-
Class: Class 3
School Number: 20064398
Name: Wei Yun
Course
Name
:
Selected
Readings
in
British Literature
Role Analysis of the Fool in
King Lear
Fool
is
an
important
role
freq
uently
appeared
in
Shakespeare?s
works,
such
as
Touchstone in
As You Like
It
, Feste in
Twelfth
Night
,
Lavatch in
All's Well That Ends
Well
, etc. The fool in
King Lear
is of course a
character figured successfully, revealing
the truth with seemingly addlepated
words. Actually, in his woks, though figured as an
antagonist,
the
fool
is
taken
as
Shakespeare?s
prolocutor
,
with
great
wisdom
and
philosophy.
Through
not
scrupling
to
speak
the
truth
out,
they
satirize
human
depravity boldly and served as a sharp
comparison with the villain of the piece in the
plays. They insufflate a gloomy wind
into the bright and warm world in the comedies,
and
affuse
a
rational
and
warmhearted
spring
to
the
somber
and
cruel
world.
They
apperceive everything
and escape from the subcelestial confusion; they
seem insane
but actually not; they own
vivid image, unique personality, spiritual
indifference and
insular
character; they have extraordinary
artistic charm in Shakespeare?s works.
?Fool? means ?a man
employed by a king or queen
to
entertain people by telling
jokes,
singing songs, etc? in the
dictionary.
①
The fool
represents the need of freedom
instead
of
rules
and
regulations,
he
has
the
freedom
to
speak
out
whatever
he
sees
without the worldly consideration and
disguise. So the fool could also be regarded as
a foresighted person and discovers the
irrationality and absurdness of the society from
a particular visual angle. His humorous
and seemingly foolish words bring us laugh
but they contain wisdom and truth as
the same time.
With regard to the fool
in
King Lear,
as an
irreplaceable role in this play, the fool
is the symbol and extension of
Cordelia, the teacher of King Lear and saves King
Lear
in the end. It was him who
reve
als Lear?s
foolishness
directly, criticizes Goneril and
Regan
?s selfishness and
cruelty
inexorably and also companies
Lear, reminds him and
saves him.
The first
mention of him
was in other?s words,
when Lear asks the
Knight to call
the fool, the Kn
ight answers
“Since my young lady?s going
into
France, sir, the fool
hath much
pine
d away.”
﹙
Act<
/p>
Ⅰ
, scene
ⅳ﹚
, thus building close
connection between
the
fool
the
young
daughter
of
Lear,
Cordelia.
Cordelia
represents
the
sincerity,
kindness,
beauty
and
honesty
in
the
play;
she
is
endowed
with
beautiful
features.
Therefore,
the
fool?s
being
sentimentally
attached
to
her
shows
the
fool?s
love
and
hate
as
well
as
his
sense
of
value.
His
standpoint
is
revealed
even
before
his
appearance. After driving away his
favorite daughter Cordelia, King Lear transfers
his
favoritism to the fool, as if he
were Cordelia. He feels empty after
C
ordelia?s leaving,
and the
fool always tells the truth like Cordelia, Lear
knows clearly in his heart that
who is
really good to him. He begins to miss his
young daughter immediately after
her leaving, but he could not own her
any more, then he takes the fool as a stand-in to
some
degree.
“Where's
my
knave?
my
fool?
Go
you,
and
call
my
fool
hither.”
“Where's my fool,
ho? I think the world's asleep.”
“Why came not the slave back to
me when I called him”
“But where's my fool? I have not seen
him this two days.”
“Go
you, call hither my fool.”
﹙<
/p>
Act
Ⅰ
, Scene
ⅳ﹚
When his daughter Goneril
refuses to
see him, he feels angry and
hurt, he thinks of his young daughter, then he
call the fool
hurriedly and
continuously. At that time, he needs some comfort,
he needs someone to
company
him,
the
person
could
only
be
the
fool,
the
representation
of
his
favorite
daughter. On the other hand, to the
fool, he also behaves like a father, he cares
about
the fool with all his heart.
“Come on, my boy: how dost, my boy? art
cold?”
﹙
Act
Ⅲ
,
Scene
ⅳ﹚
When
they
are
deserted
in
heavy
storm
in
the
wild
with
the
fool?s
company,
he
is
still
concerned
of
the
fool
and
cares
him
gently.
All
his
action
is
stimulated by the reminding of
Cordelia. Actually, though Lear drives Cordelia
away
from him, he never drivers her out
of his mind. Especially when he is deeply hurt by
Goneril and Regan, he grasps the fool
tightly to seek strength; he keeps the fool with
him to spend his hardest time, dreaming
that he receives spiritual compensation from
his young daughter. Therefore, the fool
is figured as another Cordelia, reminding and
comforting
King
Lear
when
Cordelia
is
absent
in
the
play.
The
most
obvious
connection between
the fool and Coedelia is built in the climax of
the play when Lear