The Role of the Fool in Shakespeare’s Plays

Shakespeare is said to be the greatest dramatist in English literature. In his plays, he explores the inner ideas through the use of fools in various forms. Now, who is a fool? In case of his plays, a fool is a person who speaks the truth without fear of life. In fact, he is the character through which we get the universal but bitter truth revealed. He is not a fool in a deeper sense, rather may be said to be the wisest person in reality throughout the ups and downs of the plot. For example, Feste in Twelfth Night entertains other characters by singing, dancing and making jokes – a member of Olivia’s house. But, he is intelligent and has a good command of language. Again, in As You Like It, Touchstone, Duke Frederick’s court jester, is quick witted, astute observer of human nature. He makes a good commentary on other characters though he seems to be cynical and to do caustic comments. Moreover, the Fool in King Lear, who is Lear’s court companion in madness and death, is the inner consciousness of the foolish king. The irony lies when we get into the depth that the king is foolish but the fool is wise. Hence, the Fool here is paradoxically wise. The Fool comments on the ego and folly of his lord and eventually reveals king’s faults through irony, sarcasm and humour. In addition, in The Tempest, Trinculo, Alonso’s court jester, is an exception to the concept of wise fool. He is seen to be extremely stupid and joins Alonso’s servant – Caliban to plot to make coup against Prospero. Thus, this fool is slightly different from the earlier ones. Above all, all these fools are hired by Shakespeare to make mistake, to arouse laughter being mentally retarded youths among the audience, but give some messages which the normal characters cannot utter.

Therefore, it can be said that Shakespeare’s fools are the voice of conscience in bitter world. They are the social communicators who play the role of truth teller. All of them give us the scope to think deeper into the plot and eventually work as the vehicle for pathos.

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