King Lear – Fool’s character

Numerous directors argue more than the significance of the character of the Fool in the play. Go over whether or not you feel the Fool is crucial to the play or no matter if or not the character could be removed with out damaging the all round influence. Make a reference to the text to support your suggestions.

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 supplies the closest intercourse of the two realms involving King Lear’s royalty and Poor Tom’s poverty, while nonetheless 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 foreshadowing and practical assistance, the Fool entertains not only the King, but the audience as nicely, and brings some light and humour into this tragedy. All the characters in King Lear, apart from the Fool, are interconnected and of terrific value to the story of King Lear and his daughters and the story of Edmund, Edgar and Gloucester. The character of the Fool did not have influence more than Lear’s choice to divide the kingdom, nor did the Fool have any connection with the subplot. Probably, for this cause a lot of directors argue more than the significance of his character. One ought to be in a position to understand that the presence of the Fool did not influence the all round effect of the play and that the two major plots would have occurred with him or devoid of him. Personally, I believe that his character really should not be excluded from the play as this would harm the balance of tragedy versus comedy that was deliberately set up by Shakespeare, which would result in a loss of audience.

There is a saying that goes, “Only fools and kids tell the truth”. Shakespeare does a fantastic job of illustrating this saying by means of the Fool’s character. The Fool is becoming loyal and truthful to his master Lear no matter how painful the truth may perhaps sound. In Act 1, Scene four, in the introduction of his character, the Fool is playing with his hat and tells the king, “…thou have to desires wear my coxcomb,” stating that the king is a fool for dividing his kingdom in such a way just after a ridiculous love test (line 101). In the similar scene the Fool…

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