Shakespeare's King Lear tells of the tragedies of two families. At the head of each family is a father who cannot see his children for what they are. Both fathers are lacking in perceptiveness, so the stories of the two families run parallel to each other. In Lear's case, two of his daughters fool him into believing their lies. Lear shuts out his third daughter because she cannot her love into words the way he wants her to. Gloucester, similarly, forbids the son that truly loves him, while putting all his trust into the son who betrays him. Both Lear and Gloucester lack the direction and insight that it takes to see reality, instead they see only physically. Lear does not realize his daughter's true feelings until it is too late. Gloucester must loose his physical sight in order to gain the type of vision that he needs to see his son's betrayal. Shakespeare uses Gloucester's realization of reality and Lear's inability to see with his heart to portray his theme of blindness.Gloucester illustrates Shakespeare's theme of blindness throughout most of the story. Gloucester's blindness prevents him from seeing the goodness of his son Edgar and the evil of his son Edmund. Edmund shows Gloucester a letter that Edgar has supposedly written plotting against Gloucester. Gloucester is easily convinced that Edgar has written this letter and is plotting to kill him. Gloucester's lack of insight into Edgar allows him to call Edgar a "Abhorred villain! Unnatural, detested, brutish villain! Worse than brutish " ( I.ii.80-81 ). These are harsh words for Gloucester to say about his son, but he does not have the ability to see how loyal Edgar is to him, so he calls Edgar these names. Gloucester's lack of insight also leads him to trust Edmund, his evil son, with all his heart. Gloucester even trusts Edmund with incriminating news of a French invasion. He tells Edmund, " Say you nothing " ( III.iii.8 ). Edmund says to himself after Glo...
