Wisdom is not always affiliated with those society gives power to. It is often thought that those in power are those that possess the greatest knowledge and ability for the situations at hand. The reality of this may be quite different, often those who are the “wisest” in society are not in a position of power at all. They spout wisdom and blindly hope that maybe someone will listen and effect the change. If someone were to listen, society may be different, but they often don’t. This individual is that of the fool, the comic who seems to understand more about the world than those running it. The fool in Shakespeare is one of the least foolish characters in the play. Throughout both comedies and tragedies, Shakespeare uses the character of the fool to guide the main characters and offer insight into the situations at …show more content…
Today, the fool is more likely to be a late night comedian or an internet sensation than someone who is placed near people of power. In Shakespeare, the words of these not so foolish individuals may have been masked in humor but were directly spoken to the leaders of the world and eventually taken to heart. While there is no true modern equivalent to the Shakespearean fool these “comedians” serve a purpose. Much of the populace may listen and find them entertaining, the wisdom offer falls to the wayside once the bit is up. Additionally the majority of these individuals subscribe to the same philosophies and their words do not often make it outside of their ideological groups. While the Shakespearian fool still exists, their position in society has limited their ability and led to the downfall of rational politics. Their reliance on audiences and the media to convey their message further reduces the effectiveness of the message. The diminishing ability of the fool is an issue of proximity to leaders, education of the deliverer and the unwillingness of leaders to
The great William Shakespeare lived during a time of many noted and influential people such as Pocahontas, King James I, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Even though Pocahontas was born during the later years of Shakespeare’s life, interesting correlations exist between the playwright and the Indian princess. King James I of England wrote about witches, which gave some background information for Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As the special guest of Queen Elizabeth I, it is likely that Sir Walter Raleigh watched some of Shakespeare’s plays presented at court. The daughter of a Native American chief, the King of England, and the famous explorer, all lived and gained notoriety during the lifetime of William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, a shoemaker and a daughter of an affluent farmer in 1564. He was born on April 23, and baptised two days later. William attended the local grammar school, the King's Scchool. He was born and lived in a smal town called Stratford-upon-Avon about 100 miles west of London. Shakespeare had three younger brothers and two older sisters. Shakespeare never attended University. Because of the lack of records of when Shakespeare was a child,some people question his existence.
William Shakespeare was a famous play maker but little do people know that he wrote a lot of poems . He was born in Stratford-On-Avon, United Kingdom on April 23, 1564. He was 62 when he died. In his lifetime he married Anne Hathaway, had three children, two girls but the boy died in early boyhood, he joined a bunch of groups, he learned Latin and a little bit of Greek. Shakespeare wrote his first poems only because the theaters was closed due to the plague. During writing his poems he invented thousands of words. Often combing words that are in different languages such as Latin and Greek. Some of the words that he created are; arch-villain, birthplace, and bloodsucking. His poems were described as " immortalization of beauty and love in poetry." He created 5 long narrative poems. Shakespeare is often known by England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon." He went to King's new school. After the birth of his twins, there where no records recorded, these years were called the "Lost Years." There are some theories for the sudden disappearance. One was that he went into hiding for poaching animal skins from his landlord. Another theory is that he was working
Given the religious turmoil of the time and the horrendous executions to criminals, why did William Shakespeare choose to mostly write comedies? Did Shakespeare not understand the mood of society, or perhaps did he write exactly the type of plays that everyone needed to see? To fully understand why William Shakespeare chose to write of amusing scenarios, its important to know what society in his time was like: sorrowful, argumentative, but also enlightening. Amidst the troubles of religion and despairing sights of death, theater rose to the top of many people’s hearts.
William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died on april 23, 1616. His parents was John shakespeare and Mary Arden. John shakespeare had many different jobs like selling leather goods, wool, malt and corn. In 1556 He was appointed the borough’s official “ale taster”. John later became a moneylender and held a series of municipal positions, serving for some time as the mayor of stratford (history.com). Mary keep up the house like cleaned, helped take care of the kids. John and mary oldest children, both girls did not live past infancy. William had 3 younger brothers, Gilbert, Richered, and Edmund. And two younger sisters. Anne, who died at seven, and joan. Thought to die from the black death (folger.edu). William shakespeare was Baptized on
In the play “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare the Fool is explaining to Orsino about his foolishness and why he is necessarily a fool. His mind analyzes his surroundings and determines who is better for him, his friends or his foes. His situation is “topsy-turvey” because no one is nice to him in a sense that they all treat him like a fool but in different ways. (Act 5 Scene 1 lines 15-22) “Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me, now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass.
