On thine allegiance, hear me!.

             That thou hast sought to make us break our vow,.

             Which we durst never yet, and with strain"d pride.

             To come betwixt our sentence and our power,.

             Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,.

             Our potency made good, take they reward.

             (I, i, ll 166-171).

             .

             Lear"s blindness causes him to banish his most loyal follower. Kent was able to see Cordelia"s true love for her father, and tried to protect her from her blind father"s irrationality. Although Kent"s intentions were noble, Lear foolishly misinterprets this as an insult to his mental capabilities in making a decision. The problem with Lear is that he cannot admit he has made an error.

             Shakespeare hits upon the characteristic human frailty by which denial of a deficiency actually announces the deficiency.

             (This Great Stage: Image and Structure in King Lear. Robert Beehtold Heilman).

             Beehtold perfectly describes Shakespeare"s intent when portraying Lear as such a blind individual. Through showing his blindness Shakespeare is able to show how large Lear"s problems actually are. Gloucester also has the problem of.

             distinguishing between good and bad. Edmund, a bastard son of Gloucester, tricked him into believing that his brother, Edgar wanted to kill him and take his inheritance. He wrote a phony letter which implied all of this. Gloucester became outraged and gave all his trust to Edmund. He even declares:.

             O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter!.

             Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish villain!.

             worse than brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him; I"ll appre-.

             hend him. Abominable villain! Where is he?.

             (I, ii, ll 71-74).

             When Edmund shows him the letter that is supposedly from Edgar, it takes very little convincing for Gloucester to believe it. As soon as Edmund mentions that Edgar could be plotting against him, Gloucester calls him an 'Abhorred villain,.

             unnatural, detested, brutish villain".