The motif of seeing and blindness in Shakespeare´s "King Lear"

Résumé ou Introduction

In the following this paper wants to show how the motif of seeing and blindness leads through the plot and how those expressions forecast the end of the play "King Lear". In the time period of the English Renaissance the population experiences a transformation that is also visible in literature. Shakespeare uses the family tragedy King Lear, written in the early 17th century, to express morality and other relevant themes. The motif of seeing and blindness is of the utmost significance in this play, for the lack of seeing is responsible for the tragedy.

In total, those “eye-related terms” occur in 142 speeches of the play (Walthall), so even if somebody is reading the play for the first time, he probably suggests that the motif of seeing determines the plot. Emile de Saint-Exupery’s quotation expresses the rhetorical used blindness perfectly. The main characters King Lear and Gloucester both suffer from blindness, mental as well as physical. As a result they are unable to see the love of their children who stay true to them – they are unable to see rightly with their heart. This missing awareness of the heart finally leads to Gloucester´s physical blindness. In terms of Lear, this literally expressed blindness causes his loss of Cordelia and at least his own obliteration. Nevertheless, the both get the ability to ‘see’ clearly again when they are at their lowest.