Blindness is not just an inability to see with your eyes. It is a quality derived from lack of wisdom and intuition. True vision is not the product of the proper functioning of the optic nerves - it is the ability to carefully observe one's situation and to infer, interpret and decipher. Sight is wisdom; blindness is madness. A clinically blind man walking down the street with a cane may, under this definition of "sight", be able to "see" more than a person with 20/20 vision. In this definition of “sight,” a Fool can be sagacious and a King can be foolish. This is exactly the case in William Shakespeare's famous play, King Lear. Two characters, King Lear and the Fool, represent the juxtaposition of two contrasting qualities of blindness and the ability to perceive, in their interactions with each other, with others, and their general behavior. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The interactions of Lear and the Fool help establish the theme of blindness versus sight. Throughout the novel, the Fool observes Lear's behavior and speaks to him about the truths about his own identity. The Fool clearly sees Lear's faults when he chants witticisms like "you have made your daughters and your mothers mad" (1.4.176-177) and "you have reduced your mind on both sides/and you 'have left nothing in the middle'. " (1.4.191-192) In this scene, the Fool tells Lear that he has given his daughters, Goneril and Regan, overwhelming authority over him - he has made them his "mothers", or given them a position of power over himself similar to that of a parent He also compares Lear's sharing of his lands to a "peeling" of his "spirit", meaning that by giving his lands to his daughters, Lear also gave up part of his brain, because he stupidly left himself with nothing. The Fool then speaks to Lear about the disappearance of Lear's identity: now that Lear has nothing, he is nothing. nothing more. “Now you are a faceless O/. I'm better than you are now./I'm a fool. You are nothing," says the Fool. He is incredibly truthful; he sees that Lear has abandoned everything that constituted his identity as king. Now Lear is an "O without a number" or a zero without a number in front. He is "nothing" and he is worse than a fool - "I am better than you" Although the Fool is incredibly accurate in his deciphering of Lear's character, Lear himself has no idea of ​​Lear's madness. his own nature. He is blind to his own truth and to the truths spoken by the Fool. When the Fool speaks to him, Lear either completely ignores the truth behind his words or reprimands him: You should not have been old before. for being wise: Oh, let me not be mad, not mad, my God! / Keep me angry (1.5.43-46) Here the Fool comments. Lear's obvious lack of wisdom, but Lear only gets angry He is never ready to accept the Fool's observations, even though he is in great need of advice He cannot see the true light of. his own character, and at times he demonstrates a serious lack of understanding regarding his identity:Lear: Does anyone here know me? This is not Lear./Does Lear walk like this, talk like this? Where are his eyes?... Who can tell me who I am? Does anyone here know me? » He said: “Does Lear walk like this, talk like this? » He is confused, confused, unable to see his true nature. And, in truth, his confusion about his identity comes from the fact that he has mostly lost his identity. He is no longer king and he no longer has any real property. Thus, when the Fool says that Lear is truly "Lear's shadow", he indicates theloss of Lear's identity. But Lear, as usual, ignores the Fool's statement. . He will not see the truth behind this. "His eyes?" is an indication of Lear's blindness. But it is not until the end, when he has a revelation, that Lear realizes the extent of his blindness: "My eyes are not the best" (5.3.336) he declares, admitting his own inability to see. The only one who "saw" Lear completely was the Fool, whose truth Lear refused to "see". This is a way in which Lear and the Fool represent the opposing forces of blindness and true vision respectively. Lear does not recognize his servant Kent, who returns from banishment to serve his king has been Lear's loyal servant for many years, but when he disguises himself, Lear is completely blind to his identity. doesn't see through Goneril's excessive flattery of him at first and is honest when she says that she, unlike her fake sisters, doesn't love him as much, but will keep some of his. affections for the one she marries. He does not see that it is unwise to give up his land, banish his only faithful daughter, and make himself dependent on his two deceitful daughters. The Fool sees through Goneril and Regan from the start. When Goneril addresses Lear about his knights' rowdy behavior, Lear is completely taken aback by his rudeness: "Are you our daughter?" (1.4.224) he asks incredulously. Meanwhile, the Fool says witticisms which indicate that he saw everything coming: "For you know, uncle, / The hedge sparrow has fed the cuckoo for so long, / That he has beheaded by its young." (1.4.220-222) The Fool refers to how a cuckoo lays its egg in the sparrow's nest, and the sparrow feeds the young cuckoo until it grows and kills the sparrow. It's just like Lear and his cruel daughters: he raised them to adulthood, and now in return they are ready to "bite his head off" or destroy him. The Fool sees all this; This is not the case with Lear. Lear, in this scene, continues to express his disbelief at Goneril's behavior towards him. The Fool attempts to enlighten Lear with words such as: “Can't a donkey know when the cart pulls the horse? (1.4.229) in which he refers to how Lear is driven by his daughters like a horse driven by the cart. It is a reversal of what is natural; Lear should be the one in authority, but now his daughters have turned against him and rule over him. Yet Lear remains blind to their intention to take him over completely; once again, he disregards the Fool's comments and naively believes that his other daughter, Regan, will treat him better. But when he arrives at Regan's home, he finds his disguised servant, Kent, put in irons. To Lear, the public punishment of his servant is a sign of complete disrespect, and he cannot believe that Regan and her husband would do such a thing. "They dared not do it. / They could not, would not do it. It is worse than murder..." (2.4.25-26) says Lear. He is completely surprised again, because his blindness does not allow him to see that his two daughters are cruel and ungrateful. The Fool, however, knows exactly what is happening in the situation. He sings a little rhyme to Lear: Fathers who wear rags make their children blind, but fathers who wear sackcloth will see their children good. (2.4.54-57) In this rhyme, the Fool reveals to Lear that the reason Goneril and Regan had expressed so much kindness to him at first was because they wanted to get large portions of the.