The Fool works as the "inner conscience" of Lear throughout the play. The Fool shows Lear the side of reasoning and tries to persuade Lear that it was wrong to banish Cordelia. The Fool only first appears in Act 1, scene four, after Cordelia has moved away with the King of France. The Fool knows that Lear has done wrong by giving all his land away to his to evil daughters, Goneril and Regan, and tells him so in act one, scene four, when he says, "All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with." The Fool also warns Lear about Goneril and Regan stating that Lear is now a lap dog to Goneril and Regan, "Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped out when the Lady Brach may stand by the fire and stink." The Fool disappears in act three, when Lear goes mad. This shows that the Fool is Lear's view of reasoning because when a person goes insane they cannot think straight or reason and therefore after act three there is no need for Lear to have a Fool as he is mad.
The Fool also tries to help Lear to feel a bit better about what is going on by putting a humorous spin on the words he is saying. The Fool uses poetry and song to get his view across to Lear. In act one, this is visible in numerous ways. For example, in scene four the Fool sings:
Then they for sudden joy did weep,
And I for sorrow sung,
That such a King should play bo-peep
And go the fools among.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The concept of a fool in Shakespearean plays is nearly as popular as the very figure of a fool used to be in Middle Ages at royal courts and some private households of aristocrats. The characters that could be described as fools appear in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Feste) and As You Like It (Touchstone). And there is of course the most famous of the fools, named simply The Fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear – the one with reference to whom this essay is created.…
- 2936 Words
- 12 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Initially, the fool was loyal to King Verence and consequently the Duke after he takes the throne, saying that “a Fool should be faithful to his master until the very end, after all others have deserted him. Good or bad doesn't come into it. Every leader needs his Fool. There is only loyalty. That’s the whole thing. Even if he is clearly three-parts bonkers, I’m his Fool until one of us dies [sic]” (Pratchett 171). The Fool was expecting to serve Felmet until death, regardless of what either of them thought. He was going to stand by the Duke even in the face of fear, the Fool was willing to die for his King. During the climax of the story, the Fool realizes that rather than a specific man he needs to serve the kingdom as a whole and stands up to the Duke. In doing so he willingly sacrifices himself, knowing that his proclamation of the Duke’s actions will not only result in his death but, will also result in the repair of the kingdom. The Fool’s loyalty to Lancre directly causes the removal of the Duke and Duchess and the reconstitution of a healthy kingdom. The Fool cared about Lancre and the people in it, he acted when no one else could and even went against his honor as a fool to do…
- 1338 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
The Fool’s dialogue is like a mockery of King Lear – he speaks pure honesty of Lear but adds hints of comedy to balance out the rudeness implied. The Fool re-enacts King Lear’s life by acting out his choices and proves how much of an oblivious and naïve fool King Lear was before. The Fool creates a figure – much like King Lear, to act out the foolish behaviour that Lear had behaved earlier such as giving his kingdom to his two daughters,…
- 327 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The fool in King Lear, though always joking around proved to have great wisdom behind his usual jesting personality…
- 492 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The Madness of King LearBy Nick Summers - December 08, 2002 It is odd to think that true madness can ever be totally understood. Shakespeare's masterful depiction of the route to insanity, though, is one of the stronger elements of King Lear. The early to middle stages of Lear's deterioration (occurring in Acts I through III) form a highly rational pattern of irrationality: Lear's condition degenerates only when he is injured or when some piece of the bedrock upon which his old, stable world rested is jarred loose. His crazy behavior makes a lot of sense. Despite his age and frailty, Lear is no weak character; it is difficult to imagine how another character could have better resisted such mental and emotional weights as the king suffers under. Lear's worsening madness is understandable only when interpreted with a proper appreciation of the intense forces acting on him and of the gradual disappearance of everything he finds recognizable about his former world.As Lear sets out from his palace toward his daughters' homes, he is still sane, though he begins to regret disowning Cordelia ‹the first sign of mental stress and the first step toward his eventual madness. Lear's Fool needles him about the rash decision, and the king blurts out, "O! let me be not mad, not mad, sweet heaven; / Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!" (I.v.46-47) It is a harbinger of thoughts to come.Lear's impending madness is established in parallel with the growing storm; both threaten to break at any moment. But Lear is strong: he does not give in to insanity all at once; instead he holds on as long as he can, only gradually slipping into lunacy. And Lear is strong‹it is important to note the severity of the stressors acting on him; ignoring them can lead to a misinterpretation of his character as a weak, senile old man instead of a capable leader simply abused by the people he trusted. Perhaps he was foolish to trust them in the first place, but he was not crazy. Above all, Lear's madness…
