What is the role of the Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear - Essay Example

? 26 January, What is the role of the Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear? Elizabethan actors were commonly described as characters that used to be significantly different from their intrinsic personalities. Many female characters played men. They played poor characters while being rich. Irrespective of the difference between drama and reality, the characters seemed real at least for the play’s duration. Shakespeare has capitalized at reality’s presence in various characteristics of life. It can be estimated from the fact that kings in the stories of Shakespeare were supposed to serve as guides, and display intelligence and good judgment. Their jesters entertained them in courts. Many fools would entertain the kings on the cost of their lives. Though, Shakespeare visualized truth before expectations. He was both able to see weakness in goodness, and logic in the tongue of a fool. Throughout the course of his plays, Shakespeare used to imply the very idea and portrayed two images for one face. There are many examples to support this assertion, one of which is the character of King Lear who displays dual nature. In the story of King Lear, Shakespeare has again capitalized on two images of the fool. Throughout the play of King Lear, the jester of the king is depicted as a foolish and cheerful person. However, the so-called Fool is actually, by no means a fool. The jester displays vision, foresight, idea, shrewdness, intelligence and sagacity. The Fool looks out for his own self besides projecting a carefree image. Apparently he shows up as a foolish person, but is extremely witty and sharp in reality. In fact, he is much wiser than King Lear. An in-depth analysis of the Elizabethan jesters suggests that they conventionally wore bells, bright clothes and covered their faces with masks. The same mask symbolizes the dual nature of the King Lear’s Fool. The Fool has two faces. First face is that of entertainment. Owing to an exceptionally good sense of humor, the Fool is quite good at entertaining others. His second face is that of truth, in which he offers very logical and knowledgeable philosophy on various social issues and taboos. At one point in the play, the Fool emphasizes upon the importance of sweet speech. He says, “Truth’s a dog must to kennel. He must be whipped out, / when the Lady Brach may stand by th’ fire and stink” (I.iv.103-104 cited in Grob). The Fool is completely aware of how badly a harsh reality can impact an audience that keeps an unwilling-to-hear mood and hence, covers his wise statements with the mask of wit. In the context of modern age, it is hard to realize a fool that is witty enough to be a nice politician and who makes efficient use of rhetoric in his speech. The Fool apparently projects that he is most happy and contented with any person that he interacts with, though he is actually much different. His shallow words have a much deep meaning in reality. The Fool roasts King Lear in a metaphorical manner through his banter just like a skilled politician, who makes use of sweet words so that he may take public into confidence and earn votes from them, and later, changes his policies. However, King Lear does not realize this. When in the play, the Fool says, “Though hadst little / wit in they bald crown when thou gav’st thy golden one away” (I.iv.135-137 cited in Grob), he actually calls King Lear “a fool” for having given his kingdom in the hands of his extremely greedy and selfish daughters. Shakespeare has maintained an ironic relationship between the Fool and King Lear throughout the play. Contrary to his supposed role as a prudent and thoughtful person, the king is actually no wiser than an idiot. In the very beginning of the story, King Lear asks his daughters to convey the love their feel for their father in words in exchange of a share in his kingdom. By asking his daughters to do this, King Lear adopts a very foolish approach to check his daughters’ love for him. The more elaborate their expression, the larger the reward. King Lear underestimates the love of the daughter that actually loves him the most just because her expression does not sound as appealing as that of others. By misunderstanding her, he fails to realize the truth. On the other hand, the Fool apparently plays the role of a jester, yet actually knows what the truth is. Underneath the umbrella of humor, the Fool tries to both reprove and assist the King. The Fool warns King Lear and pleads him to listen to him. When the King does not conceive his meaning, the Fool says, “If I gave them all my living, I’d keep my coxcombs / myself. There’s mine; beg another of thy daughters” (I.iv.100-101 cited in Grob). The Fool makes an attempt to make the King realize how unwise it is for one to give away all one has as the King does. Also, the Fool tries to warn the King against the unfavorable consequences his act of giving away his kingdom could result into in these words: Nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, thou’lt catch cold shortly. There, take my coxcomb. Why, this fellow has banished two on’s daughters and did the third a blessing against his will. If thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb. –How now, nuncle? Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters. (I.iv.93-98 cited in Grob). In these words, the Fool has foreseen the future of King Lear after his act of bestowing the kingdom to the mean and selfish daughters, and sidelining one, who was actually sincere with him. The Fool is totally against the idea of giving away the possessions in retirement. The Fool urges the King to use his common sense, but the King is too dumb to understand the gravity of his act. Apart from summarizing and estimating the future of the King, the Fool displays extreme common sense. The Fool emphasizes that one should not trust everything one happens to hear. The Fool also holds the view that one should never risk all one has on a single role of dice. The Fool only plays a small role in the overall play and it remains hard to depict his ending. The play does not indicate the ultimate destination of the Fool. What happens to him remains unclear. Perhaps, the Fool just disappears or perishes away. However, the Fool is too cunning to remain with a King who has lost everything he ever owned. This leads one to think about the Fool that he escaped from the King before the King saw his eventual