GLOUCESTER, EARL OF

a gullible father in Shakespeare's King Lear. Gloucester's story provides a parallel subplot to the tragedy of Lear. Like the king, Gloucester is a father suffering from filial ingratitude and from his inability to judge the characters of his children. Duped into believing ill of his faithful son Edgar and eventually blinded for trusting his treacherous illegitimate son Edmund, Gloucester, like Lear, learns a bitter lesson about his own foolishness. Ironically, his blinding improves his inner vision, and he says with newfound awareness: I have no way and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw. Full oft 'tis seen Our means secure us, and our mere defects Prove our commodities. O dear son Edgar, The food of thy abusd father's wrath! Might I but live to see thee in my touch, I'd say I had eyes again!