20/20 vision is not enough: "King lear" - William Shakespeare

In today's society there is a common voluntary blindness to subjects such as global warming, air pollution and animal extinction. People refuse to see what is happening to the world. On the other hand there are people, such as George Bush, who are unaware of what is directly in front of them. This man cannot see that waging war on countries affects his own country, along with the world. In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare there is a character that cannot seem to see what is right in front of him. This person cannot tell that his actions are affecting his life, and his kingdom. This character is King Lear, although at the beginning of the play he cannot see, by the end he begins to see his errors and wrong doings. His acquired sight is shown at three occasions: when Lear sees what Goneril and Regan have done to him and curses them and refuses to live with them; when Lear wants to live alone in a jail cell until the end of their lives in order to show her how much he regrets his actions; and when Cordelia dies and he looks very hard to see if she is still alive.

Lear and Cordelia

English: Title page of Shakespeare's King Lear (16...

Cordelia

King Lear begins to show signs of sight when Goneril and Regan begin to treat him insensitively. This happens when King Lear is contemplating staying at Regan's castle, and they argue because she does not enjoy the company of all King Lear's army, and simply refuses to house them all. Goneril is also attending this dispute and both of Lear's daughters slowly lower the number of knights he can keep with him to zero. Lear partially does not see here, because he is telling his daughters that whoever lets him have more troops...