This horribly, bloody, terrible event that happens had to have a specific purpose.
"O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father's wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I'ld say I had eyes again!"- act IV scene I
He was blind metaphorically, and wrongly accused his righteous son, until he was blinded literally, and saw the truth.
"What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes
with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond
justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in
thine ear" -act IV scene VI
Lear, in his mad, primal state, half lost his mind tells Gloucester still how there is life to see beyond what we experience only through our eyes.
"Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
act V scene III
His newly lost eyes, became his guide.
Gloucester pleads with his son, Edgar to let him stay and rot under a tree, and Edgar replies,
Their going hence, even as their coming hither-"act V scene II
Men must endure.
This disturbing and unsettling play has a purpose in its gruesomeness. Even though our own mistakes create the misery in our lives, we must still go on.
Somethings only the most disturbing and horrible events can break through the glaze we've got over our eyes and make us see the truth. No pun intended...
ReplyDeleteI have always found it really interesting that there are two kinds of a sense. You can physically hear what someone is saying, but it's not until you HEAR them that they have an impact on you. You can see someone every day of your life, but its not until you learn something about them that your eyes are opened and you really SEE them. Then they mean something to you. It's like there's more depth to our sense when we assign meaning to them.