Professor Cunningham mentioned this briefly in lecture, so I thought it would be helpful to highlight the parallel relationships developed in King Lear, pairing Edgar/Edmund/Glouchester and Regan/Goneril/Cordelia/Lear. A previous poster lightly touched on the relationship between Lear and Cordelia, comparing the father/daughter relationship with Othello. Here, I’d like to pair Lear with Glouchester, and acknowledge their similar relationships with their children.
Both Glouchester and Lear share the quality of blindness – Glouchester’s comes in the physical form in III.vii, as Cornwall takes out his eyes. Lear’s blindness lies in his inability to understand the false praise Regan and Goneril heap upon him, and then to later be blind to the betrayal they plan against him. Both Glouchester and Lear are blind to actions, only understanding words – Lear believes his oldest daughters, but does not see the love Cordelia demonstrates through her actions. Likewise, Glouchester believes Edmund’s words against Edgar, but does not take into account the kindness with which Edgar has always treated his father. Glouchester and Lear both lose this ‘mental blindness’ after severe trauma, and see the actions of the children who truly love them. Glouchester, before ‘jumping’ off a cliff to his supposed death, calls out “If Edgar live, O bless him!” (IV.vi) Lear, through his madness, also recognizes the injustice he has done Cordelia, saying, “Your sisters have, as I do remember, done me wrong: You have some cause, they have not.” (IV.vii). Lear’s speech, at the beginning of Act V, Scene III also displays his renewal of faith in Cordelia’s love. Lear cherishes the thought of having Cordelia with him while in prison, declaring “we two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage” (V.iii).
Lindsay Bajo
Waldo, Thursday 1-2pm
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