Power And Wealth In King Lear

In the Elizabethan times, power and wealth were two important desires that people sought to have. Respect was demanded by the wealthy and the powerful as they were at the top of the hierarchy. All of these elements blinded people to apprehend the truth and were satisfied with what they saw to make decisions. In the play “King Lear” written by William Shakespeare, power-driven characters are blinded by their inability to distinguish sight and insight, which leads them to making the wrong choices, building up on the conflict of the play. For example, characters such as The duke of Burgundy, King Lear and Gloucester make terrible decisions throughout the whole play as their egotistical and power-thirsty personalities don’t let them see the true

King Lear is so blinded by power and by his ego, he exiles Kent, a loyal character whilst attempting to help him see the truth. When Kent suggests “See better, Lear, and let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye”, saying he should be used as a tool to see things with accuracy and truth. Lear’s aggressive response is to call him a “miscreant” in a defensive and angry tone, and exile him. Lear’s reaction to Kent’s attempt of helping him is to insult him and call him an unbeliever creating an atmosphere of tension. This demonstrates to the audience how Lear is so blinded by what he sees he even rejects honest advice from a loyal character,

This is illustrated when he tells Cordelia “You have lost a father/ That you must lose a husband.” The parallelism is used by Shakespeare to highlight the resemblance between the two power-driven characters, not only in interests but in how they make their choices, with sight. However, on the other hand the King of France decides to appreciate Cordelia for who she is. He is one of the few characters that can appreciate behind what it is seen. He then refers to Burgundy and King Lear saying “that art most rich being poor, most choice forsaken, and most loved despised, Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon.” The paradox between “rich” and “poor” emphasizes that he is available to appreciate the insight of situations. The contrast between these two decisions made by Burgundy, who thrives for power and wealth and the King of France, highlights the theme of sight and insight, as the power-driven character makes the wrong