Shakespeare’s King Lear uses the motif of sight in order to divide the cast into three distinct groups who interact with catastrophic results. Regan, Edmund and Goneril represent evil and bed intentions, inherently villainous characters blinded by their quest for worldly power and blinded by ambition. These characters use their ‘sight’ to manipulate the ‘blind’. Edgar, King Lear and Glouster represent the three ‘blind’ characters, inherently noble yet unable to see those around them who act with malice. Cordelia, the Fool and Kent make up the final group, characters who possess innate sense of right as well as the ability to identify the characters with mal intent. These three ‘visual’ characters augment the play’s sense of an inability to control their own fate and the hopelessness of Shakespeare’s dramatic irony.
Regan, Goneril and Edmund each take advantage of their fathers utilizing the weakness of each as a means to stealthily bring about their deception and callous aspirations. Their lust for control blinds them from empathy even when pitted against their kin. With every culpable action these characters commit the reader is filled with empathy toward those who have been wronged, as the villains of this play they are easily ostracized.
Lear, Glouster and Edgar stumble blindly for most of the play, unable to recognize the inherit evil in their own kin. Only the clutches of insanity provide sight for King Lear, as his madness allows him to see his mistakes and the treachery committed right under his nose. Glouster is only gifted with sight after his actual vision is taken away from him, this symbolic clarity after the fact causes him to become despondent and turn to death rather than fixing his mistakes. Glouster is eventually led to enlightenment by the disguised Edgar. Despite the seemingly bleak outlook ahead, Edgar becomes a main source of hope in the novel. When betrayed by Edmund, Edgar chooses to offer forgiveness which severely contrasts with the three antagonists.
The clarity offered by the characters of Cordelia, the Fool and Kent makes the dramatic irony of the play that much more evident, as they can each see the malevolence surrounding them yet they remain unable to stop it. For Cordelia, her father believes her to be the wrongdoer when she refuses to profess her love to him in a shallow display of affection. Lear instead chooses to be won over by Regan and Goneril’s superficial adoration, unknowing of its dishonest nature. Upon the realization of his mistake, Lear’s blindness is shed only to be replaced with lunacy. Both the Fool and Kent display loyalty throughout the play, each incessantly try to lead Lear to the truth. Shakespeare’s purpose for these three characters is to allow the audience to empathize and identify with them and ultimately draws them into the chaos experienced by each character.
