Blindness in King Lear

Relevance of Blindness in King Lear One of the recurring themes in Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear is that of sight and the relevance of clear vision. Through different types of characters, Shakespeare points out that neither the lack or the possession of clear vision can protect anybody from anything. Shakespeare makes use of several characters to bring across his point. The five characters I find to be the most important to the theme include …

…the end. Cordelia dies in the end. I think the prevailing view of the world in Shakespeare’s King Lear is that the world cannot be seen with the eye, but with the heart. The material world the eye detects can hide its evils with physical attributes, and thus the eye cannot achieve clear vision. If Lear had been able to look with more than just his eyes, he may have avoided this great tragedy.