Stanzas: Monthly Chapbooks April 2015: The Fool | Page 17

What Is a Fool?
Alison McCarthy

B

y any other name, Jester, Clown, Joker, Idiot, is that always the case? A Fool is
‘A person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person.’ However the real
question is, when is a Fool not a fool? The main place of course is in literature.
For example Shakespearian fools are ‘usually clever peasants or commoners that
use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing’. Take a look at King Lear, the
Fool is a confidant to the King, the only man he truly trusts. The Fool in this story is
a far cry from the fumbling buffoon one would normally associate with the word. He
is wise, clever and cunning. Unlike Lear himself he can see through the ploys of his
eldest daughters and the sincerity of Cordelia.
II. IV.
I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are. They’ll have me
whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying;
and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. I had rather be
any kind o’thing than a fool! And yet I would not be thee,
nuncle. Thou hast pared thy wit o’both sides and left nothing
i’ th’ middle. Here come one o’ the parings.
The Fool is an observer. Though he vanishes towards the end of the play he is
the only character who speaks the truth to Lear that is not blatantly punished for it.
Often in Shakespeare, as in King Lear, we see a pairing of fools, (Though one
would be beheaded for calling the King a fool.) The Fool, with an upper case F, and
the fool with a lower case f. This is important.
Take a look at Midsummers Night’s Dream, here we have a far more defined
fool in Bottom. Bottom is in truth ‘A person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly
person.’ He claims to be great and wise and is at every turn made an idiot of. He is a
toy, a play thing of the fairies and the court. His self-respect however is so great that
no one in his pack of fools dare tell him the truth, though one could argue they are
none the wiser themselves. While on the other side of Bottom we have Puck a true
Fool. He is a confidant of Oberon, King of the fairies, a trusted ally. However as a
fairy he enjoys playing with the mortals and thus makes fools of them. He is witty, he
is clever and he manipulates the world around him purely for entertainment.
Turning to a modern day representative of our Fool the first man to come to
mind, is one as manipulative and tricksy as our Puck but rather more vindictive and
sadistic in his enjoyment. I of course am referring to none other than the infamous
Joker, of the Batman series. The Joker is a man who enjoys pulling the strings. Unlike
his Shakespearian kin the Joker does not hide behind a curtain to pull the strings of a
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