- 8586 Words
- 20 Pages
Good Essays -
In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, King Lear is an old foolish man who suffers several flaws in the same way, he is blind to the truth, and his inability to see the truth impacts his decisions making and his poor judgment. Throughout act one and two, King Lear decisions lead to several consequences, which alter his life and the lives of those around him. A few of King Lear’s flaws which demonstrates the great deed of one man’s consequences are, his actions due to his blindness, rash decision making and exhibits a great deed of pride and arrogance.…
- 1477 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
<br>The Fool works as the "inner conscience" of Lear throughout the play. The Fool shows Lear the side of reasoning and tries to persuade Lear that it was wrong to banish Cordelia. The Fool only first appears in Act 1, scene four, after Cordelia has moved away with the King of France. The Fool knows that Lear has done wrong by giving all his land away to his to evil daughters, Goneril and Regan, and tells him so in act one, scene four, when he says, "All thy other titles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with."…
- 560 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
<br>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…
- 1159 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
This character is extremely dynamic throughout the play. He is seen by Lear and others as a simple-minded idiot, in the court to entertain the king and his daughters. However, as the play progresses, the fool proves to be the wisest character in the play. Paraphrased, he says one should never judge wisdom by office. The Fool speaks some of the most insightful words in the play. He says to his "nuncle," "Thou had'st little wit in thy bald crown when thy gavest thine golden one away." (I.iv.155-156) The fool here shows poignant insight into the position of the king, telling him that there was no justification or intelligence in Lear's giving his properties to his eldest daughters. In King Lear, the play seems to revolve around the wisdom of the Fool. He expresses his concern to Kent, stating, "Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it" (II.ii.261-262) The Fool's use of metaphor expresses his cognizance of the events taking place in the play. Shakespeare's use of fools and foolishness in King Lear represents an insight into popular…
- 1098 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
King Lear then begins to once more lose his sanity. In this scene the reads can see how Lear’s judgment and perception are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Having recovered his sense with the fool and Kent just moments earlier King Lear loses them just as fast as he regain them. Kent advises Lear to go inside the temporary shelter they found to which Lear responds with a speech about how this storm is nothing compared to his emotional pain; “When the mind’s free, / the body’s delicate. The tempest in my mind / doth from my senses take all feeling else. Save what beats there—filial ingratitude” (III.iv.11-14). The reader is now becoming aware that the loss of Cordelia and the reality that his two other daughters do not love him as much as they had said. Someone who suffers from Alzheimer’s are prone to depression, which can be the reason to Lear’s emotional suffering in this scene…
- 2139 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
In the play, King Lear One of the biggest themes that Shakespeare's tragedy conveys is the ones closest to you are capable of the greatest deception and the greatest hurt. You have to wonder if Shakespeare drew from personal experience.…
- 480 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
has no love for him and it does not exist. The same goes for her sister, Regan,…
- 1497 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Andrew is funny, it is not intentional. His faults include a lack of wit, a…
- 984 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
To understand the Fool in this story we need to know what a fool is. "Fool: also called jester, a comic entertainer whose madness or imbecility, real or pretended, made him a source of amusement and gave him license to abuse and poke fun at even the most exalted of his patrons." (Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1995 ed.) Although the fool is a funny entertainer, he tells the hard truth. He is “allowed” to tell the cold, hard truth about someone or something. This is only allowed for him, it would be inappropriate for someone else to point out hardships. The way they would do this is through a parable, riddle, or a story. Where he can act funny, crazy, weird, and outrageous, but underneath, he is giving us an underlining meaning about a certain issue or hard truth. With saying all of that, the fool was a crucial part of that time period and make critical changes in society.…
- 818 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
At the start of the scene, the fool makes several bizarre jokes that strike the reader. “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage” (i.v. 17). As the reader we find it hard to relate to how being hanged is better off than being in a bad marriage. Similar to when he proceeds to have an argument with Lady Olivia later on in the scene. Despite the fact that this simple syllogism is amusing, it has an aloof logic. Not only do we begin to question whether the fool still has his wits about him – we also question if there is any underlying reason as to why he acts the way he does. This supplies us with an air of mystery and confusion about the temperament of the…
- 824 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays