How Clothing Imagery Defines the Characters Within "King Lear"

There are many ways in which a person can use their appearance as extensions of their personalities. Through viewing the attire of another, their age, income or class, interests, nationality or religion can be determined. A person with a pressed black suit, a gold watch, alligator skin briefcase and golfer tie can be classified as a middle aged, business man with a good income living in a city. This is all concluded from examining image …

…through the transitions between the appearance's of how the characters attire themselves. Readers must be receptive to the images presented no matter how literally absurd they may be, and only then can the image be properly appreciated and understood. "Images operate, as one might deduce, in the realm of the imagination. They are the vehicle by which the poet's thoughts pass into the reader's mind as the reader's imagination responds to the poet's imagination." (Harbage, 23).