The Fool In King Lear Analysis

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,

    It is not unusual that the fool should be a prominent figure and make an important contribution in forming the confusion and the humor in an Elizabethan drama. In William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, Feste the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery. He and many other characters combine their silly acts and wits to invade other characters that either escape reality or live a dream. In Twelfth Night, Feste, Maria and Sir Toby are the fools that make the comedy work in many senses.

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.

Duplicity is a theme which dominates and defines the play King Lear. The rise of the Machiavellian Edmund and the fall of the eponymous tragic hero King Lear are both due to one major aspect of human nature, deception. The tragedy is set in motion by King Lear, who blinded by hubris, attempts to abdicate and retain power. His folly and hubris, allows him to deceive himself into believing the best way to divide the kingdom is to command his daughters to partake in a demeaning love test, where Goneril and Regan feed his ego with more acts of deceit. Edmund employs the same tactic of deception to manipulate his rise to power. He convinces his ‘blind’ father Gloucester into banishing his loyal son Edgar. Deception is also used for good in the play,

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

The fool eventually says, "now thou art an O / without a figure. I am better than thou art now. I / am a Fool, thou art nothing" (1.4.197-199). King Lear has done nothing and is now nothing, especially without his crown. Consequently, he can not just become a king without any responsibility.

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

William Shakespeare's 'King Lear' is a tragic play of filial conflict, deception and loss. Characters Lear and Gloucester

One should notice the importance of the Fool very early in the play. In Scene 4, Lear asks for his Fool twice. The second time is just a few lines after the first. He seems to need his Fool urgently. Yet the Fool has been pining over the loss of Cordelia (1.4. ). Yet Lear orders the Fool to come to him.

“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.

First, the Fool’s loyalty to Lear drives Lear away from hopelessness, knowing that someone is always on his side. The Fool is loyal to Lear because he cares about Lear’s well-being even when Lear is delirious and because Lear depends upon the Fool’s service. As an illustration, when Lear is locked out in the rain by his daughter, the Fools comments, “O nuncle court holy water in the dry house is/ better than this rain outdoor,” (Shakespeare. III. II 13-14). This demonstrates that the Fool genuinely cares about Lear’s well-being, despite his idiocy of trusting his daughter. Additionally, in this scene, King Lear acts forlorn as his daughters left him out in the rain, and this proves that the Fool will be at his side even through his depression. Moreover, Lear allows the Fool to be loyal to him instead of pushing away his loyalty as he did with Cordelia; unlike Lear’s daughter, the Fool has a much lower standard to be held by. As stated by Viera de Jesus, “Unlike his [the Fool’s] fellows in other plays, he is nameless, with no more distinguishing badge of individuality than plain 'Fool.’” Therefore, Lear will always rely on his Fool to be his “King’s Fool” no matter how uncanny he acts because his label as Fool, which is a label for someone of a lower class, allows his actions to be justified. Therefore, the Fool supports Lear through his loyalty because he advises Lear to care for himself and because Lear entreats the Fool to stay on his side.

In Elizabethan times, fools were used as entertainment in royal courts, with a specific role to entertain the king. However, in “King Lear”, the fool plays a much more significant role than comedic relief, as he, ironically, is able to provide insight into human nature and draw correlations between the play and everyday life. This is most evident when he talks to King Lear about what he has done wrong or what he has overlooked.

In William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night, it is ironic how many times the fool is said to be dishonest, when, in fact, his role proves entirely opposite. Though sometimes the characters do not realize his hidden messages, the reader can instantly comprehend Feste's figurative language, which is evident in every scene in which the fool appears. Whether he is singing to Orsino, arguing with Malvolio, or playing around with Viola, Feste always manages to sneak in a few symbolic foretokens before his exit. His keen eye and fast wit help him to actively partake in the portrayal of the story, however, the fool is merely present to express that which cannot be fully expressed through the