Oldal 39 [39]
THE DRAMATURGICAL AND THEATRICAL HERITAGE
regarding how much she loves him and the following passage in the Old
Testament: “The heart of fools is in their mouth: but the mouth of the wise is
in their heart” (Ecclesiasticus 21:26).?®
In contrast with Fansy and Foly in Magnyfycence, Lear’s Fool as a court jester
does not display negative moral qualities, even if he strongly resembles their
function as both a courtier and an entertainer. There is some direct textual
evidence to prove that his appearance manifests his dramatic role as a jester.
While talking to Lear, he refers to don his coxcomb, the cap of a professional
fool,'*? which he actually offers to Kent saying: “why this fellow hath banisht
two / on’s daughters, and done the third a blessing against his will, if / thou
follow him, thou must needs weare my coxcomb.”!*° Moreover, the wording
of the 1608 Quarto also makes it clear that he is even dressed in motley, the
costume of the jester: “That Lord that counsail’d thee to giue away thy land, /
Come place him heere by mee, doe thou for him stand, / The sweet and bitter
foole will presently appeare, / The one in motley here, the other found out
there.”' These two passages also show that he fulfills an interpretive function
as the king’s close companion by referring both to himself and Lear as a fool.
As an entertainer, the Fool keeps singing songs. Indeed, at one point, Lear
even asks him, “When were you wont to be so full of songs sirra?” Like
Foly, the Fool’s lines abound with distorted proverbs, riddles, and puns, but
unlike the comic characters in The True Chronicle Historie of King Leir, the Fool
contributes to the protagonist’s moral development and Lear’s recognition
of his own folly. First, he boldly and rather unmannerly calls Lear a fool,
explaining, “All thy other Titles thou hast giuen away, that thou wast borne
with.” Yet, despite his audacity, the Fool remains by Lear’s side even in the
storm, and although he is using figurative language, his utterance is based on
rational arguments to protect Lear in the midst of his madness: “O Nunckle,
Court holly water in a drie house / Is better then this raine water out a doore,
/ Good Nunckle in, and aske why thy daughters blessing, / Heers a night pities
nether wise man nor foole.”'** Given his constant presence by Lear’s side, many
critics have claimed that the fact that the Fool leaves the stage unnoticeably
constitutes a major flaw in the play. Enid Welsford, however, offers a reasonable
excuse for this departure:
188 Tbid., 14.
18° For the entry for “coxcomb,” the OED quotes a passage from a contemporaneous source,
namely Edwards Webbe’s The rare and most wonderfull things which E. Webbe hath seene in
his traviles 1590, which describes a fool’s clothing as: “With a fooles coate on my backe,
halfe blew, half yellowe, and a cokescombe with three bels on my head.” See: “coxcomb” in
Simpson-Weiner: The Oxford English Dictionary, n.p.n.
Shak-speare: His True Chronicle, sig. C4v.
Ibid., sig. C4v.
42 Tbid., sig. Dlr.
43 Ibid., sig. C4v-Dir.
144 Tbid., sig. FAr.
140
14
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