The play of King Lear is a story of tragedy, which means that the people who are in the audience will have come to see violence, pain, death and suffering. The first death in the play of King Lear is in this scene. The character who dies is the servant. The servant is killed because he challenges Regan who was of a higher class than the servant was. In Elizabethan times challenging someone of a higher class than you was considered a bad crime. However, challenging someone of a higher class than you is not considered as bad now because of freedom of speech. So an audience watching this play now would think that a person being killed for challenging someone as shocking, whereas an audience watching this in the Elizabethan times would watch the play and think that the killing was a common thing to happen.
Shakespeare uses the theme of Gloucester’s eyesight in this scene. This is used a lot in this scene to show what a fool he has been, and that he should have realised what had been happening to him behind his back. This shows how alike Gloucester and Lear are, because Lear also was a fool and could not see what Gonerill and Regan had been doing to him behind his back. Before the plucking out of Gloucester’s eyes he could not see what Edmond had been doing to him. When Cornwall plucks out Gloucester’s eyes, Gloucester can not physically see what is happening, however he could then see what a fool he had been and how he had been used when his eyes had been plucked out by Cornwall. This shows that Gloucester could not see what Edmond had been doing, until ironically Regan reveals Edmonds treachery just as his eyes are taken from him. Then when Cornwall had plucked his eyes out he recognises the symbolic irony of his previous blindness to the facts until after his physical blinding.
Shakespeare uses the theme of eyesight in other parts of the play as well as this, to show foolishness. Gloucester’s foolishness is shown when he says, “I stumbled when I saw.” Lear’s foolishness is shown when he says to Kent “Out of my sight”, then Kent says to Lear “see better, Lear” which identifies the lack of Lear’s knowledge and again is symbolised by blindness. Shakespeare likes to use blindness to show the foolishness of the characters. Shakespeare shows this in act 3 scene 7 when Cornwall plucks out Gloucester’s eyes and after his eyes have been plucked out he realises his foolishness.
The manhood of the male actors plays an important part in this scene. This is shown when Regan plucks Gloucester’s beard, in the Elizabethan times doing this to someone was an insult, especially if it was a woman who did it to a man. This was an insult because having a beard showed manhood. If a beard of a man was plucked by someone this was showing that the person plucking the beard thought that the person who had his beard plucked is less of a man; this was more insulting if a woman did this to a man. Gloucester takes this as a terrible insult, which is shown when he says, “Naughty lady, these hairs which thou dost ravish from my chin.” The importance of manhood is also shown when the servant says, “if you did wear a beard upon your chin, I’d shake it on the quarrel”, this means that he is saying if you were a man then I would fight you.
For the audiences watching this play in present times there is a language barrier because the audiences watching this play would have to translate the play into Modern English. The audiences watching this play in Elizabethan times would not have to translate the play into Modern English. This would mean that the audiences watching the play in Elizabethan times would see the play from a different perspective than audiences watching the play today.
Throughout the play of King Lear, Gloucester and Lear’s lives run parallel to each other. The lives of Gloucester and Lear are shown as being alike because both of them did not realise how other characters in the play were betraying them. Lear eventually realised how much of a fool he had been, giving his kingdom away to Gonerill and Regan and not to Cordelia, when Gonerill and Regan had lied to him but Cordelia had loved him and received nothing from Lear. Now Gloucester had been betrayed by Edmond his life was now very similar to Lear’s life because Lear had also been betrayed. They both realised how foolish they had been and not to have noticed what had happened to them. They were also similar when Gloucester had his eyes plucked out by Cornwall because Gloucester could then see how Edmond had betrayed him when Lear realised how Gonerill and Regan had betrayed him.
In this play the evilness of women is shown. This is shown by the evil things that Regan would do to other people to get power. Regan also commits the first murder in the play when killing the servant and then when Gloucester’s eye has been plucked out she taints Gloucester by saying that Edmond has betrayed him when she says, “ It was he that made the overture of thy treasons to us”. Lear describes Regan as “tender-hefted”, in act 2 scene 4, yet she takes part in barbaric maiming and kills a servant.
The theme of this scene is evil, which is shown throughout the scene by Regan and Cornwall. The theme of this scene shocks and disturbs the audience and portrays the evilness of the characters. Regan shows how evil she is in this scene by saying, before killing the servant, “Give me thy sword”; Regan says this without any hesitation or thought. This shows that she has no thought for anyone or anyone’s life, which shows how evil she is in this scene. Another theme in this scene is good against evil, which many people find exciting to watch in a play, which may be one of the reasons why King Lear is a very popular Shakespeare play.
In act 3 scene 7 the evil language, theme and characters are used, however in the quarts version of the play, this scene closes with two other servants who decide to assist Gloucester and soothe the pain that he received when his eyes were plucked out.
In theatres the interval is often placed at the end of this scene because this scene could be used as the end of the play because it is one of the most dramatic scenes of the play.
