How do you appraise the role of the Fool? Contact Us Register Sign In. Toggle navigation. Basket 0. English Literature Study Guides Advanced. English Literature Advanced Companion.
This website uses Cookies We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The Fool is Lear's own stand-up comedian, sure, but more interestingly, he's the only guy that Lear allows to criticize him. Remember, when Kent lips off, Lear boots him out of the kingdom and when Lear doesn't like what Cordelia has to say, Lear disowns her altogether.
As in many of Shakespeare's plays, the Fool is actually really smart—and the only person who tells it like it is. Compare Lear's Fool, for example, to Feste in Twelfth Night — neither one of them are afraid to call their misguided masters "foolish" and they both function as characters that provide a lot of social commentary. At the same time, the Fool is more than just a funny and brutally honest guy; he's also super-loyal.
The Fool is the king's advocate, loyal and honest, but he is also able to point out the king's faults, as no one else can. The Fool's use of irony, sarcasm, and humor help to ease the truth, and allows him to moderate Lear's behavior. The Fool shares his master's fate, and this reinforces the impression that the Fool's purpose is to protect Lear until Cordelia can arrive to help her father.
Both Cordelia and the Fool are caretakers for Lear, and when one is present, the other need not be.
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