King Lear Sight and Blindness Quotes

But I have a son, sir by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this knave came something saucily to the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair, there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. – Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Gloucester makes a lewd and cruel joke to Kent about his bastard son Edmund arriving "saucily" into the world. He says he had "good sport" with his "fair" mother at Edmund’s making. The tactless Earl associates lust with love and is also blind to the feelings of Edmund who is standing beside him, calling him a "whoreson." Gloucester also tells Kent that he has another legitimate son Edgar, although he doesn’t love him any more than Edmund. This passage is foreshadowing of the family conflict to come as Gloucester is punished by a resentful Edmund.

Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. –
Give me the map there.
Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburdened crawl toward death.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. King Lear calls his court together to formally divide his kingdom between his three daughters. The aging monarch expresses his desire to live his last years free of care and responsibilities that could be handled by a younger person. But instead of bringing peace and contentment, giving up his power and dividing his kingdom has the opposite result and is a decision that Lear will come to regret right up to his death. The passage is an ironic foreshadowing of the strife and deaths that will follow Learr’s rash decision. His words "our darker purpose" also reflect his blindness to the consequences of his actions. And his bleak image of life, "while we Unburdened crawl toward death," is the language of nihilism – the play is sometimes seen as nihilistic on account of all the betrayal, malice and moral nihilism shown by some of the characters.

Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter,
Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e’er loved, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Goneril is the first to respond to her Lear’s "who loves me most?" test. She falsely professes undying love for her father, using verbal irony to say that she loves him more than words can express. The gullible Lear shows mental and moral blindness when he fails to recognize Goneril’s over the top and insincere flattery as she tells him what he wants to hear. In the matter of his daughters’ love, he cannot tell the difference between the appearance and reality. So he goes on to award Goneril a generous share of his kingdom. The Earl of Gloucester’s later blinding is also forshadowed by Goneril’s declaration of her love being "dearer than eyesight," a phrase that underlines how terrible it would be to lose your eyesight.

I am made of that self mettle as my sister
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys
Which the most precious square of sense possesses,
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear Highness’ love.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Regan, not to be outdone by Goneril’s exaggerated declaration of love for Lear, tries to "one up" her sister. A hypocritical Regan suggests that Goneril’s love "comes too short" compared to hers, and that the only thing that makes her truly happy is Lear’s love. This highlights the competition between the pair, a rivalry that will climax in destructive violence in the final act, so foreshadowing the murder-suicide to come. Regan talks of having the same "mettle" as her sister, her pun on the word "metal" conveying dramatic irony. For the sisters are very much alike and both have the hardness of metal. As with Goneril, Lear rewards Regan with a large share of his kingdom, unable to distinguish between her empty flattery and the truth. Both sisters are simply trying to gain as much of his power and wealth as possible but he doesn’t see.

Let it be so. Thy truth, then, be thy dower,
For by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate and the night,
By all the operation of the orbs
From whom we do exist, and cease to be,
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity, and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved
As thou my sometime daughter.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Lear flies into a rage at Cordelia’s stubborn refusal to flatter him and play ball with his love test charade. Her truth will be her only inheritance, he tells her. He calls on the natural forces of the sun, moon and planets to assist in his disowning of Cordelia. Lear promises to treat her "as a stranger to my heart" (simile). He compares his daughter to a "barbarous Scythian" who eats their own children. When he says "Here I disclaim all my paternal care" the tragedy of the play starts to unfold, as Lear gives up his fatherly care and love for her. The first major betrayal in the play is Lear’s betrayal of his daughter Cordelia. This is a decision which will have far-reaching and serious consequences for Lear. And it is one he will later learn to regret when his two other daughters treat him exactly this way. They treat him with unkindness and show him no compassion, just as he does with Cordelia. It is ironic that the daughter who loves King Lear most and the one who respects him most to tell the truth is the one who is disinherited and banished from her own country. This betrayal and cruel abuse of power turns out to be Lear’s greatest folly. His astounding blindness to the true worth of Cordelia and her sisters is his most unforgiveable case of choosing appearances over reality.

LEAR: [To Kent] I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. [To Cordelia] Hence and avoid my sight! –
So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father’s heart from her.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. When Kent tries to get Lear to see the terrible mistake he has made in disowning Cordelia, Lear makes an extraordinary admission. He is angry because Cordelia is the daughter he loved best whom he hoped would nurse him in his retirement years. He then banishes Cordelia from his sight and withdraws his love from her. It is no surprise that Lear’s family is so dysfunctional when as a father he can be such a blind fool.

LEAR: Kent, on thy life, no more.
KENT: My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies; nor fear to lose it,
Thy safety being the motive.
LEAR: Out of my sight!

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Kent says that he has never valued his own life except as a pawn (metaphor) Lear could use against his enemies. He pledges that he would protect Lear with his life. But Kent’s protest at Lear’s disowning of Cordelia falls on deaf ears due to Lear’s obstinate pride and failure to see reality. Lear tells the honest and devoted Kent to shut up and get out of his sight. In yet another act of blind folly Lear banishes his most loyal servant and selfless advisor.

