Expectations and Blindness in King Lear

Shakespe ar, with his brilliant portrayal of Lears conflict with two opposing forces aesthetics and reality, continues to draw both readers and audiences with Lears many meanings and interpretations. The main character, queen regnant Lear, is the object of universal identification with his obliviousness as to who people truly be, and the discovery of truth. It is this identification that exceeds the Elizabethan period, making King Lear a duck soup for every last(predicate) times.With his world about to be shattered, Lear will realize that the world he was living in as King, is non so nice as it contrivems. King Lear is the story of how a man once obsessed with image and power(Hamilton 175) is forced to see that those around him are not who he believes they are. The end of vision and in rush, and the absence of it, is a major theme in Lear. This theme is portrayed through the characters of King Lear, Gloucester and Edgar. The lack of insight, or contrivanceness, is very sym bolic.Blindness is defined as unable to see lacking the sniff out of sight(Dictionary). For Lear, dimness was not physical it was his flaw. Lears blindness to see who a person in truth was, base on their character and personality, was obvious at the beginning of the shirk regarding Cordelia and Kent. Gloucester, on the other hand, was originally blind be curtilage he also had a flaw against seeing the truth. He is physically blinded by Cornwall, that after he gains the vision that Lear lacks.Lears understanding that vision is not only physical came too late, and is the cause of his downfall. Lear knows absolutely that he is not only a King, but the father of the family unit, the patriarchal figurehead. He believes these titles collide withs him break up than everybody else, that everyone else bows to him. Because of this, he demands high levels of public affection, that he wholly expects to receive. Lear emphasizes his expectations at the start of the play, repeatedly referr ing to temper and offices of nature(2. 4. 94-202) to which he thinks everyone must listen to because it would be unnatural to ignore them. (2. 4. 320) Lear thinks it is his right for others, especially his family, to bestow unclouded and unlimited love and devotion on him it is this belief that causes him to split the Kingdom which to the Elizabethan audience would be something only crazy people would do. Lears oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, as trained, exaggerate their tactual sensationings by proclaiming their love for their father exceeds all others, and they are rewarded for their expressions ith wealth but with the power to dictate the conditions of public life, the power to make a new commonwealth in the shell of the old, to become the new Lears. (Basney 18) Sharon Hamilton compares Baptista (The Taming of the Shrew) and Lear, explaining their behaviour In both plays, the fathers show preference to the hypocritical daughters and set down, by direct statement and im plication, the public role that they want them to play. Both Baptista and Lear flatter themselves on being good fathers, and both see as the test of their effectiveness the daughters compliance with her prescribed role.Above all, to each one man values reputation and status and eschews any word or act that reflects badly on his public image. The shallowness of their outlook is revea direct by the presence of a sister who is the. daughters temperamental opposite(Hamilton 93). Lear consequently turns to Cordelia, and knowing she loves him he demands the same thing to speak her love for him to recieve a portion of the kingdom. However, unlike her sisters, Cordelia is not going to follow her fathers expectations. Cordelia raises the issue of obligation itself in an unprotected.. way.She states the moral framework(Basney 18) of how she tusht love Lear all forever her love will be split when she is married like how her sisters should have been. Of course, Lear is outraged by the thoug ht that his expectations, that Cordelia fawn over him and flaunt her love for him publicly, will not come true. Lear then disowns Cordelia. Kent, having much insight than Lear, is able to see the honest love Cordelia has for Lear. Kent tries to prove to Lear that he is making the wrong prime(prenominal) in disowning his daughter and he is not seeing her love for him.Lear replies angrily with Out of my sight (1. 1. 