William Shakespeare, when writing King Lear, incorporates many effective images into this play. He refers to clothing, animals, wheels, sexual images, and blindness all to make his point. Shakespeare uses blindness in 2 paralleling plotlines, those of Lear and Gloucester. He uses animal imagery throughout the play, to show one character"s feelings for another. And finally, he uses clothing imagery to exemplify the situation of certain characters. The images used by Shakespeare in this play are effective and paint a wonderful picture. .

             Near the beginning of the play, in one of the early scenes, Lear is dividing his kingdom up between his three daughters. Imagery of an animal is developed here, and foreshadows Lear"s eventual madness and demise,.

             And 'tis our fast intent.

             To shake all cares and business from our age,.

             Conferring them on younger strengths while we.

             Unburdened crawl toward death. (Act I, scene 1, 39-42).

             The word crawl suggests a wounded, tired, or perhaps hunted animal dragging itself nearer to death. Lear attempts to use this ironically; he still believes that all will be well. .

             Later in the play, animal imagery is used again to show how Lear feels about Goneril, after she"s kicked him out and sent him to Regan"s:.

             Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,.

             More hideous when thou show"st thee in a child,.

             Than the sea monster!.

             In the same scene, Lear"s daughters, Regan and Goneril, are again compared to animals (or monsters) by Lear: ".How sharper than a serpent"s tooth it is to have a thankless child!.".

             In the fifth act, Lear and Cordelia have been captured by Edmund and sentenced to die. Now that he and Cordelia are together again, he uses animal imagery to paint a picture of his future with Cordelia as soon as they are released, ".We two alone will sing like birds i"the cage." .

             In King Lear, animal imagery is used extensively. At the beginning, it"s almost a joke to Lear, he feels that he would never have to crawl towards death, he"s the King! Later, monsters are used in comparison to Lear"s daughters, Regan and Goneril, to show, effectively, how he"s feeling.