Blindness vs sight

• 'future strife may be prevented now' - Lear (1.1)


  • ironic
  • Lear totally blind to the chaos he is causing
  • lacks understanding of his daughters' natures & fasley believes love can be quantified, leading to the empty and hyperbolic confessions - Goneril uses quantifiers of 'beyond' and 'no less' in her expression of love which shows how Lear blindly makes himself vulnerable to being manipulated by his daughters
• 'strangered with our oath' - Lear (1.1)


  • Lear vows to disown Cordelia
  • his strengths of being an honourable man of his word becomes his weakness where he has given way to irrational & excessive wrath
  • he is morally & emotionally blinded - preventing him from retreating from tragic mistake
• 'I have another daughter, who I am sure is kind and comfortable' - Lear (1.4)


  • turns to Regan when Goneril has betrayed him
  • the audience knows he shouldn't as R & G have gossiped in scene 1 & end of scene 4 G writes to R - daughters not on Lear's side but L is blind to this
  • blind to true feelings of daughters = loss of identity as a father
• 'The man that makes his toe what he his heart should make' - Fool (3.2)


  • Fool refers to Lear as someone who turns away love & loves in the wrong place - loves wrong daughter
  • Fool highlights Lear's mistakes & his blindness
• 'A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man' - Lear (3.2)


  • when calling upon storm he creates dramatic self-pity - making himself the victim as he suffers in the storm
  • adjectives suggest he sees himself as a victim & innocent in comparison with his wicked daughters
  • lack of recognition of his faults - blind to fact that his actions have allowed them to act in this way
• 'I am a man more sinned against than sinning' - Lear (3.2)


  • lear acknowledges he has mistreated people & not acted right but believes his behaviour has not been worse than how others have treated him
  • Has a long way to go in understanding his agency - he views daughters as evil & villains whose actions are more flawed - whilst he is blind to the fact that his foolish pride made him banish his most loving daughter & reward her two evil sisters - doesn't recognise cruel unjust treatment to Cordelia
• 'How dost my boy? Art cold?' - Lear (3.2)


  • expresses concern for Fool's comfort
  • shift from self-pity to recognising pity for others
• '‘The art of our necessities is strange, and can make vile things precious’ -  Lear (3.2) 


  • the power of hardships can change perspectives
  • Lear is redefining the idea of humanity - shifts from 2.4 where he recognises difference between humans & animals to realising gap between human & animal is smaller - things were once worthless become precious
  • as he loses identity as King and undergoes suffering, he becomes more aware of suffering of others
• 'O I have ta'en too little care of this. Take physic, pomp. Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel' - Lear (3.4) (storm)


  • shift from self-pity to pity for others
  • exposing himself to physical & mental suffering has allowed him to recognise suffering of others
  • sense of personal responsibility for others suffering - recognises injustice of a world he has been ruling - feels guilt/ pity for first time
  • although there is an increasing sense of awareness, he still has a long way to go - still doesn't understand the source of his own suffering and how his mistakes have led him here
• 'Didst thou give all to thy two daughters?' - Lear to Poor Tom (3.4) 


  • projects onto poor Tom his own condition. Thinks everyone that suffers also gave everything to daughters - assumes his suffering universal
  • blaming daughters for everything - can't accept daughters don't cause all troubles
  • whilst he sympathises w suffering of Tom he is still deluded by agency - doesn't recognise any other sources of suffering & is still blaming daughters instead of recognising his own mistakes
• 'Nothing could have subdued nature/ To such a lowness but his unkind daughters' - Lear (3.4)


  • blames daughters for all suffering
  • reducing others pain to his own - expands own pain to everyone - self-centred
  • doesn't recognise diff types of pain in diff people
• 'Is man no more than this?' - Lear (3.4)


  • sees Edg with nothing that defines him as human, no diff than an animal
  • idea humanity vs animals links to 2.2 'Man's life is cheap as beasts' - moved from wanting knights & prestige to having nothing - gap between humans & animals is narrowed as he realises under 'superfluous' things we are all the same
• 'Off, off, you lendings: come unbutton here (tearing at his clothes) - Lear (3.4) 


  • Lear aligns himself w Poor Tom, removing symbols of sophistication & royalty - unclothed - reduced to beast
  • unequal distribution of wealth & power have no foundation in nature - reveals fradulence of idea heirarchy the tragedy is based on & fundamental equality between all human beings
  • proof of capacity for transformation - possibility of freedom from tyranny - hope for Lear
• 'O my follies! then Edgar was abused. Kind gods, forgive me that, and prosper him' - Gloucester (3.7)


  • anagnorisis - sees error in judging sons inaccurately
  • shows love & humility in calling on gods - however in this bleak universe there are no 'kind gods' - still blind to fact that there is no divine justice
  • proleptic to Lear's anagnorisis
• 'I stumbled when I saw' - Gloucester (4.1)


  • irony
  • he is a blinded man that now sees clearly - gained perception - anagnorisis
  • when he did have eyes he fell into error & didn't see clearly - made misjudgement - was blinded by Edmund/ rage
• 'our mere defects prove our commodities' - Gloucester (4.1) 


  • the things we do wrong benefit us and make us see clearly
  • misjudgement has helped Gl to see clearly - when he could see he made mistakes
  • sense of hope - redeeming feature of tragedy
• 'They flattered me like a dog' 'Told me I had the white hairs ere the black ones were there' - Lear (4.6)


  • can see how he has been flattered by his courtiers & children
  • told he was wise when he wasn't - never told he was wrong, never stopped
  • as king, he was a man playing a part & was told everything he wanted to hear - divine special status blinded him - realises he just another basic human - criticises injustices of a hierarchical society
  • still mad but recognises what has led him to this - realises blindness to daughters actions has been a source of his suffering
• 'I am a very foolish, fond old man' prays Cordelia to 'forgive and forget' - Lear (4.7)


  • reconciliation = emotional climax
  • Lear achieves anagnorisis
  • acknowledges flaws & mistakes - been blind to own weaknesses, driven by pride & desire for flattery - recognizes naivety & susceptibility to deception
  • contrast from earlier demeanour as an authoritative figure, confident in his judgement & power - tragic arc from kingly pride to humiliated humility
  • humanised - emotional vulnerability allows audience to empathise w him - longing for love and care - sense of redemption
• 'Who are you?' - Lear to Kent (5.3)


  • doesn't recognise Kent
  • overwhelmed by loss of Cordelia - focus only on her
  • reminder of L's blindness to good characters - motif continues to end - faces struggle w perception up until final moments - alienated from those who care about him
  • sympathy for Kent who has been one of his most loyal & faithful supporters but gets no recognition