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Y. Khan

10/22/2013

Reflection

King Lear

King Lear by William Shakespeare is one of the most entertaining and thought provoking piece of

literature. I have read many writings of Shakespeare and I think King Lear would be one of my very

favorites. One of the many reasons as to why I am such a big fan of this particular play is because of the

story. I have been told this story multiple times without realizing that it is a play by Shakespeare. Which has

made me realize why it is considered a classic because these plays have been told to people of different

nations in many languages and have been performed in cultures throughout the world. It was wonderful

experience reading this entertaining tragedy on my own for the first time.

One of the most important themes in this tragedy is sight. Lack of sight refers to the physical and

metaphorical blindness of the characters in the play. The theme is introduced from the very beginning of

the play when King lear asks his daughters to express their love for him which will be rewarded in return by

the dowry he would provide for their marriages. The eldest daughter; Goneril cleverly takes advantage of

this opportunity to articulate false; yet poetically beautiful expression of her love for her father. The

audience is able to comprehend the true nature of Goneril character, and after listening to Regan and

Cordelia it is obvious that King Lear is clearly blinded by the dramatically beautiful and untruthful

statements made by Regan and Goneril. This particular scene also overshadows King Lears tragedy

especially when considering the nature of other tragedies written by Shakespeare.

It is important that one must try to analyze this scene from Cordelias perspective. I was able to gain

more insight on Cordelias character when we had the opportunity to discuss this scene during class. The

scene does not take the audience into depth for Cordelias angry reaction to her father's request. However, it

is apparent the Cordelia responds with anger because she sees weakness in his father when he has to ask his

daughters to tell him how much they love them or perhaps she is disappointed in her sisters selfish nature

of playing with their weak fathers emotions for greed. The audience is also capture King Lears pathetic

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nature because he is entertained by how his daughters are competing against each other for their love

towards him. It is especially important to separate Regan and Goneril character from Cordelias because

they continue to be a part of this pathetic race, when Cordelia feels overwhelmed being a part of this intense

unjustified competition and responds in anger.

King Lear is unable to see that Cordelia is the daughter who is speaking truthfully and his lack of

insight from this incident becomes his downfall. There is similar situation happening with with Gloucester

who is also metaphorically blinded by his sons betrayal. Gloucesters character like King Lears is depicted

as blind and vulnerable. He is easily persuaded and makes his decision based on someone elses judgement.

Gloucesters role in the play is essential to understand Shakespeare argument on sight. Later on into the

play; Gloucester is physically blinded which articulates the idea behind metaphorical blindness and physical

blindness in one. When the two tragic characters interact in the play it signifies the importance of the two

parallel stories suffering tragic consequences for their similar mistakes.