Imperalism

The Real Meaning of Blindness and the Truth in Madness

In the tragedy King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare creates a motif that goes beyond physical eyesight. When he refers to blindness, he does not simply mean the absence of sight, but rather the absence of insight. The motif occurs in the beginning, as King Lear demands Cordelia “out of [his] sight” after she refuses to verbally aggrandize her love for her father (1.1.179). King Lear means this physically, yet when his loyal servant Kent exclaims, “see better Lear”, Kent is asking Lear to see past the false adoration his daughters Goneril and Regan gave, to the truth and love in Cordelia’s words. Lear’s missing sense of reality leads to not only the evil rule of his two daughters, but also the deaths of many, including himself and Cordelia. The eyesight motif also is present in Gloucester’s struggle with his children. He is blind to deceitful ways of his bastard son Edmund, and hunts his innocent son Edgar. Shakespeare makes it incredibly ironic; for it is not until the Duke of Cornwall gouges out Gloucester’s eyes does he realize how he had, “stumbled when I [Gloucester] saw” (4.1.18). But as Lear realizes later on, “when the mind’s free, the body’s delicate,” meaning when you look past the surface, the reality becomes more evident (3.4.11). Finally the motif presents itself, in a way, In Albany’s situation. He is so blinded by his love for Goneril, he “cannot be so partial” when he sees the absolute evil in her ways (1.4.329). However, eventually his mental weakness is no more, when he tells his wife she is “not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in [her] face” (4.2.30). In between this larger eyesight motif, Shakespeare also weaves the idea of there being truth in madness. Through the fool, “Poor Tom”, and Lear, Shakespeare implements intelligent concepts and ideas through gibberish and riddles. From the moment Lear banishes Cordelia, Kent announces, “Lear is mad” (1.1. 163). Then the fool calls Lear a fool, since “all thy other titles thou [Lear] has given away,” (1.4.154) King Lear’s madness is most evident, however, when he strips himself naked during his epiphany must later in the play, and proclaims himself, “every inch a king,” (4.6.109). Though it may seem Lear has lost his mind, and in most cases he actually has, Lear is just taking fully to heart (and to certain extremes) the idea of how the essence of man is all that matters. He is so struck by this revelation, he strips down so there is nothing left but he himself. Edgar disguises himself as poor Tom, and although he is not actually mad his crazy words translate into thoughtful ideas that no one seems to notice.