1 when he makes jokes at Edmund's expense in front of Kent. Clearly Edmund's anger and frustration have mounted to a highly dangerous level, but Gloucester is unable to see this. .
Lear's eyes begin to be opened to the fact that Goneril and Regan are simply using him in 1.4 when he arrives at Goneril's home with the one hundred knights he made them promise to allow him. Goneril rejects her father and for the first time Lear is beginning to see that she does not love him. At this point he still clings to the status of his kingship, even though he has relinquished power to the daughters. He claims he can see perfectly well what they are doing by drawing attention to himself, asking "Does any here know me? This is not Lear. Does Lear walk thus? Where are his eyes?" (1582). He insists that he is just as aware as he has always been and that Goneril should not treat him as badly as she is. He actually becomes so angry that he cries, and he curses Goneril and his own eyes, saying (speaking to his eyes) he will "pluck ye out And cast you, with the waters that you loose, To temper clay " (1583). In other words, he would rather lose his eyes then lose his masculinity by crying. It is interesting that he is angry at his physical eyes for crying when his metaphorical eyes cannot perceive what is happening around him. This desire to keep from crying is echoed later in his final encounter with Cordelia, when he finally breaks down and weeps. .
The most crucial scene involving blindness and sight is 3.7 when Cornwall and Goneril gouge Gloucester's eyes, leaving him physically blind. This scene is the turning point for Gloucester, signaling a shift in the way he perceives the world around him. Gloucester remains loyal to Lear, against the will of Goneril and Regan, and when they discover his "treachery" they decide to punish him by putting out his eyes. There is an echo of Lear's line in 1.