Gloucester's Eyes: Gloucester was tortured and had his eyes popped out because of his blindness while alive. The fact that he couldn't tell the true nature of his own sons made him blind long before he actually lost his sight. Like Lear's fading sanity, he seems to be able to discern things more clearly after he loses his sight.
Declarations of Love: When the daughters declare their love for their father, they are really declaring their greed. When Cordelia does not profess her love, she has no greed for the things her father can offer her. This is also true with Edmund who tells his father and the two elder sisters that he loves them in order to gain more wealth.
The Storm: In act three, a storm rages that represents the turmoil going on inside King Lear. His passion overflows with his anger and his sanity begins to wane. He is caught up in his own emotions just as he is caught unprotected in the storm. He has seemed to abandon rational thought when he abandons the house of his daughters.
Lear's Daughters: All of Lear's daughters are different pieces of himself. Regan and Goneril represent the darker side of Lear's character such as his cruelty, greed, passion, and pride. Cordelia represents the softer, purer nature of himself that only truly comes out in the end of the play. When he turns over his land to his daughters, he seems to be turning over to them the characteristics in himself that he most deplores. At one point in the play he states that his daughters drive him crazy, but it really is his inherent nature that propels him into insanity.
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King Lear: Metaphor Analysis
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