demise. Although the Fool apparently seems to be too caring for the King and does all to favor the King, yet he is much more concerned about his personal well-being in reality. He knows to play the cards in such a way that he would be safe at the end of the day. He is, in true sense, a gambler. He knows how to play with words in such a way that would pacify the audience, though can not help telling the truth. Indeed, the Fool is quite prudent in all ways except for this as he risks his own life by being straightforward, at least in his ideas, though they are covered with wit and humor. Perhaps, he is too wise and knows when to say what and this habit saves him from potential threats. After analyzing the character of the Fool in depth, one can draw the conclusion that the Fool is actually a person, who is farthest from foolishness in the story. The Fool is the master of the whole game, yet the game is not meant for him to play. He only assumes the role of an outsider, and being his jester, makes every attempt to help the King. To his misfortune, the King can not perceive the honesty, sincerity, truth and assistance hidden in his mimicry and hence, falls prey to his own foolishness. Why does the King tolerate the Fool? In the story, the Fool repeatedly crosses his limits. He assumes an inferior status, though breaks out of it every now and then. He openly comments on the King’s foolishness, though no matter how openly he does it, he remains a Fool. When he points his finger on Lear, the Fool calls King Lear, “a fool” in these words, That lord that counsell’d thee To give away thy land Come place him hereby me, Do thou for him stand: The sweet and bitter fool Will presently appear, The one in Motley here, The other found out there. (Shakespeare 34). In his reply, the King only takes notice of his insult, and does not realize the truth hidden in it. He replies, “Dost thou call me fool, boy?" (Shakespeare 34). Though King Lear keeps asking the Fool his meaning, yet he hardly ever considers him seriously or pays heed to the Fool’s reply. Perhaps, the King is foolish and dumb to such an extent that he can not simply understand what the Fool wants to convey. The Fool has been quite lucky to have such an absent-minded King because a wise King might have sentenced the Fool to death for having crossed his limits and made fun of the King. One reason why the Fool is never taken to task is that it is not the time, or the reason for him to die. Nature protects him. “The fool is a survival from the higher nature of truth and loyalty, who can exist in a lower world only through the very limited privileges that a licensed fool has” (Frye and Salusinszky 331). Another reason why the King used to tolerate the Fool when he spoke the truth was that the overt expression is a fundamental trait of healthy wit and mimicry. Also, the King did not mind the actions, expressions or sayings of the Fool because being a jester, the Fool was not supposed to be taken seriously. The King would not listen to a person who is there in his palace to display foolishness. Why does the King banish Cordelia and Kent? It is because of his extreme foolishness that he banishes Cordelia. In fact, the whole process the King adopts for checking the love of his daughters for himself is completely silly and childish right at the outset. The King asks the daughters to voice their love for their father. The sweeter the expression, the greater the love becomes. It is height of foolishness! No wise man can be expected to check anybody’s affection for himself by asking the other person to express it in words. Cordelia is indeed quite decent. She does not believe in such a fake system of display of love and hence, does not make an effort to get her love for her father, measured on the scale of praise. To his uttermost dismay, the King gets outraged at such an unappealing expression of love from his daughter, Cordelia, and therefore, banishes him for being so neutral. It is hence, clear, that the King banishes Cordelia for not coming up to his expectations, though he does not realize the worth of his own scale of judgment. Had he been wise, he would never have asked the daughters to tell him how much they loved him. Instead, he would have checked their love through some trick. His immense hatred for Cordelia can be estimated from the fact that he banishes him, and later gets her married without giving her any dowry, and also curses her so that she may never have children. Kent is both like a friend and a brother to King Lear. The King usually trusts him above all and considers him, his right hand. As a close friend of King Lear, Kent warns him that he has made a big mistake by banishing his most sincere daughter, Cordelia. Having heard that, King Lear bursts with anger and fury. King Lear can not help suppressing his immense arrogance and pride whenever someone advises him. If he sees someone disagreeing with him over some matter, he is likely to take the disagreeing person as his enemy. King Lear gets offended very easily. The pride of King Lear does not allow him to listen to any one because he thinks that being a king, he is not supposed to listen to others. Instead of listening to the sincere advice of Kent, the King banishes him. In response to the advice of Kent, King Lear says, “To come between our sentence and our power, which nor our nature nor our place can bear” (Shakespeare 10). In this sentence, the King clearly conveys the cause of his fury. The King plainly takes immense pride in his kingdom and owns it. He would not let anyone interfere with him by offering him advice. This is against his temperament and his ego would not let him tolerate such attitude from others. He particularly names his “nature” as non-accepting and non-approving of others’ advice. The King considers Kent a traitor after his advice to the King. The King considers it just to banish Kent because he has committed the mistake of pointing out the King’s mistake. The King hates Kent for his act so much that he would no more like to see him inside his kingdom and clearly warns Kent that he would be killed if he ever showed up again. Works cited: Frye, Northrop, and Salusinszky, Imre. Northrop Frye's writings on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Canada: University of Toronto, 2005. Grob, Garret. “Character Sketch: The Wise Fool.” 5 March 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. . Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Forgotten Books, 2008. Read More