how does act 1 scene 1 of king lear set the scene for the rest of the play

The beginning of a work often sets the tone for the rest of the entire endeavor. In drama especially, the first scene of a play generally sets up the basic themes and situations that the remainder will work with. In king lear’s very first scene, we see many of the play’s fundamental themes and images presented. The recurrent imagery of human senses and of "nothing", the distortion of familial and social ties, the gradual dissolution of lear’s kingship, all make their first appearances in the first line of shakespeare’s tragedy.

Much of the imagery in king lears first scene presages what is to come in the play. Often characters refer to senses, particularly sight, whether as a comment on the neccesity of sensing consequences before acting (as Lear does not), or as yet another of shakespeares comments on "seeming" (see Hamlet).the destruction of Gloucesters eyes and his subsequent musings,

(I stumbled when I saw,(v.i.19)) are a more graphical presentation of this key theme which originally appears in lears first scene. Goneril declares lear is "dearer than eyesight"(I.i.56) to her (however Goneril is the one who later suggests putting Gloucesters

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
King Lear, , King Lears, Gloucester Albany, Cornwall Albany, Ii99-100 Lears, Regan Goneril, Cordelia Kent, Scotland England, Regum Britanniae, king lear, king lears, lears scene, king lears scene, lear tragic, king lear daughters, happier times, dissolution lears, contrasted happier, lear daughters, tragedy lear, story king lear, dissolution lears kingship, play king, king lear shakespeare,
Approximate Word count = 2013
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)