179) to which Kent answers, See give, Lear, and let me still remain/ The true blank of thine eye. Lears windows to reality, Kent and Cordelia, are banished and for now, Lear alone is able to make his own decisions. Meanwhile, Gloucester is also a victim of blindness. Like Lear, Gloucester cant see which of his two sons truly love him. Edmund bad the letter that was allegedly written by his brother, saying Edgar is planning to kill Gloucester.His father sees the letter and is in a flash convinced. He was made to believe, by his blindness and some help from Edmund, tha t Edmund loved him and Edgar was the son plotting to kill him. G. Wilson gentle comments on the parallels between the main plot of Lear and Gloucesters sub-plot The Gloucester-theme is a certain indication of our vision and helps us to understand, and feel the enduring agony of Lear Now all the Lear effects are exaggerated in the Gloucester theme. (Knight 139)Unlike Lear though, Gloucester is blinded by the Duke of Cornwall from that moment on, Gloucesters vision starts clearing up. I have no way and therefore want no eyes I stumbled when I saw(4. 1. 19-20) is the climax for Gloucester as he can now see the truth. Gloucester realized he was blind to the truth and how he was more blind when he could see physically. He knows now that he doesnt need his eyes to see and understand because he can understand better in his mind, without the aesthetics, or the outward shape upance, to trick him.Eventually, Lears strong trust in his expectations eventually spirals down into terrible inst ability and madness as he figures out by the events of the play- that his expectations cant be achieved. Lears downfall caused is because of this fault of his mind, And he knows it O Lear, Lear, Lear Beat at this gate that let thy folly in, And thy dear judgement out. (1. 4. 287) Lear now sees his daughters as aspects of his self, now tainted(Hamilton 118). The insanity he goes through is the punishment for his blindness.Lear was once a verify of nature itself, as he believed, as a God he realizes that he is slave to nature in the form of weather. The arduous, painful power of the storm drowns him, in desperate fallacy, and creates a strong nostalgia and the extreme lust for affection. Lear sees how this world goes like blinded Gloucester, sees it feelingly. (4. 6. 162-4) The blinding of Gloucester was an exaggeration of cruelty, the same horrible cruelty that led Lear to madness. Lear and Gloucester gain sympathy from the audience, adding to the heaviness of the tragedys ending.E dgar and Cordelia are the rays of hope in Lear, because even after their fathers have wronged them because of their blindness, the children reaping to their fathers and put all their efforts into comforting and restoring them. (Hamilton 174) The irony of Lear and Gloucesters blindness is made even more sad because Kent, Cordelia and the frivol away are aware of their ignorance. These three characters can tell what is going on, but they cannot do anything to fix it. Lear is blind to Cordelias honest love for her father, instead embracing Goneril and Regans expected proclamations of, what really is false love.As Lear goes mad, he finally sees what he has done by placing roles on those around him, and sees the roles his daughters play, that he created, are not who Regan and Goneril truly are. Yet as soon as he realizes his mistake, shredding his blindness, insanity moves in. The Fool and Kent both remain true to Lear, always onerous to make him see what is really going on. Lear is constantly reminding us with convincing representations of obligation, faithfulness, and care, without allowing us to take the smorgasbord of comfort from them that we want. (Basney 27)What Basney means here, is that while Cordelia, the Fool and Kent show their faithfulness in Lear, while Edgar cares for his blind father, Lear and Gloucester are not aware that they have people who care for them and love them unconditionally. The audience wants Gloucester and Lear to see that the most loyal people have never left or betrayed them. However, Kent and Edgar must go underground. The disguise of goodness is the dogma of Lears new kingdom. (Basney 20) Through Cordelia, the Fool, and Kent, Shakespeare created a connection for the audience to sympathize with, drawing the audience emotionally close to each character.With every piece of advice disregarded or neglected, a feeling of urgency rises, until the audience can only wish that there is hope somewhere. Everyone sees what they wish t o believe that is, peoples expectations shape what is actually in straw man of them, so that they see what they want to see. Its these factors that makes Lears characters so relate-able. G. Wilson Knight expands on this Our vision has thus been uniquely focus to understand that vision of the grotesque, the incongruous, the fantastically horrible, which was the agony of Lears mind (Knight 142).We can feel Lears pain, we can sympathize with him. This play shows that we need to look beyond what our eyes can see and pay more attention to what is really going on. We must avoid seeing what we should not see, and stop not seeing what we should. We must be able to see blinded and not be blinded by sight. In King Lear those who appear blind have the best vision, those who seem fools are the wisest, and those who dont speak much really know the most.