Blindness is not just the inability to see with the eyes. It is a quality derived from a lack of wisdom and intuition. True vision is not the product of the correct functioning of the optic nerves: it is the ability to carefully observe one's situation and to deduce, interpret and decipher. Sight is wisdom; blindness is foolishness. A clinically blind man walking down the street with a cane may, under this definition of "sight", be able to "see" more than a person with 20/20 vision. In this definition of "sight", a Fool can be sagacious and a King can be foolish. This is exactly the case with William Shakespeare's famous play, King Lear. Two characters, King Lear and the Fool, represent the juxtaposition of the two contrasting qualities of blindness and the ability to perceive, in their interactions with each other, with others, and in their general behavior. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The interactions of Lear and the Fool with each other help establish the theme of blindness versus sight. Throughout the novel, the Fool observes Lear's behavior and tells him the truths about his own identity. The Fool clearly sees Lear's flaws when he sings lines like "you have made your daughters, your mothers mad" (1.4.176-177) and "you have reduced your wits on both sides / and left nothing in between ". " (1.4.191-192) In this scene the Fool is telling Lear that he has given his daughters, Goneril and Regan, an enormous amount of authority over him - he has made them his "mothers", or given them a position of power over himself similar to that of a parent. He also equates Lear's division of his lands to a "reduction" of his "wit", meaning that, in giving away his land to his daughters, Lear he was also giving up part of his brain, because he foolishly left himself with nothing. The Fool then speaks to Lear about the disappearance of Lear's identity: now that Lear has nothing, he has become nothing . I'm better than you now./ I'm a Fool. You are nothing," (1.4.197-200) says the Fool. He is incredibly sincere; he sees that Lear has revealed everything that made up his identity as king. Now Lear is an "O without a digit" or a zero without a number before. He is "nothing" and is worse than a Fool: "I am better than you." Although the Fool is surprisingly accurate in deciphering Lear's character, Lear himself has no idea of ​​the madness of his own nature blind to the truth about himself and the truths spoken by the Fool, Lear either completely ignores the truth behind his words or scolds him: You should not have been old until you were wise. let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! / Keep me calm. (1.5.43-46)Here the Fool is commenting on Lear's obvious lack of wisdom, but Lear is never angry to accept the Fool's observations, even though he is in great need of advice. He fails to see the true light of his character and sometimes demonstrates a serious lack of understanding regarding his identity: Lear: Does anyone here know me? This is not Lear./ Does Lear walk like this, talk like this? Where are his eyes?... Who can tell me who I am?" Fool: Lear's shadow. (1.4.231-237) In this quote, Lear shows a lot of uncertainty about who he is. "Does anyone here know me?" he says, "Does Lear walk like this, talk like this?" He is confused, confused, unable to see his true nature. And, in truth, his confusion about his identity comes from the fact that he has mostly lost his identity he is no longer king and no longer has any royal heritage. So when the Fool says that Lear is indeed "Lear's shadow", he is indicating the loss of hisidentity. But Lear, as usual, ignores the Fool's statement. He will not see the truth behind the phrase "Where are his eyes?" it is an indication of Lear's blindness. But it is only at the end, when he has an epiphany, that Lear realizes the extent of his blindness: "My eyes are not the best," (5.3.336 ) he declares, admitting his own inability to see. The only one who "saw" Lear completely was the Fool, the truth of whose claims Lear refused to "see." This is one way in which Lear and the Fool represent the opposing forces of blindness and true sight. Lear and the Fool demonstrate blindness and clarity of vision respectively in their interactions and observations of others. First, Lear does not recognize his servant Kent, who returns from exile to serve his king has been Lear's faithful servant for many years, but when he disguises himself, Lear is completely blind to his identity, what is even more importantly, Lear doesn't see past Goneril's excessive flattering, and Regan is the honest one at first when he says that she, unlike her false sisters, does not love him so completely, but will reserve a part of his affections for the one he will marry . He does not see that it is unwise to give away his land, banish his only faithful daughter, and make himself dependent on his two deceitful daughters. The Fool sees Goneril and Regan from the beginning. When Goneril approaches Lear about his knights' rowdy behavior, Lear is caught completely taken aback by his rudeness: "Are you our daughter?" (1.4.224) he asks incredulously. Meanwhile, the Fool utters lines that indicate he had foreseen the whole thing: "For you know, uncle, / The hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, / That he had his head cut off by his young." (1.4.220-222) The Fool refers to how a cuckoo lays its egg in the sparrow's nest, and the sparrow feeds the young cuckoo until it grows big and kills the sparrow. This is exactly like Lear and his cruel daughters: he raised them to adulthood, and now in return they are ready to "bite off his head" or destroy him. The Fool sees all this; Lear doesn't. Lear, in this scene, continues to express disbelief at Goneril's behavior towards him. The Fool attempts to enlighten Lear with sayings such as, "Can't a donkey know when the cart pulls the horse?" (1.4.229) in which he refers to how Lear is led by his daughters like a horse led by the chariot. It is an inversion of what is natural; Lear is supposed to be the one with the authority, but now his daughters have turned against him and are leading him. Yet Lear is still blind to their intent to take it over completely; he once again ignores the Fool's comments and naively believes that his other daughter, Regan, will treat him better. But when he arrives at Regan's home, he finds his disguised servant, Kent, in shackles. For Lear, the public punishment of his servant is a sign of utter disrespect, and he cannot believe that Regan and her husband could do such a thing. "They dared not not to do it. / They could not, they would not do it. It is worse than murder..." (2.4.25-26) says Lear. Again he is taken by complete surprise, because his blindness does not allow him to see that both his daughters are cruel and ungrateful. The Fool, however, knows exactly what is going on in the situation. He sings a little rhyme to Lear: Fathers who wear rags make their children blind, but fathers who carry bags will see their children kind. (2.4.54-57) In this rhyme, the Fool reveals to Lear that the reason Goneril and Regan had expressed so much kindness to him in the beginning was because they wanted to gain large portions of the kingdom. Lear "saw his sons kind" only because he "carried purses" or had riches to share. The two daughters initially respected Lear so that they could get.