CHARACTER OF THE FOOL IN KING LEAR
Shakespearean fools are usually clever peasants or commoners that use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing. In this sense, they are very similar to the real fools, and jesters of the time, but their characteristics are greatly heightened for theatrical effect. Shakespeare created a whole series of domestic fools. Touchstone in "As You Like It,"(1599), Feste in "Twelfth Night,"(1600), and the fool in "King Lear,"(1605) helped Shakespeare resolve the tension between thematic material and the traditional entertainment role of the fool. Some have argued that the clowning in Shakespeare's plays may have been intended as "an emotional vacation from the more serious business of the main action". Clowning scenes in Shakespeare's tragedies mostly appear straight after a truly horrific scene: The Gravediggers in Hamlet after Ophelia's suicide; The Porter in Macbeth just after the murder of the King; and as Cleopatra prepares herself for death in Antony and Cleopatra. Nevertheless, it is argued that Shakespeare's clowning goes beyond just 'comic relief', instead making the horrific or deeply complex scenes more understandable and "true to the realities of living, then and now" by shifting the focus from the fictional world to the audience's reality and thereby conveying "more effectively the theme of the dramas".
The Fool in King Lear' is Shakespeare’s own creation. Shakespeare has the ability to reveal a human character with an exceptional use of language. He allows us to see more than just words on the paper; we're given a multi dimensional insight into a character. Usually his characters aren't as straight-forward as black or white, rather they are invariably more complex. Edmund for example, it's easy to present him as the villain but Shakespeare also shows us the humane quality of him as he attempts an apology before he dies. Shakespeare has given us...