King Lear Journal #3: Two passages that connect Sight/Perception vs. Reality

I am tracking the motif of sight and finding the connection between sight and perception/reality.

OSWALD

This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spared at suit of

his gray beard—                         (A. 2, Sc. 2, Ln. 53-64)

Kent, disguised as an elderly servant of King Lear, is caught as he challenged another servant, Oswald, to a duel. Despite his goading, Kent failed to bring Oswald into battle because Oswald saw not the well known devoted Kent, but an angry old servant. This passage serves to reveal the control one has over another person's perception of something. When others had arrived in aid of Oswald, Kent tricked them into thinking he was a scoundrel quick talker when in fact, he is of the most helpful manner with King Lear. Thus, Oswald's perception of Kent is false, but still "saved" Kent's life.

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Edgar

I heard myself proclaimed,

And . . .

Escaped the hunt. No port is free; no place

That guard and most unusual vigilance

Does not attend my taking . . .

I will preserve myself, and am bethought

To take the basest and most poorest shape

That ever penury in contempt of man

Brought near to the beast . . .

"Edgar" I nothing am.    (A. 2, Sc. 3, Ln. 1-21)

Edmund gets away with his plot to gain all of his "legitimate" brother Edgar's inheritance by saying that Edgar planned to kill Gloucester, his father. When Edgar learns of this, Edmund instructs him to flee on his command and to stay low because Gloucester was extremely upset. Edgar, in his naivety, accepts this portrayal of the truth (the truth is Edmund just wants inheritance and isn't really helping Edgar). There are many references to sight in this passage: "vigilance", "bethought", "I . . .myself". Vigilance is the act of watching, and so, Edgar notes that the guards are watching ever closer at all things passing. This is the scrutiny of truth. "Bethought" only means that he has decided to save his life by staying in the disguise of a beggar. He is shedding his old perception of himself, seeing that he now has to live in fear, and no longer refers to him self. In fact, he denounces his name and says "'Edgar' I nothing am."

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At first, I had imagined that Shakespeare would fall closely in line with the ancient Greek use of Sight and Illusion vs. Reality. However, as the play progressed, so did the motif. Sight entangled itself in the fallacies of inheritance and in the ideas of foppish royalty. Now that Edgar has lowered  himself to the position of beggar, he is much like King Lear's Fool, residing only in the noblest terms of honesty, even though Edgar doesn't know the full truth. King Lear, in the beginning of the play, had a blindness to the deceit of his older daughters' false proclamations of love. His follies that the entire play stems from originates in his inability to see what is real and what isn't, thus giving rise to a feeling of payback - how could King Lear not feel repercussions of his mistakes?