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In Oedipus the King and King Lear, both main characters, as well as some minor characters, experience not only physical blindness, but mental blindness as well.King Lear, Gloucester, and Oedipus are "blind to the truth" in the beginning of the plays, and then experience some form of catharsis, the spiritual purging of emotions.In the end of the plays, all the blind characters gain the ability to "see".
In King Lear, Lear is mentally blind.Before he divides his kingdom, Lear asks his three daughters to profess their love for him, "Tell me, my daughters / …which of you shall we say doth love us most" (Shakespeare. I.1.5-56).This is one of Lear's downfalls, his overweening pride, or hubris, he wants to put on a show and have his daughters boost his ego in front of an audience.Lear's two oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan fill his head with false praises, pulling the blindfold over Lear's eyes; when Cordelia professes her love for him, "I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth. / I love your Majesty / According to my bond; no more nor less" (Shakespeare. I.1.101-10), Lear is oblivious that Cordelia's love is true and honest; he is blind.Lear disowns Cordelia, and when his friend, Kent, tries to convince Lear that he was wrong to disown his most caring and loving daughter, Lear, once again unable to see the truth, banishes Kent as well. Lear's physiological blindness is his ultimate downfall. Once Lear has realized his mistake in Act III, "Filial ingratitude! /…O Regan, Goneril! / Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all!/ O, that way madness lies.Let me shun that; / No more of that" (Shakespeare. III. 4. 17-4), it is too late.When Lear realizes what his children have done to him, he removes his clothes, "Off, off, you lendings! / Come, unbutton here" (Shakespeare. III. 4. 115.), as well as the symbolic blindfold he has been wearing since Act I. Lear has now been divested to the essentials, he has experienced catharsis, and has finally realized his pitiful state.Lear has been blinded by his daughters, this realization has proved too much for him, and he goes insane.Lear, who begins the play mentally sightless, ends the play with the ability to see.
Another character who is blind to the truth is Gloucester.In the beginning of the play, Gloucester's younger illegitimate son, Edmund, plots against his older brother, Edgar, "Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land" (Shakespeare. I..17).Edmund convinces his father that Edgar is plotting to kill him, "It is a letter / from my brother… / The / contents, as in part I understand them, are to / blame" (Shakespeare. I..8-45.), however, the letter has been forged by Edmund.This is another instant in the play where a child is pulling the curtain over the parent's eyes, blinding them to the truth.In Act II, Edmund's plan works, and his now "blind" father turns against his "good" son and declares that Edgar shall be put to death.Gloucester then makes the mistake of confiding in Edmund, "the King my old master / must be relieved" (Shakespeare. III. . 18), thus revealing his plans to secretly help King Lear.Edmund, in soliloquy, reveals his plot to bring down his father, "this courtesy, forbid thee, shall the Duke / instantly know… / The younger rises when the old doth fall" (Shakespeare. III. . 1-5).This is an excellent example of dramatic irony, when Gloucester tells Edmund his plan to help the king, the reader can almost imagine the audience cringing and wanting to scream, "No, don't tell him that, he is against you!"However, because Gloucester has been blinded by his son, Edmund, he tells him his plans, and begins the downward spiral of defeat.In the next scene, when Gloucester sees Lear in his sad state, he reveals his own troubles, "I am almost mad myself.I had a son, / Now outlaw'd from my blood; he sought my life, / I loved him, friend" (Shakespeare. III. 4. 176-178).Gloucester is still wearing the metaphorical blindfold, and he thinks that Edgar was the child who plotted against him.In Act III, Scene 7, Gloucester experiences physical blindness as Regan, Goneril, and Cornwall, "Pluck out his poor old eyes" (Shakespeare. III. 7. 70).Gloucester calls for his son, Edmund to come to his rescue, when Regan tells him the truth, "Thou call'st on him that hates thee. It was he / That made the overture of thy treasons to us" (Shakespeare. III. 7. 108-10.).By becoming blind, Gloucester's blindfold is finally removed and he "sees" the truth, "O my follies!Then Edgar was abused" (Shakespeare. III. 7. 111).Gloucester begins the play mentally blind, and then after becoming physically blind, he ends the play, much like Lear, with the ability to "see".
In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is mentally blind.In the beginning of the play, Oedipus's vision is perfect, however he is blind to his past.When Oedipus is searching for the murderer of Laius, the person he is really searching for is himself.This dramatic irony adds to the theme of Oedipus being blind to the truth.Oedipus realizes he has to figure out who murdered the king, so he calls upon a blind prophet, Tiresias.Tiresias tells Oedipus, "You're blind to the corruption of your life /…Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, / he will grope his way toward foreign soil, / a stick tapping before him step by step" (Sophocles. 471-51).This is ironic that the prophet is blind, and even he is aware of Oedipus's blindness, while Oedipus remains sightless.Oedipus remains blind until the end of the play.It is then that he discovers his true past and that he is the murderer whom is seeks.In another bit of irony, Oedipus, who has been blind and so desperate to see the truth, "You, [shepherd], come over here -- / look at me.Answer all my questions" (Sophocles. 17-1), has now learned the truth, and wishes to be blind.He also purges his emotions (catharsis), and gouges out his eyes, "[Messenger narrating for Oedipus] You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I have caused!…Blind to the ones you longed to see…Blind in the darknessblind!"(Sophocles. 1406-1410).Through this play, the blindness motif holds, that a man who began the play mentally blind, became able to see, and then became physically blind.
In both King Lear and Oedipus the King, the characters begin the play mentally blind, either by arrogance or through the misjudgment of their children, and in most cases, become physically blind, after they have experienced the ultimate downfall.They are unaware that they are the "villain" or the "bad guy" who they seek.In King Lear, the characters are mentally blinded by their children.Goneril and Regan blind Oedipus into thinking that they are faithful to him and that they love him, and Edmund blinds Gloucester, and tells him that Edgar is plotting to kill him.The children in King Lear blind their parents in order to better themselves, and in both cases, the mental blinding goes unrecognized until the moment of catharsis; when Lear is standing in the storm, ripping off his clothes and losing touch with sanity, and when Gloucester's eyes are being gorged out.In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is blind to his past and to actions that he has committed, and he wants to learn the truth.Oedipus has blinded himself through arrogance, and it is not until the clues slap him in the face, that he realizes the truth.In his moment of catharsis, Oedipus gouges out his own eyes, and literally cleanses himself of the emotions and the "bad" blood that was harvested inside his body.
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