Question 3

Aristotle, writing in his Poetics in the 4th Century BCE, stated that in the complex action of drama “change is accompanied by a discovery or a reversal, or both” and that “the most effective form of discovery is that which is accompanied by reversals, like the one in Oedipus” (in which the hero on discovering the truth of his situation blinds himself). The most significant reversal in Act 3, scene 7 of King Lear is arguably the intervention of the first servant, who in justifying his right to obstruct Cornwall, redefines the nature of service. He believes he cannot do Cornwall a “better service” than to try to prevent him from plucking out Gloucester’s other eye. He thereby asserts his right to teach his lord a moral lesson, overturning the feudal social order both Cornwall and Regan insist upon in calling him “villein” and “peasant”. But his intervention is presented as noble and courageous: he is prepared to fight for what he believes is right and dies for it when Regan ignobly attacks him from behind.

It is possible to argue that this action, in which Cornwall is fatally wounded, represents a turning point in the action of the play. Evil could be said to have done its worst, Gloucester having been branded a traitor and blinded and Lear having been cast out into the storm; but the full extent of the suffering which has been set in train will only be fully realised in the final scene of the play.

A counter-argument may assert that as the actions of the servant concern the sub-plot and do not have an immediate effect on the plot, it cannot be said to mark a significant turning point. But the servant’s intervention in this most gruesome scene, in which a blinding and the first two killings of the play occur, can be seen as symbolic. The action of the first servant is moreover supported at the end of the scene by his fellows who assist Gloucester with small acts of mercy. The servants bring to the fore once again the question of fitness to rule and the nature of duty and service which was first addressed by Kent in his opposition to Lear’s “hideous rashness” in disowning Cordelia in the first scene of the play. Kent’s disguise as the plain-speaking
Caius has already been established as the model of true service, the opposite of the self-serving Oswald.

Gloucester’s sudden discovery in lines 90-91of the truth of Edmund’s actions contrasts with Lear’s gradual realisation of how he has misjudged his daughters, a process which began as early as Act 1, scene 4 (lines 258-264). The full burden of his own folly and the cruelty of his daughters contribute to his descent into madness, but Gloucester’s lightning-fast deduction, “Then Edgar was abused”, shows there is to be no respite for him in madness; he now possesses knowledge, but the moral courage to endure his suffering has still to be gained.

References to sight and seeing abound in this passage, but only when he is blind does Gloucester gain insight; the angry exchange between Lear and Kent in Act 1 is once again recalled:

            Lear: Out of my sight!
            Kent: See better, Lear, and let me still remain
                     ..The true blank of thine eye.

Gloucester’s blinding thus becomes the physical embodiment of the pain both he and Lear must endure to find the truth. Gloucester’s failings have chiefly concerned familial relationships and moral judgement, but Lear’s extended into the political sphere and resulted in the division of a kingdom which has still to suffer civil war before any restoration of peace may be possible. The political, social and familial disruption caused by Lear is far-reaching. In his madness he must suffer with the meanest of his subjects and acknowledge all that he has “ta’en too little care of”.

The plucking out of Gloucester’s eyes vividly dramatises how past errors must be rooted out. The blinding inextricably links the play’s two plots; Lear’s folly has created a topsy-turvy world in which the man who is loyal to the King is accused of treachery, the host suffers at the hands of his guests, the servant teaches his master a lesson in duty and the blind are made to see.