Class: Class 3School Number: 20064398Name: Wei YunCourse Name: Selected Readings inBritish Literature Role Analysis of the Fool in King LearFool is an important role freq uently appeared in Shakespeare‟s works, such as Touchstone in As You Like It, Feste in Twelfth Night,Lavatch in All's Well That Ends Well, etc. The fool in King Lear is of course a character figured successfully, revealing the truth with seemingly addlepated words. Actually, in his woks, though figured as an antagonist, the fool is taken as Shakespeare‟s prolocutor, with great wisdom and philosophy. Through not scrupling to speak the truth out, they satirize human depravity boldly and served as a sharp comparison with the villain of the piece in the plays. They insufflate a gloomy wind into the bright and warm world in the comedies, and affuse a rational and warmhearted spring to the somber and cruel world. They apperceive everything and escape from the subcelestial confusion; they seem insane but actually not; they own vivid image, unique personality, spiritual indifference and insular character; they have extraordinary artistic charm in Shakespeare‟s works.…Fool‟ means …a man employed by a king or queen to entertain people by telling jokes, singing songs, etc‟ in the dictionary.① The fool represents the need of freedom instead of rules and regulations, he has the freedom to speak out whatever he sees without the worldly consideration and disguise. So the fool could also be regarded as a foresighted person and discovers the irrationality and absurdness of the society from a particular visual angle. His humorous and seemingly foolish words bring us laugh but they contain wisdom and truth as the same time.With regard to the fool in King Lear, as an irreplaceable role in this play, the fool is the symbol and extension of Cordelia, the teacher of King Lear and saves King Lear in the end. It was him who reve als Lear‟s foolishness directly, criticizes Goneril and Regan‟s selfishness and cruelty inexorably and also companies Lear, reminds him and saves him.The first mention of him was in other‟s words, when Lear asks the Knight to call the fool, the Kn ight answers “Since my young lady‟s going into France, sir, the fool hath much pine d away.”﹙ActⅠ, scene ⅳ﹚, thus building close connection between the fool the young daughter of Lear, Cordelia. Cordelia represents the sincerity, kindness, beauty and honesty in the play; she is endowed with beautiful features. Therefore, the fool‟s being sentimentally attached to her shows the fool‟s love and hate as well as his sense of value. His standpoint is revealed even before his appearance. After driving away his favorite daughter Cordelia, King Lear transfers his favoritism to the fool, as if he were Cordelia. He feels empty after C ordelia‟s leaving, and the fool always tells the truth like Cordelia, Lear knows clearly in his heart that who is really good to him. He begins to miss his young daughter immediately after her leaving, but he could not own her any more, then he takes the fool as a stand-in to some degree. “Where's my knave? my fool? Go you, and call my fool hither.” “Where's my fool, ho? I think the world's asleep.”“Why came not the slave back to me when I called him”“But where's my fool? I have not seen him this two days.”“Go you, call hither my fool.”﹙ActⅠ, Scene ⅳ﹚When his daughter Goneril refuses to see him, he feels angry and hurt, he thinks of his young daughter, then he call the fool hurriedly and continuously. At that time, he needs some comfort, he needs someone to company him, the person could only be the fool, the representation of his favorite daughter. On the other hand, to the fool, he also behaves like a father, he cares about the fool with all his heart. “Come on, my boy: how dost, my boy? art cold?”﹙ActⅢ, Scene ⅳ﹚When they are deserted in heavy storm in the wild with the fool‟s company, he is still concerned of the fool and cares him gently. All his action is stimulated by the reminding of Cordelia. Actually, though Lear drives Cordelia away from him, he never drivers her out of his mind. Especially when he is deeply hurt by Goneril and Regan, he grasps the fool tightly to seek strength; he keeps the fool with him to spend his hardest time, dreaming that he receives spiritual compensation from his young daughter. Therefore, the fool is figured as another Cordelia, reminding and comforting King Lear when Cordelia is absent in the play. The most obvious connection between the fool and Coedelia is built in the climax of the play when Learloses both the fool and his young daughter, “And my poor fool is hang'd!” King Lear screams.﹙ActⅤ, Sceneⅲ﹚Here it also alludes his beloved daughter‟s death.The fool‟s another role in the play is Lear‟s teacher and saves Lear from desperation. He is the pronoun of true humanity and the model of Lear. The fool has profound insight and particular discernment, as if endowed with a certain holy power, and his special position determines his being permitted to speak everythiung. And it is exactly the two conditions make him become Lear‟s teacher.He often say s “I'll teach thee a speech.” ﹙ActⅠ, scene ⅳ﹚and “All thy other ti tles thou hast given away; that thou wast born with.” ﹙ActⅠ, scene ⅳ﹚he calls Lear as a fool. He is always displaying his superiority to the king; however, he is tolerated and favored instead of being severely punished. “Dost thou know the difference, my boy, between a bitter fool and a sweet fool?” ﹙ActⅠ, scene ⅳ﹚he talks as if Lear is his fool. “No, lad; teach me.” ﹙ActⅠ, scene ⅳ﹚King Lear played the game with the fool pleasantly. “Mark it, nuncle: Have more than thou showest…And thou shalt have more than two tens to a score.” “That lord that counsell'd thee to give away thy land…The one in motley here, t he other found out there” “Why, after I have cut the egg i' the middle,.. They know not how their wits to wear, th eir manners are so apish.” …﹙ActⅠ, scene ⅳ﹚In humoristic words, the fool teaches Lear some truth and rules in the society and acerbicly points out Lear‟s false decision to desert his young daughter. He always companies Lear wherever he goes, whatever he is. “But I will tarry; the fool will stay, and let the wise man fly: the knave turns fool that runs away; the fool no knave, perdy.” From the words he tells Kent, he states his standpoint and his reason to stay with Lear. He is called a fool not for his being quarter-witted, but for his loyalty and straightness. He knows Lear is not a falsifier, so he is willing to company him. He wants to protect Lear, when Lear is abandoned in the wild, homeless. He does not lecture Lear any more, he tries to comfort Lear and persuade Lear. Throughout his playact, he is always making effort to teach Lear the social cruelty, to weep out Lear‟s false pride, to make him realize his fault of driving Cordelia away. When Lear confessed his fault and no longer takes himself as a king but a sheer father and human being, the fool finishes his task and disappears from thenon.As an important antagonist, the fool brightens the sad atmosphere of the tragedy with his humorous words. He is also endowed with new role in this play: as the representation and extension of Cordelia, he companies Lear and carries forward Cordelia‟s noble characters, further reve aling the theme; as Lear‟s teacher, he imparts truth to Lear, criticizes his foolishness, and helps him get rid of his self-righteous habit. Only when we have a through comprehension of the fool, can we have a deeper understanding of the protagonist, Lear. Since they are similar and have an amalgamationcrasis in the end to some degree. Insaneness is the acme of emotion in Shakespeare‟s tragedies. It is the depicting of this particular role make laugh rends the tragedy, making people laugh with tears, meditate while laughing.①the Oxford Advanced Learner‟s English-Chinese Dictionary（the Oxford University Press ,the 6th Edition）﹙1415﹚。