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As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods;
They kill us for their sport.
Gloucester speaks these words as he
wanders on the heath after being blinded by Cornwall and Regan (4.1.37–38).
They reflect the profound despair that grips him and drives him
to desire his own death. More important, they emphasize one of the
play’s chief themes—namely, the question of whether there is justice
in the universe. Gloucester’s philosophical musing here offers an
outlook of stark despair: he suggests that there is no order—or
at least no
