full of labours” where the strong emotive language
illustrates the Kent’s extreme loyalty to Lear which almost gets him killed by Goneril and Regan.
Lear’s Blindness creates his own demise through the satirical irony of “The true blank thine eye”
where Kent askes Lear to have a better judgement between the good and evil daughters, however
Lear doesn’t believe Kent until the point of realisation. At this point not only gives his away his
Kingdom, Daughter and wealth but also sanity and his title as King where the daughters Goneril and
Regan can stomp over his head as Lear is only a “Old Senile Man”. The utilisation of the words old
and senile creates an impactful emphasis on the blindness that Lear has a king and has truly turn
into one. For the readers, it illustrates the loyalty in people are strong and that the needing of
looking at a different perspective to be able to look at it.

The main thematic drive of the play is the Injustice that is created by the blindness of Lear
illustrating that the metaphorical blindness is inherently human. The injustice happens throughout
the play ranging from the banishment of Lear’s servant Kent and his favourite daughter Cordelia but
also the injustice of Gloucester’s eyes removal where he treason for helping King Lear. In this King
Lear acts blindly and irrational allowing the fool mock him over him being easily manipulated and
foolish acts, illustrated by the description of King Lear by the fool as being “As foolish as the man in
the story who carries his donkey on his back instead of letting the donkey carry him”. This Mirrored
syntax emphasize the inherent blindness that Lear has. This is further evident where Lear during the
storm scene where he loses his mind yells at the storm being “a man more sinned against than
sinning” where through the use of the mirrored syntax instead Lear acts as the fool of the play of his
ingrained blindness for the truth. More seemingly Lear is so blind that the fool can mock Lear as Lear
was blind and deaf, the fool always speaks the truth to Lear, about the decisions and the judgements
that Lear make as a king and as a fool. This allows the reader to witness the true extent of blindness
as the notion of it being inherently human as the easy manipulation from being blind.
Through the eloquent use of the language form and the features, Shakespeare has been able to
blend in the ideals of blindness and sight through the exploration of injustice, loyalty and the
perception on reality and illusions. It is through his ingenuity that allows the capturing of the
inherently human blindness that shape the perception on the society as a whole, where the context
of good vs evil still lie in the modern day context allowing the King Lear as a play illustrate the
universal importance.