King Lear

Blindness manifests most literally in King Lear through the unfortunate Gloucester, whose eyes Regan and Cornwall gouge out. Only after this hideous loss does Gloucester see all that he was blind to before: the loyalty of his betrayed son Edgar, the heartless cruelty of the false Edmund, and the pure malice of his erstwhile allies.

In the literal case of Gloucester, as well as in a heap of metaphorical references scattered throughout the play, blindness is paradoxically related to sight. The characters repeatedly demonstrate how one’s own prejudices and fears can blind someone to reality. The two fathers of the play, Lear and Gloucester, are so hampered by their own petty insecurities and egoism that they cannot perceive what is true. They must lose their “eyes” and their “I”s—meaning, their identities—to truly see reality. Part of that seeing is the capacity to see oneself and to know oneself to be weak, foolish, and flawed.

When the mad Lear meets the disguised, raving, and naked Edgar in the storm, he takes a shine to him and quickly strips off his own clothes to imitate this “philosopher.