The art of storytelling has always been a component that follows society through every generation. Some storytelling is powerful and meaningful, while other writing is mediocre and bland. When William Shakespeare entered the world of writing, he was able to discover a whole new dimension of stories, and all sorts of ways to share and express each author’s words. With Shakespeare's findings and astonishing creativity, Shakespeare has had the most important and massive impact on writing and telling stories than any historical figure, and continues to inspire the works of stories to this date. Therefore, with the contribution of Shakespeare’s work, today’s society is able to explore and express in different subjects and enter a new level of creativity.
to foolery by their silly acts as well. There are two types of fool in
Throughout the English Renaissance in Elizabethan England, William Shakespeare developed a 23 year old legacy in which he wrote 37 distinct plays¹. Despite being the young age of 26 when he wrote his first play, Henry VI Part One, Shakespeare quickly became recognized as one of the greatest writers of all time. As a testament to his achievements, countless modern words and phrases are tranced to numerous Shakespearean plays and works. For instance, in the play Macbeth, the first use of the word, “assassination”, was found in Act 1 Scene 7, whilst Macbeth was contemplating the risks and consequences of his upcoming deed². Additionally, the phrase “A sorry sight” originated from Macbeth, being used while Macbeth describes the state of his hands
William Shakespeare was born April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-avon, England. William was baptized the 26 of april 1564. His nationality is english he was the third of eight children. William attended stratford grammar school at the age of 7. The students in this school spent 9 hours a day, these students also studied latin. William loved to read books of ancient roman authors like cicero, ovid, platus, seneca, terence, and vigil. Williams mom is named Mary arden and dad is John Shakespeare. William married at the age of 18 with Anne Hathaway in November 27 1582. Anne was 26 when she married Shakespeare. They had their first child in 1583. Then 2 years later she gave birth to twins. Now they had 2 daughters and 1 son.
William Shakespeare is known best because of his plays that he wrote. He was one of the best playwright in all history. Most of the plays he did he wrote them by himself. He written about 37 plays and over 100 poems. Even though he lived over 400 years ago his plays are still being read and acted out all over the world. William Shakespeare is one of the most well known playwright in all history, because of all his famous plays and poems he has written.
Referred to worldwide as the poet who transformed the literary world, William Shakespeare lived at the peak of the English culture. (“poets.org” n. pag.) While he was loved around the world, Shakespeare started out as a commoner and worked his way up to fame and prosperity. After he died in 1616,Shakespeare managed to stay in the spotlight, because of his plays. “The prophecy of his great contemporary, the poet Ben Jonson, that Shakespeare ‘was not of an age, but for all time’” (Kuiper 1). William Shakespeare, the English national poet of the 15th century, transformed the literary world into what it is today with his memorable comedies (Kuiper 1).
In act one scene four of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the Fool discusses the recent foolish actions King Lear has made. King Lear has just divided his kingdom among Goneril and Regan and banished his favorite daughter Cordelia. King Lear then tries to stay with his daughter Goneril, but she lies to him, says she is not feeling well, and refuses to speak with him or let him enter. King Lear questions why he is not being treated like a king and demands respect from his daughters. The Fool then explains to King Lear why he is a fool.
William Shakespeare's genius came from how closely he intertwined the two seemingly mutually exclusive realms to appeal to all socio-economic groups in his audience. The character of the Fool provides the closest intercourse of the two realms between King Lear's royalty and Poor Tom's poverty, while still maintaining their separation. The Fool's role in King Lear was to counteract the King's follies in order to bring him to his senses. With his honesty, wit, and clever wordplay that interweave foreshadowing and practical advice, the Fool entertains not only the King, but the audience as well, and brings some light and humour into this tragedy. All the characters in King Lear, apart from the
“Infirmity that decays the wise doth ever make a better fool” – though uttered by one of his own characters Shakespeare does not seem to conform to this ideal. The fools carved by Shakespeare in his plays showed no resemblance to the mentally and physically challenged people who were treated as pets and used for amusement during the medieval period. Rather Shakespeare’s fools appear to be in the best of their wits when they are in possession of the wisest minds. Fools whether in their rustic vigour displaying grotesque humour or in the forms of the sophisticated court jesters with their polished puns occupied a substantial position in his plays. Not only they added the element of humour but often alluded a