Monday, November 12, 2007
The Wise Man and the Fool in King Lear
From the time he enters the play in 1.4.93 until we last see him in 3.6, Lear's court jester or "fool" is the only character who can speak the truth to him and get away with it. Find one "jest" made by the fool, quote it (citing act/scene/line), and explain what you think it means. In it, is the fool trying to tell Lear something about himself or just making a joke? What do you think is his point?
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I think that a really important interaction between Lear and his fool occurs in Act 3 Scene 2. On line 25 the fool makes a statement that brings great truth, and is actually not that foolish, "He that has a house to put's head in has a good headpiece. The codpiece that will house, before the head has any, the head and he shall louse, so beggars marry many. The man that makes his toe. Waht he his heart should make, shall of a corn cry woe. And turn his sleep to wake for there was never yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass." In this statement the fool makes the point that it is important to priortize life, and although he states it in a roundabout way, I think it brings much truth to King Lear.
In Act 2, scene 4, line 40 the Fool says:
Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.
Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind.
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.
Fortune, that arrant whore,
Ne'er turns the key to th' poor.
But for all this thou shalt have as many dolors for thy
daughters as thou canst tell in a year.
I think what the fool means by this is that people who are wealthy try to appear happy to receive the fortune but then turn once they have what they want. King Lear's daughters, Regan and Goneril, wanted their father's fortune so they were nice to him until they inherited the land and money, turning against him after that. Instead of repaying their father, they are going to bring him pain!
I cite the very first appearance of the Fool, who shows his personality at once. This is 1.4 93-102:
"Fool: Let me hire him too. Here's my coxcomb.
Lear: How now, my pretty knave, how dost thou?
Fool: Sirrah [Kent], you were best take my coxcomb.
Kent: Why Fool?
Fool: Why? For taking one's part that's out of favor. Nay, an thou canst not smile as the wind sits, thou'lt catch cold shortly. There, take my coxcomb. Why, this fellow has banished two on 's daughters and did the third a blessing against his will. If thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb."
This is a personal slam to Lear that is disguised as one to Kent. The Fool calls Kent foolish because he addresses his allegiance to the wrong person; Lear is no longer king, and so one should kiss up to someone who actually has power. He also gives the more direct slam to Lear that he has banished his two daughters and blessed the third by accident. This means that the two daughters, now that they have Lear's power, need him no longer and will cast him away before long, and that Cordelia is much better off being removed from the whole sordid affair. So, by calling Kent a fool, he pokes fun at Lear himself. It's like the old question: "Who is a bigger fool, the fool, or the fool who follows him?"
After Lear tells the fool that “nothing can be made out of nothing” (1.4.130-131), the fool replies, speaking to the disguised Kent, “Prithee, tell him; so much the rent of his land comes to. He will not believe a fool” (1.4.132-133). The fool is warning Lear about the “nothing” that he is going to receive from his two daughters to whom he has given everything. Why is it that everyone can see Lear’s mistake except himself? This fool at times is very wise and aware of what people are like (I’m sure he sees a lot of what goes on in the royal family–he’s like their dog, after all); he seems very intuitive, but for some reason Lear never takes him seriously no matter how many blows the fool sends his way.
Act 3 scene 6 lines 18 and 19 the fool says (He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath.)
I think this line is important in more ways than just the conversation that it is used in. in this line the fool is basically giving warning to Lear that he needs to be more observant of those that he places his trust in because everyone can not be trusted, which is shown through out the play.
1.4, ll.115-124. Fool says: "Have more than thour showest, Speak less than thou knowest, Lend less than thou owest...."
The fool refers here to himself , especially in the second line, because he always says things in a special way to make them mysterious and less obviours at the first glance. But this phrase is also a hint at Lear and Kent and maybe a worldly wisdom: these words are important to keep in mind, so that people do not becometoo arrogant and bigheaded. I think, the fool reveals in these words his real wisdom.
In I,iv King lear asks the fool if he is trying to call him a fool. The fool replies by saying that Lear has given away all of his other titles and even the fool is abouve him now because he still owns his title. I do think that the fool is trying to give lear a hint. He is trying to show him that he is no longer king, that he no longer is the ruler of the lands, and he no longer is entitled to all that he wants in his land.
Fool: “That lord that counseled thee/ To give away thy land,/Come place him here by me;/ Do thou for him stand./ The sweet and bitter fool/ Will presently appear:/ The one in motley here,/ The other found out there” (1.4.138-45). In this passage, the fool wants to teach King Lear the difference between a bitter fool and a sweet one. The fool refers to himself as the sweet one (“the one in motley here”). We know that with this statement he means himself, because the motley is the dress professional fools usually wear. Thus, the role of the bitter fool is taken over by the former king. The fool says “The other [fool] found out there”, with which he points at Lear, who has – as a result of really being foolish – given away his land and kingdom.
It is very interesting that the fool, whose name should already reveal him to be not of such high intelligence, is obviously the one who recognizes what is going on. He sees that it was a big mistake of Lear to give his land and kingdom to his daughters, for he, the fool, has realized how bad and cruel their minds and intentions are. Lear, as the former king, should be – as the classical role of a king – the one above all things. Instead, he – and that is already a very ironic point – is, instead of his court jester, the “real fool”. He does not realize what is going on, for he banished Cordelia as well as Kent, and handed over his land to Regan and Goneril. This was a very foolish behaviour, as his court jester has understood correctly.
It is also very interesting to observe the way the fool talks to Lear. It is a very uncommon way to appear before a (former) king, when one tells him that the way he behaved revealed him as a fool. This shows the close relationship between them, for the fool is the one who can tell Lear what he thinks, and he is the only character of the play who can speak the truth to him.
Fool: Prithee, nuncle, tell me whether a madman be a gentleman or a yeoman?
Lear: A king, a king!
Fool: No, he’s a yeoman that has a gentleman to his son; for he’s a mad yeoman that sees his son a gentleman before him. (3.6.9-14)
In this scene the fool is making a very bitter and sarcastic jest. He is saying that a man might become mad to see his son “above” him. This is a dig at Lear, who has become mad, too, because he has affronted his most beloved daughter Cordelia and thus lost her. Although the fool talks about a man’s son, this refers to Lear and his older daughters: It was only when Lear had just handed over his kingdom to them that he realized their evilness. Thus Goneril and Regan are also advanced over him. Lear’s madness can also be seen in his answer “a king, a king”, because the fool’s question asked simply for “gentleman or yeoman”. But this “a king, a king” reveals also that Lear can’t cope with the situation that he is not king anymore: He still wants to be treated as one. What we can get from these lines is that the fool is apparently the wisest character in the play. He is the only one who understands Lear and his motivations and he knows about the evil side of Goneril, Regan, and Edmund. This is very ironical because normally the fool is the silly person at the court who makes jokes. In King Lear it is the other way round: The fool is the one who has wisdom and Lear is the old, mad fool. Furthermore the fool is the only person who is allowed to ridicule Lear, like he does in the lines I quoted. Here the fool instructs Lear that the man of his jest is a “mad yeoman”. In this jest the fool also seems to criticize Lear a little bit for all the mistakes he has done (He divided England into three parts, handed his kingdom over to his children, banished Cordelia and Kent). It seems that the fool wants to help Lear that he can understand himself better and be not so ill-considered and stubborn anymore. Therefore I think that the fool is not just making a joke but trying to tell Lear something about himself.
"Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped
out, when Lady the brach may stand by the fire and stink." Act 1 Scene 4 Lines 105-106. The fool is telling Lear, through a metaphor, that the oldest two daughters are using him. The fool realizes that the older two girls don't really love their father, they just claimed to love their father so that they would get his money and land. They just didn't realize that they would have to cater to his every need as well as the needs of his men. The fool is the only one that can put the situation into prospective for Lear. By using a metaphor, Lear can get the point without getting mad at the fool for pointing it out.
There is a large interaction between Lear and his fool in Act 1 scene 5. In this, they are discussing what is going on between Lear and his daughters. Here, we can see the fool bascially ridiculing Lear for his treatment of Cordelia, as in the end of the exchange he tells Lear that "If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'd have thee beaten for being old before thy time" (40-41). In this, he is telling him that he merely claimed to be wise due to his advanced age, yet through all of his experience he was actually not wise, due to his ignorance towards the true intent of his three daughters. We can see the reference to the daughters earlier in the same exchance when the fool refers to how Cordelia will treat her father. "Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee kindly, for though she's as like this as a crab's like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell" (14-16). Here, we can see that the fool is basically ridiculing Lear for getting rid of Cordelia, just because she was so vastly different in her response than were Regan and Goneril. Mere lines later, we see Lear's first recognition of his mistake: "I did her wrong" (24). Due to his lack of being taken serious by being the fool, he is able to ridicule the King and suggest the error in his judgement. It seems as if Lear takes these warnings as semi-serious, as he is able to begin to recognize how he has failed the one daughter who truly loves him.
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