The characters in King Lear are what make up the themes, plot, and story. In this novel, a recurring and relevant theme is blindness versus intuition. “There is a big difference between good, valid reasons and reasons that sound good.” this quote vocalized by J. Lyman MacInnis applies to King Lear and other characters in this book. The quote refers to the contrast between a reason that an individual may think is good and a reason that is good and this links to various characters with bad reasoning, decision making and blindness that led to their destruction and downfall. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the first act, King Lear is presented as a furious and angry man, blind to seeing the truth and honesty in the love of Cordelia, his youngest child out of three. Cordelia refuses to show love and affection to her father in public and to deceive as Goneril and Regan did to gain his affection and favoritism. He ends up giving the kingdom to Goneril and Regan and refuses to give Cordelia her kingdom. “Unhappy to be, I can't put my heart in my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond; no more, no less." "Good my lord, you bore me, raised me, loved me... Of course, I will never marry like my sisters, to love my father all." These quotes from Act 1 show that Cordelia is loyal and honest to her father and she tells him that she will always be there for him no matter what and that she loves him as any daughter should. Kent also recognizes and sees the truth in Cordelia's love and tries to open Lear's eyes to see more clearly. Kent trying to get Lear to look and see better portrays Lear's metaphorical blindness in the play. King Lear is blinded and deceived by Regan and Goneril's false love that Cordelia's love and affection seems to be non-existent in comparison. His irrational thinking and poor reasoning later led him to his downfall and madness, when he decided to divide his land in two and give half each to his manipulative and deceitful daughters. Clearly, Lear did not weigh his decision wisely and suffered the consequences of giving up his power further into the novel. Lear serves as a form of walking reminder of the tragic mistakes of blindness he has made. Blindness versus intuition is a theme that reappears in Shakespeare's King Lear. Blindness and poor decision-making led the characters in King Lear to chaos and total destruction. The blindest character of all was undoubtedly King Lear. King Lear is a prominent example where the novel incorporates this theme. The root of all of Lear's problems is based on his lack of common sense. The tragic decisions and mistakes King Lear made in misunderstanding his daughters established a kind of figurative blindness: a lack of understanding of the true characters of those around them. The lack of insight of King Lear and the other characters in this novel created the themes, conflicts and plot that make up the story.