See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. After told to get out of his sight by Lear for standing up for Cordelia and speaking the truth, Kent urges Lear to see better, since the King has been blinded by stubborness and pride. The loyal Kent also appeals to Lear to allow him to remain where he can look to him for honest advice. Kent’s metaphor of a "blank" – meaning the center of a target – asks us to imagine a weapon aimed at an eye, so this is foreshadowing of Gloucester’s blinding.

Five days we do allot thee for provision
To shield thee from disasters of the world,
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom. If on the tenth day following
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Lear shows great disloyalty to his devoted and loyal courtier Kent by banishing him from the kingdom under pain of death. The King is so blinded by his own pride that he cannot see Kent’s true qualities. Kent pays dearly for his outspoken protest, as Lear gives him five days to gather provisions to shield him from the "disasters of the world." But as he shuts the gates on Kent, Lear fails to see own homelessness coming, even though his words to Kent foreshadow it.

This is most strange,
That she, that even but now was your best object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
Most best, most dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. The King of France comments on Lear’s irrational behavior and on his former affection for Cordelia. He finds it strange that Cordelia, Lear’s "best object," should have done something so monstrous to lose that affection. France is being ironic here, for he can see clearly, if Lear cannot.

It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonoured step,
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour;
But even for want of that for which I am richer,
A still-soliciting eye, and such a tongue
As I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Cordelia makes clear to Lear that she is no fortune hunter. She said that she lost her father’s favour not for an act of murder, lust or dishonour. But she offended him because she didn’t have a greedy eye and smooth tongue. She tells him she is glad she doesn’t have them, even though it has cost her his love. Cordelia shows her integrity and honesty in this speech, and shows up Lear for his foolishness and blindness.

You see how full of changes his age is; the observation we have made of it hath not been little. He always loved our sister most, and with what poor judgment he hath now cast her off appears too grossly.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1. Goneril can see Lear’s growing instability and poor judgment more clearly than he can see himself – Lear has little self-knowledge. Goneril is concerned that Lear has just disowned the daughter he loved most. Not because she cares for Cordelia, however, but because of Goneril’s self-interest and concern that Lear’s poor judgment might affect her and Regan. This foreshadows the conflict that will arise between the older sisters and Lear.

GLOUCESTER [Reads]: "This policy and reverence of age makes the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them. I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny; who sways, not as it hath power, but as it is suffered. Come to me, that of this I may speak more. If our father would sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue for ever, and live the beloved of your brother, Edgar."
Hum? Conspiracy? "Sleep till I waked him, you should enjoy half his revenue," – My son Edgar! Had he a hand to write this? a heart and brain to breed it in? – When came this to you? Who brought it?

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2. The letter forged by Edmund and purporting to come from Edgar proposes that the brothers kill their father so that they can enjoy his "revenue" (wealth). Although Edgar is Gloucester’s son and heir so they must have a close and caring relationship, Gloucester appears a little too ready to believe that he is involved in a diabolical murder plot. But Gloucester is too blind to see through Edmund’s wicked subterfuge and recognize Edgar’s innocence of any betrayal of his father.

O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter. Unnatural, detested, brutish villain! Worse than brutish! Go, sirrah, seek him; I’ll apprehend him: abominable villain! Where is he?

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 2. Gloucester labels son and heir Edgar an unnatural, brutish and abominable villain and demands to know where he is. But he is too hasty to fall for the manipulating Edmund’s deception and lies, which he swallows hook, line and sinker. So Gloucester plays the blind fool and condemns his true son Edgar without ever giving him a chance to defend himself. So much for Gloucester family justice!

LEAR: Doth any here know me? This is not Lear.
Doth Lear walk thus, speak thus? Where are his eyes?
Either his notion weakens, his discernings
Are lethargied – Ha! Waking? ‘Tis not so.
Who is it that can tell me who I am?
FOOL: Lear’s shadow.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4. King Lear can’t believe the way he is being treated by some of those around him. Having been described as a fool by his court jester, and his daughter Goneril tearing into him with complaints about his rowdy knights. From being undisputed King and ruler of his kingdom, he now watches his power and dignity slipping away from him. He questions who he is, asks if anybody knows him, wonders where are his eyes, and who can tell him who he is. The Fool’s clever answer, "Lear’s shadow," has multiple meanings. The Fool is the King’s inner conscience, he shadows him wherever he goes, telling Lear who he is in his witty social commentary and wise criticism. But since abdicating his throne Lear has also become a shadow of the man he once was and is beginning to lose grip on reality (just before this passage he asks Goneril: "Are you my daughter?"). There is a sad of despair in the words of Lear and the Fool’s reply, as Lear searches for some meaning to his life in an existence that now appears increasingly meaningless to him. This passage reflects the play’s nihilism theme.

