What we actually need to know about King Lear

Now that we've read pretty far into King Lear, I can actually begin to discuss some useful information on this blog- symbolism, allusions, themes, and all that good stuff.  I think it would be best to start small and work up to the overlying themes, so I'll begin by looking at symbolism.  In Act 3, the storm that rages outside is a representation of Lear's inner conflict.  He is furious with is daughters for the way they have treated him, and Shakespeare uses the storm as a way of portraying this more effectively.  More importantly, though, is the symbol of blindness.  An example showing the symbolic nature of blindness can be seen with the misfortunes of Gloucester.  His physical blindness serves to symbolize his metaphorical blindness from the fact that Edgar is the son that truly loves him, while Edmund is a malicious schemer.  However, blindness is more of a motif than a symbol though since it is referenced at multiple points during the play.  For example, King Lear can be said to be "blind" of the fact that Cordelia is the only daughter that truly loves him.  In fact, after Lear voices his displeasure with Cordelia's behavior, Kent says "See better, Lear."  There are various other references to sight and vision, all of which contribute to the motif of blindness.  This provides a connection that can be made to other works by Shakespeare since many others contain the important motif of blindness as well.    There are other motifs, though, that play an important role in King Lear as well.  For example, the motif of madness is essential to the development of some of the characters.  When discussing madness, there are three characters that come to mind.  However, only one of these characters seems to be truly mad.  The three characters I'm referencing are King Lear, Edgar (as poor Tom), and the fool.  Lear may not be completely mad, but he is certainly progressing in that direction.  The foul curses that he wishes upon his daughters are one example showing that he isn't thinking very clearly.  Edgar, on the other hand, is pretending to be mad as Poor Tom.  We can see that Edgar himself is sane though, evidenced by the various asides scattered throughout the play.  The third character, who is probably the least associated with madness out of all of them, is the fool.  He isn't mad either, but some of the phrases he utters make little to no sense and can be connected to madness.  A final but very important motif in King Lear is betrayal.  I'm not even sure where to start with this one- there are many examples that come to mind.  Edmund betrays both his brother and his father in order to advance his own self-interests.  It could also be said that Lear was betrayed by Goneril and Regan since they refuse him shelter during the storm.  At the same time, Lear betrays Cordelia's love for him by sending her away to France.  The many examples of betrayal establish this as an important motif to the play.  Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, it's time to discuss some themes.  Although we're not finished yet, I think I've established a tradition on this blog of guessing the theme when we're 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through the work we're reading.  So far, one theme I can see is that dishonesty and corruption within a family can cause a major collapse.  Edmund's betrayal of his brother and father has led to a drastic change in all of their lives, two of which are for the worse.  This can be seen in Lear's family as well, since both Goneril and Regan have become corrupt and I believe that they will destroy Lear in their battle to control the entire kingdom.