Blindness in a Different Light in Shakespeare's King Lear
Under normal circumstances and in the simplest terms, one might consider blindness to be the "inability to see or the loss or
absence of perception of visual stimuli" (CancerWEB). However, in William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, blindness is a word that means so much more than just a physical flaw. Rather, King Lear can serve to show that the term applies also to one's ability to use reason in a logical process of thought. In particular,
blindness describes some characters' lack of good judgement when it comes to seeing another for whom they really are. King Lear, Gloucester and Albany are three prime examples of characters who suffered most due to being blind. Lear was unmistakenably the blindest of these. It would be fair to say that because Lear was King, the reader should expect him to have outstanding reasoning skills. Unfortunately, as the story progressed it became clear that his lack of insight prevented him from making the right decisions.
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