Animals
King Lear is rife with animal imagery, as the play is known for interrogating whether mankind is anything "more" than animal after all. Most often, animal imagery appears in the form of savage or carnivorous beasts, usually associated with Goneril and Regan. By using this imagery to describe the two sisters, the play sets them up as the clear antagonists in the narrative while at the same time suggesting that other characters will become victims of their attacks.
Eyes
Even before Gloucester's brutal mutilation by Regan and Cornwall, the play relies on images of eyes and seeing as a way to foreshadow Gloucester's fate. The prevalent eye imagery also comments on Lear's "blind" state at the beginning of the play, in which he misperceives his own power and misjudges his daughters in an act that ensures his own fall.
Decaying Bodies
King Lear is famous for its metaphors about physical disease, aging bodies, and decaying corpses. Lear frequently compares Goneril and Regan to ailments of his own body, suggesting their parasitical nature and drain on his power. Furthermore, in early modern England, a king's body was often used as a metaphor for his kingdom. That Lear is "sick" throughout King Lear suggests a similar fate for Britain as turmoil among Lear's family members increases.
Babies
Throughout the play, Lear makes frequent reference to his desire to return to a state similar to infancy, where one is not plagued with responsibility. The imagery of carefree children pervades the first half of the play. However, Lear soon learns that old age and infancy also share the same vulnerabilities. As Lear grows old, he becomes powerless and less independent, a realization compounded by Goneril and Regan's humiliating infantilization of their father.
