Essay foolear Importance of the Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear

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

Following the committing of his sins, Lear becomes abandoned and estranged from his kingdom, which causes him to loose insanity. While lost in his grief and self-pity the fool is introduced to guide Lear back to the sane world and to help find the Lear that was ounce lost behind a hundred Knights but now is out in the open and scared like a little child. He actually being out on the lawns of his castle dramatically repre-sents the fact that Lear has now been pushed out from behind his Knights. The terrified little child that is now unsheltered is portrayed by Lear's sudden insanity and his rage and anger is seen through the thun-derous weather that is being experienced. All of this contributes to the suffering of Lear due to the gross sins that he has committed.

Shakespeare 's King Lear is a play that follows Lear, the aging king of Britain, as he decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. Lear and a handful of other characters encounter many obstacles throughout the story. This play highlights human nature at its highest and lowest. Characters such as Edmund, Regan, and Goneril illustrate the ugliness and horror of man’s persona. While characters such as Cordelia, Edgar, and Kent show the noble, heroic, and moral nature of man.

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.

Madness in King Lear: Act 4 In Shakespeare's play King Lear, Shakespeare introduces many themes. The most important theme shown in King Lear is the theme of madness. During the course of this play madness is shown in the tragic hero, King Lear. King Lear develops madness right in the beginning of the play but he actually shows it in Act 4. In this act, King Lear is not only at the peak of madness but it is also shown him coming out of his madness as well.

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,

The first time the audience is allowed to see how knowledgeable the fool is when he states, “For taking one’s part that’s out of favor. Nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, thou'lt catch cold shortly” (I.iv.89). The fool may be considered just a figure of comic relief in the court system, but he knows how to keep on the right side of the law. In society, people who live in non-democratic systems, like that of a monarchy, must be careful when sharing their political beliefs. The fool knows this, choosing to side with Lear despite some people’s demises, as he is no longer king and leadership has shifted into the hands of his daughters who show no interest in the well-being of their father. In their kingdom, common folk need to be careful regarding showing too many opinions. In this way, the fool proves to have common sense, and will later proved to be intelligent as well.

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.

In Act 3 scene 2 of king Lear we see a major leap from the status of kings Lear sanity. He finally realizes he is a fool, for giving everything to the two daughters that truly don’t love him. The setting of the scenario is quite dark for such a tragic moment.

Goneril tells Lear that he needs a smaller troop, more decorous in behavior and better suited to the king’s rank and age. The king is very angry and says he will pack up his people and move to Regan’s palace. Lear’s anger continues to build, and he calls upon nature to curse Goneril’s womb. In response, Goneril turns out 50 of Lear’s retinue. As the subplot develops, Edmund wounds himself slightly, pretending that Edgar has attacked him. Certain that Edgar will also try to kill him, Gloucester promises to find the means to make Edmund his heir. After his escape into the woods, Edgar decides that he will disguise himself as a Bedlam beggar, who will be known as Poor Tom. Meanwhile, Cornwall orders an impassioned Kent placed in the stocks. Lear arrives and quickly realizes that Regan has joined Goneril in seeking to reduce Lear’s authority. Lear reminds his daughters that he gave them all that they now enjoy, but they are unmoved. An angry Lear calls for his horse, and rides into the storm with his Fool for protection. Exposed to the storm, the Fool attempts to reason with his king, but Lear will have no part of submission, especially before his daughters. Soon the king and Fool are joined by Edgar disguised as Poor Tom. Gloucester tells Edmund of the plot to save the king, unaware that he is divulging the plans to a traitor. Edmund immediately resolves to tell Cornwall of the plan. Edmund soon receives his reward: Gloucester’s title and lands. The captured

Fool, a character that is literally nothing in society, embodies the role of a teacher, using his wit to teach a blind king how to open his metaphorically closed eyes in order to see truth. In conjunction with Rotman, I agree that Lear is “blind to the difference between silence and saying nothing” (81) and “between a sign and a sign about signs” (81) therefore, in order to understand the differences, he must first be made “to see is the nature of Cordelia’s ‘nothing’” (81). He fails to understand the signal that nothing was supposed to mean, because Lear was so focused on void and meaningless words. He is unable to understand signs, so Fool is there to bluntly clarify the meaning of nothing for him. Fool jests that he would never aspire to be Lear at the present moment because he has “pared thy wit o’ both sides, and left nothing i’ the middle” (KL.1.4.163-164). His better sense of judgement has been exhausted after dividing the kingdom between his two undeserving daughters, and disowning his only honest and good daughter. Because he has granted all of his power to the wrong people, Lear is unable to administer anymore rank over his daughters, and he has no freedom

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.

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.

“Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a

“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.