King Lear – Theme Of Blindness
William Shakespeare
In Shakespearean terms, blindness means a whole different thing. Blindness can normally be defined as the inability of the eye to see, but according to Shakespeare, blindness is not only a physical quality, but also a mental flaw some people possess. One of Shakespeare’s dominant themes in his play King Lear is that of blindness. King Lear, Gloucester, and Albany are three prime examples, of how Shakespeare incorporates the theme of blindness into the story. Each of these character’s blindness is the primary cause of the bad decisions he makes; decisions which all of them will eventually come to regret.
King Lear is a character who is most affected by blindness. Due to Lear’s high position in society, he is supposed to be able to distinguish the good from the bad; unfortunately, his lack of insight prevents him from doing so. Lear’s first act of blindness comes at the beginning of the play. First, he is easily deceived by his two eldest daughters’ exaggerated declarations stating:
“Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter; Dearer than eye-sight, space, and liberty;
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er loved, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable;
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.” (I.I.56-63)
Lear is unable to see the reality of Cordelia’s true love for him when she says: “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty According to my bond; nor more nor less.” (I.I.96-98) As a result, Lear banished Cordelia from his kingdom with the following words: “..................................for we Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see That face of her again. Therefore be gone Without our grace, our love, our benison.” (I.I.290-293) Lear’s blindness also causes him to banish one of his loyal followers, Kent. Kent is able to see Cordelia’s true love for her father, and tried to protect her from her blind father’s irrationality. After Kent is banished, he created a disguise for himself and is eventually hired by Lear as a servant. Lear’s inability to determine his servant’s true identity proved once again how blind Lear actually is. As the play progressed, Lear’s eyesight reached closer to 20/20 vision. He realized how immoral his two eldest daughters really were after they locked him out of the castle during a tremendous storm.
However, after reading Madison’s side of argument, I could not help but agree with all of his points, and I believe that Jefferson’s theory would only be more detrimental than beneficial. A fresh start is always appealing to many—erase mistakes, start anew, if one does not like the end result, one can restart—it could be a great thing, depends on what one naturally would make use of in that fresh start. We already have the right to change the constitution through the amendment process and through the calling of a constitutional convention if needed. Jefferson’s idea would require rewriting the constitution every 19 years, whether it was working well with the previous generation or not. The constitution governs for the long-term, it was written in a way to make it difficult to change, but not impossible. The problem with changing constitution habitually when there is nothing wrong with it is the lack of stability and continuity on the socio-economic governance, which would result in a weak government, and event anarchy. What if the previous made an excellent improvement to the country, but then the 19-year expiration date
Culture in the Soviet Union possessed many stages as different leaders enforced very different rules in regard to accepted art forms. Under Lenin, many forms and styles of art were accepted as long as they were not overly detrimental to the party mission. Lenin wanted to find a signature style of art that would be unique to the Soviet Union. In order to do this Lenin put very little restriction on the arts. Great experimentation was done in writing and painting and many radical styles were developed during this time. When Lenin died, Joseph Stalin came into power and accepted art that looked drastically different from its previous years. Stalin enforced a much stricter policy on art. Stalin’s policy was named Socialist realism and featured
In various political addresses, Jefferson was seen as inseparable with strict interpretation and a contender for state rights. He tried to affirm the belief that domestic policies should be decided by the states and fears that the Federalists will change the Constitution (docum. A). By the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, Jefferson and Madison asserted that states were the foundation of the nation and therefore had suprem...
Together with Madison, Thomas Jefferson now came to the belief that Constitution is not something sacred that cannot be touched. Even thought they did not favor frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions, they believed that if laws and institutions make progress and new discoveries, then changes can be made depending on the circumstances.
