Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
“..................................for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of her again. Therefore be gone
Without our grace, our love, our benison.”
(Act I, Sc I, Ln 265-267)
Lear’s blindness also caused him to banish one of his loyal followers,
Kent. Kent was able to see Cordelia’s true love for her father, and
tried to protect her from her blind father’s irrationality. After
Kent was banished, he created a disguise for himself and was
eventually hired by Lear as a servant. Lear’s inability to determine
his servant’s true identity proved once again how blind Lear actually
was. As the play progressed, Lear’s eyesight reached closer to 20/20
vision. He realized how wicked his two eldest daughters really were
after they locked him out of the castle during a tremendous storm.
More importantly, Lear saw through Cordelia’s lack of flatterings and
realized that her love for him was so great that she couldn’t express
it into words. Unfortunately, Lear’s blindness ended up costing
Cordelia her life and consequently the life of himself.
Albany’s deep devotion to Goneril blinded him from the evil she
possessed. His inability to realize how greedy and mean Goneril was
after she flattered Lear with a bunch of lies and then kicked him out
of their home, just goes to show you how much Albany loved Goneril.
Albany was also blind to the fact that Goneril was cheating on him and
that she was plotting to kill him. Fortunately, Edgar came across a
cure for Albany’s blindness. A note outlining Goneril’s evil plans
was all Albany needed to see. Finally, Albany recognized what a devil
he was married to and for once let out his emotions when he said:
“O Goneril,
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face!”
(Act IV, Sc II, Ln 29-31)
Unlike Lear and Gloucester, Albany didn’t suffer much during his bout
with blindness. Not only did he survive his battle, but he lived to
remain the ruler of what was once Lear’s kingdom.