In William Shakespeare's tragedy, King Lear,the issue of sight on many levels is a recurring theme. Discuss

King Lear Essay

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear,the issue of sight on many levels is a recurring theme. Throughout the play Shakespeare shows that sight does not just come from the eyes. It is shown through the

characters of Lear, Gloucester and how they compare to

each other.

Lear’s character is one that never learns what

it means to see without ones eyes. Lear’s sight is hazed because of his lack of ability to see inside of people, he can not tell who they really are. When Lear is angered by Cordelia, Kent tries to reason with Lear, who is too angry and upset to have an open mind. Lear responds to Kent’s opposition with, “Out of my sight!,” to which Kent responds, “See better, Lear, and let me still remain” (I.i.160). Here, Lear is banishing Kent and never wants to see him again, but Lear never really saw Kent for who he was. Kent’s vision is not hazed like Lear’s, and he knows that all he has to do to remain by Lear’s side is to be in a disguise. Kent later approaches Lear, in his disguise and Lear excepts him. This shows just how Lear could only see with his eyes. Kent’s disguise was nothing

fancy, still Lear could not see who it was. If Kent had

really been around Lear for as long as the play implied, would Lear not be able to tell that it is Kent purely based upon Kent’s mannerisms? No, Lear can not see that it is Kent behind the disguise because Lear’s sight is based solely on what his eyes sees. His eyes saw someone new and that was all Lear needed to convince himself he did not know who the person was. Lear only learns that Kent is a noble and loyal person just prior to his death, when he finally gains sight. By this time though, it is too late for Lear and Kent to build an honest relationship. Lear’s sight is also tainted by his lack of direction and by not being able to see the consequences of his actions. This, as well as his lack of insight into people, causes the fall out of his relationship with his

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daughter Cordelia. When Lear asks his daughters who loves him the most, he thinks this will be Cordelia. However when Cordelia says, “I love your majesty/According to my bond, no more nor less” (I.i.94-95), Lear can not see past the words, all he hears is the words, not the meaning behind them. He does not hear the words with his heart. Goneril and Regan are putting on an act, when they talk of their love for Lear and Lear thinks that they love him because he likes the words they use. Unfortunately for Lear, they do not love him as much as they claim to. When Cordelia hears their bragging she holds her words because she does not want her true feelings compared to their lies. Lear however does not see the meaning of the words that Goneril and Regan are putting forth and feels that they love him and Cordelia does not. Kent, who can see what is actually going on, knows that Cordelia is the only one of the three daughters that truly loves Lear. He tries to get Lear to understand this by saying, “Answer my life my judgment,Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least”(I.i.153-154). Lear however can not see past what his eyes are telling him, and becomes very angry and narrowminded. When Lear banishes Cordelia, he says, “we/Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see/That face of hers again” (I.i.264-266). Ironically, later he discovers that Cordelia is the only one of his daughters he wishes to see, asking her to “forget and forgive” (IV.vii.85). By this time he has gained some direction, and he is beginning to see with more then his eyes, but at this point it is too late because his prior choices have condemned him.

Unlike Lear, Gloucester came to know how to see with

more then his eyes, but it did not come without a cost. Before the lost of his eyes, Gloucester’s vision was much like Lear’s. Gloucester had no clue what was going on around him. Instead, he only saw what was presented to him on the surface. When Edmund shows him the letter from Edgar, that he forged, Gloucester accepts, what it says,with very little force on Edmund’s part. As soon as Edmund says that Edgar plans to kill him, Gloucester calls him a “Abhorred villain, unnatural, detested, brutish, villain” (I.ii.81-82). He does not even think to consider is this something Edgar would actually do. The reason for this is that Gloucester can not see into Edgar’s character. Gloucester’s path he is going down is similar to Lear’s because of his lack of ability to see with more then his eyes. When Gloucester looses his physical sight, he actually sees what’s going on for the first time. When Cornwall is accusing Gloucester of treason, Gloucester provokes him to pluck out his eyes: But I shall the winged vengeance overtake such children

CORNWALL. See’t shalt thou never. Fellows, hold thechair.Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot.

(III.vii.66-69)When Gloucester is saying this he still lacks sight, and would have never seen vengeance on Cornwall. When Cornwall pulls out his eyes, Gloucester learns that it was Edmund who did him wrong not Edgar, and from that point on he can see, by using his heart instead of his eyes. It is evident that he realises this when he says: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. (IV.i.18-21)Here he is saying that he does not want eyes because with them he could not see. When he had eyes he was confident that he could see, yet in reality, he did not gain sight until his eyes were gone. Afterwards he knows what it is truly like to see. The sight that Gloucester has can be contrasted

with that of Lear. While Lear has the physical sight that Gloucester does not, Gloucester can see what Lear will never be able to. When Lear and Gloucester meet on the cliffs of Dover, Lear questions Gloucester’s state: No eyes in your head, nor no money in your purse? Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light, yet you see how this world goes.GLOUCESTER. I see it feelingly. (IV.vi.147-151)Here, Lear does not understand Gloucester because Lear does not grasp the concept of seeing with no eyes. Even though Lear sees his mistakes he still feels that sight comes from the eyes. Gloucester tells him that sight is from within. Sight is a cocktail of the mind, heart and emotion, stirred not shaken together. This is something that Lear will never understand.In King Lear, sight is something that is seen inboth main characters of the two plots. While Lear showshis lack of sight,

Gloucester learns that sight does not come from the eye. Throughout the play, Shakespeare is

saying that to see the world the way it is you must use

more then your eyes. The world hides things from the

naked eye, and therefore that is why it can be said that to look at the world you use your eyes, to see it you use your heart.