I’ll tell thee.
[To Goneril.] Life and death! I am ashamed
That thou hast power to shake my manhood thus,
That these hot tears, which break from me perforce,
Should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs upon thee!
Th’ untented woundings of a father’s curse
Pierce every sense about thee! Old fond eyes,
Beweep this cause again, I’ll pluck ye out
And cast you with the waters that you loose
To temper clay.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4. Lear, asked by Albany what’s the matter, responds with this speech. Feeling betrayed, he tells Goneril that he is ashamed she has the power to shake his "manhood" so much that he is reduced to tears – Goneril does this by cutting his retinue of knights. He curses her with incurable pain and vows that if his old eyes should weep again because of her, he will pluck them out, foreshadowing Gloucester’s blinding. It was Lear’s blindness to the true character of Goneril and sister Regan that led him abdicating to them. The English Shakespearean actor Corin Redgrave said: "Lear has a great fear of the feminine side of his nature. At every critical juncture in the conflict with his daughters, his anxiety and dread are that he will betray his masculinity by crying, and when that happens he is devastated. Notice also how this speech, with its violent imagery of blinding, in this case self-inflicted, anticipates the blinding of Gloucester, who is horribly punished for taking pity on Lear – pity and mercy being feminine qualities."

Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4. Albany is the peacemaker here, as he tries to make peace between his wife Goneril and her father King Lear. He tells Goneril that while striving for improvement, we often end up ruining something that’s good. A moral and kindly man, he underestimates his wife’s capacity for wickedness and is slow to comprehend and confront this. The fuller quote here is: "How far your eyes may pierce I can not tell: Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well."

FOOL: I can tell why a snail has a house.
LEAR: Why?
FOOL: Why, to put ‘s head in, not to give it away to his daughters and leave his horns without a case.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 1, Scene 5. The Fool makes a joke to Lear about his foolish decision to give his kingdom away to his daughters. He compares Lear to a snail who has given away his shell and is without a home. This passage is foreshadowing of Lear’s homelessness, which he fails to foresee despite the warnings given to him by his wise Fool.

And of my land,
Loyal and natural boy, I’ll work the means
To make thee capable.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 1. Failing to see through Edmund’s deception, Gloucester praises his bastard son Edmund for his loyalty and tells him that he will find a way to make him his legitimate heir so that he will inherit his land and titles. Gloucester is taken in by Edmund’s story that Edgar wounded him after Edgar tried to get him to join in the plot to kill Gloucester and take his title. Edmund in fact cut himself with his own sword.

My old heart is cracked; it’s cracked.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 1. Gloucester tells Regan that his heart is broken. With Edgar fled from Gloucester’s castle, the Earl believes that his son betrayed him by plotting to kill him. But the plot is a fabrication by his illigitimate son Edmund, who has been plotting to discredit Edgar and become Gloucester’s heir. Like Lear, Gloucester hasn’t the wisdom to distinguish between reality and fiction and he lashes out at the honest child and rewards the deceitful one.

Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind,
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne’er turns the key to th’ poor.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. When Lear arrives at Gloucester’s palace he is shocked to find Kent placed in stocks by Lear’s daughter Regan and Cornwall. The wise Fool attributes the humiliation of the King’s messenger to Lear’s reversal in fortune. Using rhyme and metaphor he satirizes Lear’s act of folly in giving away "bags" of money to daughters Regan and Goneril. When fathers are poor and "wear rags" their children are blind to their needs, the Fool says. But if their fathers are rich, then the children are nice to them. Fortune is a fickle whore who never opens her door to the poor, the Fool warns. Lear is now "poor" after giving away his kingdom to Regan and Goneril.

We’ll set thee to school to an ant to teach thee there’s no labouring i’ th’ winter. All that follow their noses are led by their eyes but blind men, and there’s not a nose among twenty but can smell him that’s stinking. Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill lest it break thy neck with following; but the great one that goes upward, let him draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better counsel, give me mine again. I would have none but knaves follow it, since a Fool gives it.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. The Fool uses metaphorical language to advise Kent that there is no use serving a man like Lear who has nothing to offer. Even the blind can smell his misery. When you see a great wheel rolling down a hill, you shouldn’t try to hold it or it will break your neck, the Fool warns. But the wheel that goes uphill, let it pull you up after it. When a wise man gives you better advice, give mine back, says the Fool.

GONERIL: My lord, entreat him by no means to stay.
GLOUCESTER: Alack, the night comes on, and the bleak winds
Do sorely ruffle. For many miles about
There’s scarce a bush.

– William Shakespeare

King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4. Goneril urges her husband Cornwall not to invite Lear into Gloucester’s palace to lodge. Gloucester, a loyal subject of Lear and concerned for the King’s welfare and safety in the gathering storm, tries to play the peacemaker. But he is just as naive and blind to the truth as Lear. He is attempting to appeal to a humanity which Lear’s older daughters clearly don’t have.
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