King Lear

Shakespeare wrote many well-known plays through out his life. King Lear, being one of his great tragedies that showed the destruction of a kingdom. Through this play, he presented a clear theme of physical sight verses metaphorical sight.

Gloucester brought out this theme as he develops from seeing with his physical eye to gaining the knowledge of insight. In the beginning, he only relied on his physical eye to see which had made him metaphorically blind.
¡°The quality of nothing
Hath not such needed to hide it self. Let¡¯s see-come if
It be nothing I shall not need my spectacles.¡±
He relied on his physical eye to see the letter that Edmund had given him. As a result, Gloucester believed Edgar to be unfaithful to him. The fact that Gloucester did not have his spectacles when he had opened the letter is symbolist for Gloucester¡¯s figurative eye being dominated by the physical eye, disabling him to make a rational judgement. As well as th...