Role Of A Fool Or Jester During Elizabethan Times

The Fool is ironically different from his title. While the fool is commonly an idiot, Lear's fool seems to understand the political situation better that the king himself. His jokes and songs seem to be aimed at teaching Lear about the errors he has made rather than at making

These fools tended to be quite intelligent and despite their crude humour and sarcastic lines, they could be very philosophical at times. In King Lear, by Shakespeare, the audience meets the Fool who plays a wise role toward Lear, even though he was supposed to be the more foolish of the two. In between his jokes and jabs, the Fool shows how much he cares for Lear and does whatever he can to try and bring Lear back from insanity. Not only is the Fool in the play for the need of a few witty lines, but he also proves to be one of the most loyal and protective of Lear’s subjects. He does not have a large amount of lines in the play, and when Cordelia comes back, he disappears completely. It is a possibility that the Fool represents Lear’s rational mind or that Lear creates him out of need for that mothering, protective figure. His past and future is never touched on, instead he just simply exists in the play until he is not needed any further. “He is fated never to have been or to become anything or anyone other than what he eternally is. The Fool incarnates the stasis of Being impervious to the flux of Becoming.” (Seiden,

King Lear's fool is undoubtedly one of the wisest characters in the play. He is not only able to accurately analyze a situation which many other characters are blind to, but he is also able to foreshadow the actions of many characters and many other incidents to come. The main instruction the fool gives to the king is to beware of doing things that are unnatural, such as giving his inheritance, (splitting his kingdom among his daughters) to his daughters before he his dead. By doing this unnaturally, Lear must face many adverse consequences, such as losing his identity, self-worth, and respect from his daughters.

One example of how the Fool’s speeches and actions reflect this attitude is when he calls Lear a fool and making clear that he should value Cordelia above Goneril and Regan, who are bad seeds. Also, when the Fool mocks Lear for giving away the kingdom to Goneril and Regan, and for leaving his one good daughter, Cordelia, out of the

Despite the malevolence of deception, Shakespeare reveals how at times it can be used for the benefit of man. The loyalty of Lear’s servant Kent is shown when he adopts the disguise of Cauis to aid Lear. Having been banished for contradicting Lear’s beliefs, in the hope of helping him by being honest, Kent says “Now banished Kent, if thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemned.” The juxtaposition employed by Shakespeare of the words “serve” and condemned” is potent, highlighting Kent’s integrity. He deceives Lear, solely to help him. This is an excellently crafted example of how deception can be used for

Then Lear has an insight into the nature of his own transgressions. His attainment of self-awareness is a step forward despite the consequences. Dismissing his feelings at the end of this episode highlights the Fool’s function the play. For the first time, he obtains empathy and considers someone else’s feelings and puts their comfort in mind before his own. By the end of Act II the prime external causes of Lear’s madness have brought about a change in Lear’s thoughts and beliefs concerning man, the universe, a change in thought that is both a cause and a reinforcement of his

In working so hard to project this persona, Lear is untrue to himself, and loses sight of who he is. Even the scheming Goneril and Regan notice that their father “hath ever but/ slenderly known himself.” (I, i, 282-283) This makes Lear a very insecure person, which explains in part why he insists that his daughters stroke his ego before receiving any of his kingdom. His identity crisis is highlighted when he asks who can verify who he is, and the response by the Fool is: “Lear’s shadow.” (I, iv, 251) At this point in the play, Lear is sane and is still the monarch of the kingdom. Nevertheless, the Fool’s insightful comment insists that Lear is nothing more than a shadow of his true self. Plato would say that he is trapped in the shadow world of the cave, unable to grasp the true forms.[5] This self-imposed persona estranges Lear from his audience; his vulnerability as a human is masked by his rash behavior and unjust decisions. Bloom says that “before he goes mad, Lear’s consciousness is beyond ready understanding; his lack of self-knowledge, blended with his awesome authority, makes him unknowable by us.”[6] Without understanding a character, an audience is most definitely unable to sympathize with him, and here we run into a potentially problematic issue. Aristotle believes that

Cordelia’s disinheritance and banishment are frighteningly disproportionate to the “sin” she has committed in not flattering Lear. So too, is Kent’s treatment at his hands. This concept of disproportionate consequences for actions done, underlines how monstrous Lear’s arrogance is, as well as his petty tyranny and his lack of self-knowledge. However, the horrors Lear himself will have to suffer later in the play, as a result of his own folly, will also be out of all proportion to his initial blunder. Without Cordelia in the play, these actions would not have been sparked in Lear.

Both Lear and Riggan are arrogant, egotistical and ultimately ignorant to the surrounding world. Iñárritu and Shakespeare utilise the dialogue of other characters towards the protagonists, in albeit different ways, to show this. Shakespeare utilises the Fool to provide commentary for the audience. In the court of the king, the Fool’s role was to provide entertainment through comedy, but Shakespeare portrays him as the only character telling Lear the truth and thus this is an example of dramatic irony. Through his anecdotes and commentary, the Fool reveals to Lear the truth, but in his ignorance the king does not acknowledge this. Iñárritu demonstrates this through the audial and visual manifestation of Riggan’s younger self. While Shakespeare uses the Fool to tell Lear and the audience the truth, Riggan’s subconscious furthers his disconnection from reality and self-absorption. Additionally, Shakespeare uses eyes as a motif to emphasise this fatal blindness, attributed to age. The plucking out of Gloucester’s eyes is also a direct link to this. Lear’s crown is also used as a symbol of Lear’s poor judgement; by splitting the kingdom between his daughters, Lear “clovest his crown i’ th’ middle”, which ultimately lead to the tragic consequences at the end of the play. Iñárritu explores a similar idea of a limited view of the world through

The fool left because he became hopeless, cannot bear to see Lear as an actual fool and the fool cannot provide any wisdom anymore. The fool acted as Lear's conscience, he would let Lear decide what he wants to do then tell Lear what he did was right or wrong. A quote that shows this is "If I gave them all my living, I'd keep my coxcombs myself. "(Act

Comedy holds a very special place in the world of tragedy. Although, comedy can be seen as inappropriate at times, it is a crucial aspect of furthering both a storyline and characterization. In both the film Ran, directed by Akira Kurosawa and the play King Lear, written by Shakespeare, there seems to be an endless void of senseless violence and betrayal. Both the play and the movie display dark knotting of familial ties and sad decaying of sanity, there is very little light heartedness in the situations. Ran features the aging Lord Hidetora’s futile attempt at peacefully dividing his kingdom among his sons, and living out the rest of his days in retirement.

beginning of the play proves to be false. Lear discovers that his necessity to keep

“King Lear” is known as one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. “King Lear” is a play which tears off the outer coverings of human character. Two prominent themes that can be found in “King Lear” are disguise and deception. Disguise and deception are connected to each other because if you put on a disguise, you are masking yourself. If you are masking yourself, you are misrepresenting the truth, which is also known as deception. The characters constantly deceive each other throughout the play by either changing their physical appearance or changing their personality to mask their true identities and motives. Shakespeare’s exposure of the connection between disguise and deception reflects today’s culture and is still relevant today.

The inevitability of death begins to settle into Lear, not enabling him to accept it, but to drive him towards the brink of insanity. We begin to see Lear view life as an existential concept that constricts his mental state. The painful surprise of mortality leads him to go insane and his anger turns into

Lear's entry into the play is similar to Gloucester's such that, through close analysis of the dialogue between the King and his daughters, the reader gains awful knowledge of the arrogance and ignorance that will soon become his downfall . The drama of his opening speech is at all points excessive; the reader discerns a man that is long accustomed to being listened to and indulged in every way. In a moral