Comparative Essay Oedipus the King and King Lear The Theme of Blindness March 22, 2000 BJ Wheatley In Sophocles and Shakespearean terms, blindness means a completely different thing. Blindness can normally be defined as the inability of the eye to see, but according to both plays; blindness is not always a physical quality, but a mental flaw some people possess. Out of both plays, Shakespeare's King Lear has the most dominant theme of blindness. King Lear, Gloucester, and Albany are three prime examples Shakespeare incorporates this theme into. Oedipus is the only one that shows blindness is Sophocles play. Each of these characters blindness was the primary cause of the bad decisions they made; decisions which all of them would eventually come to regret. The blindest one of all would be King Lear. It is because of Lear's high position in society as king, he was supposed to be able to distinguish between the good and evil; unfortunate for Lear his lack of insight prevented him to do so. The first act of blindness from Lear came at the begging of the play. First, his two eldest daughters deceived him, then he was unable to see the true love Cordelia's felt for him, and as a resu

lt, he banished her from the kingdom with the following words: "...For we Have no such daughter. Nor shall ever see That face of her again. Therefore be gone Without our grace, our love, our benison." (Act I, Sc I, Ln 265-267) Kent, one of Lear's loyal followers was also banished because of Lear's blindness. Kent was able to see Cordelia's true love for her father, and tried to protect her from her blind father's irrational behavior. After Kent was banished, he created disguise for himself and was hired as Lear's servant. Lear's inability to determine his servants true identity proved once again how blind Lear was. As the play progressed, Lear' eyesight reached close to perfect vision. He soon realized how wicked his two eldest daughters really were after they locked him out of a castle during a tremendous storm. More importantly, Lear saw through Cordelia's lack of flattering and realized that her love for him was so great that she could not express it with words. Lear's blindness unfortunately ended up costing the life of Cordelia and his own. Another example of a character that suffered from an awful cause of blindness is Gloucester. Gloucester's blindness denied him of the ability to see the goodness of Edgar and the evil in Edmund. Although Edgar was the good and loving son, Gloucester all but disowned him. He wanted to kill the son the later would save his life. Gloucester's blindness began when Edmund convinced him by the means of a forged letter that Edgar was plotting to kill him. Gloucester's lack of sight caused him to believe Edmund was good son and prevented him from pondering the idea of Edmund after his earldom. Near the end of the play, Gloucester finally regained his sight and realized that Edgar saved his life disguised

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Approximate Word count = 1178
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)