It is important to note that while Gloucester has some individual features – his superstition, his adultery, for example – his character is determined largely by the parallel role he plays to the king. He is a foil to Lear, emphasising features which they have in common. Like Lear, he is a complacent father, used to assuming an unquestioned authority. Like Lear, Gloucester acts rashly and ruthlessly when he believes that his son Edgar has rebelled against him, and in so doing puts himself in his evil son’s power. Like Lear, Gloucester fails to ‘keep his house in order’. His adultery, which he jokes about in the opening moments of the play, might be seen as a failure to take his patriarchal responsibilities seriously. He is as blind as his ruler and, like him, consequently suffers a tragic fall.