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Blindness And Misjudgment In King Lear

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In William Shakespeare's King Lear, the theme of blindness and insight worsens characters' ability to judge right from wrong which leads to sorrow, chaos, and tragedy. This recurring theme of blindness and misjudgment characterizes Lear and Gloucester as the blind, and they demonstrate that literal sight does not assure clear judgment of a situation. Lear’s duty as a monarch hinges on the ability to recognize the difference between good and evil, but his impairment of sight renders him unable to perform his task. “…By all the operation of the orbs from whom we do exist and cease to be; here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity, and property of blood… As thou my sometime daughter” (I, I) Soon after Kent says “See better, Lear; and let …show more content…

Gloucester's blindness and impaired judgment lead him to believe Edgar had planned to murder him and claim his kingdom. The blindness prevents Gloucester from seeing the evil in Edmund and though Edgar has never deserved to lose the trust of his father, Gloucester still believes he would attempt to kill him. Edmund took advantage of Gloucester's blindness and misjudgment to turn him against his brother, so he could claim his father's kingdom. “I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw: full oft 'tis seen, Our means secure us, and our mere defects Prove our commodities. O dear son Edgar, The food of thy abused father's wrath! Might I but live to see thee in my touch, I'ld say I had eyes again!” (IV, I) He emphasizes that he lacked correct insight and judgment when viewing those around him, all the while displaying that physical sight does not assure correct judgment and insight. Gloucester only sees the mistakes he made as he loses his physical eyesight, forcing him to realize what he has done banishing the truth of Edgar and believing the deceit of …show more content…

As Lear falls victim to his insanity, he causes the death of Cordelia as the result not believing in his only truthful and loving daughter. From Lear’s blindness, he did not believe Cordelia as she spoke truth and love. As a result of his misjudgment, he banishes Cordelia, who later returns from her banishment to see Lear, To only later die from lynching. “No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage: When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness…“ (V, III) After coming to terms with his actions Lear feels guilt as a result of him not believing the love and truth of his daughter. In addition to Lear kickstarting a tragedy, Gloucester contributed as well, and both fell to their blindness. From the result of his blindness, Gloucester believed his legitimate son, Edgar, the deceitful one. As Gloucester learns Edgar disguised himself as Poor Tom, he dies of shock off-screen. Furthermore, Gloucester succumbed to his blindness which created his own death out of his misjudgment and

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If Edmond is trying to turn the tables to his brother, I feel that Gloucester wouldn't fall for it due to his anger in Act 1 that was expressed. In this act, I noticed a detail about Kent that seems important to the stories plot. Through aspects of dialogue and actions, I feel

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A Long Walk to Water The effect of the Sudan war, spawned not only a revolution, but consequently the inspiration of Salva, one of the men who later receives the title, “The Lost Boys.” When Salva was 11 years old he was given the opportunity to attend school, and became emerged in his academics. His life was interrupted by the outbreak of the ongoing war within his country. He, along with the members of his village had to flee in order to find safety in bordering countries.

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In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the motif of eyes and sight is used to convey that while one can hide their sins from others, they can never truly deceive themselves. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will be king. As the current King, King Duncan, is thanking Macbeth for his service, Macbeth begins to conspire against him, believing this is the only way for him to become King. As he thinks, he remarks: “The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be /Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (1.4.59-60).

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For most of us, we do not seek out suffering; however, in order to grow and mature as people, suffering must become part of our lives. Shakespeare exemplifies this idea in King Lear through the characters of Gloucester and Lear. Although the forms of their suffering differ, the disconnect from reality which they experience results in the same ultimate fate, discovering their truths. For Gloucester, that ironically comes when he is blinded and is accordingly forced to take on a new viewpoint. This clearly demonstrates the idea that, “Full oft ‘tis seen, our means secure us, and our mere defects prove our commodities” (4.1.19-20).

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his mind when he notices a strange attitude of Edgar and he has pity for him. Especially, when Gloucester ask him for getting a shelter says: First let me talk with this philosopher./To Edgar. What is the cause of thunder?. (III.iv.162-163). Lear contemplates the miserable state of Edgar (disguised as Tom) whose poverty and nakedness reflect how gods are cruel and unjust to them.

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In addition, the negative connotation of “nothing” repeated several times and the breakdown of the language foreshadows a breakdown of the family. As she reasons about her answer, Cordelia also expresses her compassion towards her father through a hyperbole by stating, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth” (Lear 1.1.93-94). Justifying her response, Cordelia expresses that her love towards him cannot be properly expressed as she contrasts how he has “begot [her], fed [her], loved [her]” and in return she “obeyed [him], loved [him], and most honored [him]” to show that she loves her fathers as much as their relationship requires (Lear 1.1.99-101). Though she speaks from her heart, Lear ultimately rejects her argument, recognizing that she is not worthy of his wealth as expressed through his belittling tone. As a result, Lear blesses his kingdom upon his ungrateful, lying daughters who he believes to have loved him the most when in fact, he exiled the only daughter to have truly loved him.