Lear becomes blinded by his flaws, leading him to make irrational decisions which ultimately cause him to go mad. After Cordelia is unable to state how much she loves her father and outdo her sisters exaggerated professions of
Lear has an emence amount of pride in the beginning of the play. This pride makes him blind to who he loves the most and why this foolish blindness puts Lear in the hands of his evil daughters, Goneril and Regan. Who ultimately leads to his madness? Therefore Lear has brought about his own madness through his blindness.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (qtd. in Allison 65). Before 1776, Colonial America was a colony of Great Britain. Then, when their mother country became too oppressive, brave revolutionaries planned a Declaration of Independence to rid themselves of their bonds. This document launched the colony into The Revolutionary War with Great Britain. Eventually, The United States of America gained independence at the hands of many brave men and women. Prominent among these heroes and heroines is Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Apart from the Declaration, Jefferson accomplished great achievements in his lifetime; our nation would not be the same today without his genius: “Even among that remarkable group of men known as the Founding Fathers, Jefferson was truly a giant” (Allison 9).
The blindest of all was King Lear. Because of his high position as the king, people would think that he should be able to distinguish the good from the bad, but unfortunately, he was “blinded” by others. Lear’s first act of blindness came at the beginning of the play. He was fooled by his two eldest daughters’ sweet words, and then he was unable to see cordelia’s true love for him. There he gave away his kingdom to the two daughters who lied about loving him and banished cordelia-who really loved him from his kingdom.
These small, mostly private schools are spending millions on Football fields, Gyms, indoor and outdoor tracks and student recreation centers. This battle seems almost unnecessary considering almost zero of these athletes will become professionals and in most cases athletics takes away around 20-25 hours of school work time to there student athletes. Looking at the research there seems to be three reasons why schools sell the idea of how a new facility can bring more then a large bill to the school. These points are first recruiting success that leads to athletic success and the enrollment bump in not only the student athletes but also the student population as a whole. Finally how the sch...
Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honor; As much as child e’er loved, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable. Beyond matter of so much I love you. (Shakespeare 1.1)
In Shakespeare's classic tragedy, King Lear, there are several characters who do not see the reality of their situation. Two such characters are Lear and Gloucester. Both characters exhibit a blindness to the world around them. Lear does not see clearly the truth of his daughters mentions, while Gloucester is also blinded by Edmond's treachery. This failure to see reality leads to Lear's intellectual blindness, which is his insanity, and Gloucester's physical blindness that leads to his trusting tendencies. Each character achieves inner awareness at the end as their surreal blindness is lifted and they realize the truth. Both Lear and Gloucester are characters used by Shakespeare to show the relevance of having a clear vision in life.
Socialism belongs to a family of ideologies, and springs from a common impulse. It envisions a society in which everyone contributes their time, labor, and talent to a common pool, and in return receives enough goods to satisfy their needs. It condemns the exploitation of one individual or class by another that occurs, so for example “when one profits from another’s labor.” Socialism also believes that property should be to benefit the public at large, not the wealthy. Socialists tend to favor peaceful and piecemeal reforms as a way of bringing about a socialist society, in which they envision a society whose major means of production are mines, mills, factories, power plants, etc. which are either publically owned or operated to benefit the public (187). Karl Marx’s envision for socialist transformation was, “a society that is changed not through moral suasion, but by understanding the hidden structures and process of material production.” The key to this was the “materialist conception of history” this made the primary determinants of social stability and change, material production and class struggle.
The first flaw in King Lear is his arrogance, which results in the loss of Cordelia and Kent. It is his arrogance in the first scene of the play that causes him to make bad decisions. He expects his favorite, youngest daughter to be the most worthy of his love. His pride makes him expect that Cordelia’s speech to be the one filled with the most love. Unfortunately for King Lear’s pride, Cordelia replies to his inquisition by saying, “I love your majesty/According to my bond and nothing less';(1.1.100-101). Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia and splits the kingdom in half to the two evil sisters, Goneril and Regan. This tragic flaw prevents King Lear from seeing the truth because his arrogance overrides his judgement. Lear’s arrogance also causes him to lose his most faithful servan...
Introspection can be difficult especially when one is required to do so publicly. If I am to be honest I don’t like to write although I generally like the result of what I have written. I appreciate this assignment as it forces me to look closely at my writing process, strengths and weaknesses. I especially liked the “Self-Test Obstacles” found in this module.