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According to Shakespeare, blindness in this play reaches a meaning beyond the physical inability of the eye to see, but also is a mental flaw that affects multiple characters in the play. Gloucester suffered terrible consequences from this mental flaw. Ironically, Gloucester “stumbled” when he could physically see because although he could use his eyes, he couldn’t see the truth. When Gloucester loses his bodily capability to see, he comes to the realization that often times having something makes us spoiled and that our “defects prove our commodities.” Not having eyesight turned out to be advantageous for Gloucester and his relationship with Edgar.

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It is only an inference that Edmund would not have been happy with Edgar’s status and would then want his father’s. Edmund had to first convey his dedication to his father in order to usurp him. That is where his plan with Edgar comes into play. The reader is made aware that Gloucester has fallen for Edmund’s schemes when he is exclaims “where is the villain Edmund” (II.i, 37). Edmund, like a snake, is able to trick his father into believing that he is the ‘good’ son pinning all the blame on Edgar.

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Once he realizes his wrongdoing he calls out to the gods that they need to prosper Edgar and not Edmund. This is ironic because Gloucester realizes that he made a blind decision only when he is actually

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Throughout the play, deception is a vital element in the betrayal of both King Lear and Gloucester. For example, Shakespeare depicts Edgar’s scheme personality by saying, “A credulous father, and a brother noble— / Whose nature is so far from doing harms” (1.2. 192-193). By utilizing descriptions such as “credulous” and “noble” to describe Gloucester and Edgar, it reveals the malicious aspect of deception. Shakespeare shows the evil behind this deception by revealing Edgar wants to take advantage of the innocent for his own personal gain. In contrast, Kent’s deception is seen as, “If but as well I other accents borrow, /

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Witnessing the powerful forces of the natural world, Lear comes to understand that he, like the rest of humanity, is irrelevant in the world. This realization proves much more important than the realization of his loss of political control, as it enforces him to set up his values and become gentle and caring. With this newfound understanding of himself, Lear hopes to be able to accost the chaos in the political realm as well. King Lear is a symbol of a strong man, who has a Reason that counts, a powerful King who gives everything and gets nothing. King Lear, we may say that he lost his authority to his daughters, as a father, once he gave them

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ACT I Early on in the Shakespearean play, King Lear makes the decision to refuse giving Cordelia a portion of the kingdom and disowns her as she does not falsely amplify her love to her father the way her sisters had. The decision is rash and even Lear’s servant Kent tries to tell Lear that he is not thinking on this decision clearly. Lear stubbornly keeps his word even though he admitted that Cordelia was his favorite and that he planned to spend his old age with her. The question as to why Lear did not swallow his pride despite his regret and hands the kingdom over to Cordelia’s two sisters and their husbands.

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Edmund plots against his legitimate brother Edgar and wants to get what is his “Edmund the base/ Shall top the legitimate. I grow, I prosper:/ Now gods, stand up for bastards” (Shakespeare 1.2.20-23) Another thing that should make Gloucester suspicious towards Edmund is that he planned to send him away again “He hath been out nine years and away he shall again” Although Gloucester should be aware of the envy that Edmund feels towards his brother Edgar and the hatred that he might feel towards Gloucester himself he doesn’t see these feelings as a possibility and trusts Edmund when he presents the letter which he claims is from Edgar and in which he supposedly conspires against his own father. This is a foreshadowing about the physical blindness that shall befall Gloucester later in the Play, because he couldn’t tell which of his sons he could trust and because he was blind towards the greed and envy of Edmund.

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Since self-centeredness did not know how to see true affection, he could not listen to the advice of those who only wanted good for him. He had to be deconstructed, to have storms and treacheries, to have his kingdom crushed, to become human, but it was too late. The critical justification is among nature and culture. The two are regularly rallying, and that implementation has a place in which the two meet and relate and is thus the ideal condition in which to investigate the interchange among nature and culture. If supposedly Cordelia was mute or deaf then how would have King Lear known as to how much Cordelia loved him?

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It is a striking event how he treats his alleged favourite daughter and how easily he believes the lies he is being fed. Despite this, his quote holds a certain truth to it. As Lear has sinned against Cordelia, his other two daughters have sinned against him. He is right in his words for the reason that, although he was unjust and treated Cordelia disrespectfully, he did it because he felt betrayed.

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