By JH Sayyar
King Lear is the best play of Shakespeare that depends on the three main characters of the play: the Fool, Lear, and the mad man, under the name of poor Tom (Edgar). All these choristers develop the story of the play and create suspense for the audience in the play. The King is blind to the hidden reality, poor tom knows the hidden reality and the Fool watches reality and warns Lear in his own clownish style. The clown lives with the King from the beginning till end and tries to remind him of his folly so that the King could know the hidden reality. The poor Tom serves the King in the hovel and watches every moment of the other characters. Both the persons sharpen the King’s decreasing wit and remove his sadness. As the text shows:
“Nuncle give me an egg, and I shall
Give thee two crowns.”
Further the Fool says and his saying indicates to the King’s past mistake. See:
“Then they for sudden joy did weep
And I for sorrow sung
That such a king should play Bo-beep
And go the fool’s among.”
The Fool’s sayings perform double function in the play. First it creates interest in the lay and secondly it improves the King’s dull wit. Here Dales Rowed says, “ The Fool is the conscious of the King. After dividing the Kingdom soon he knows hidden realities but does not accept his mistake among the people considering it his ego problem. Thus the Fool represents the King’s third eye.”
The hidden thoughts that the King does not expose them the fool speak them in his own style so the Fool is the civilized conscious of the King. As the text shows the Fool says:
“And I shall go to bed at noon.”
Lear’s mind and soul echoes may be listened in the Fool’s voice throughout the play. Further the Fool says in these words Lear’s lurking notions:
‘Your eyes are in a heavy case
Your purse is light.”
As the play proceeds the Fool becomes wittier and his disposition lovable. All the speeches the utter do not surprise the readers because it is his office. The Fool knows well the King’s conscious and read s it carefully. As we see in the Act-3, Scene-5:
“ He is a mad man that trusts in the tameness of
Wolf, a whore’s promise, a boy’s love and
A horse’s health.”
There are two things that capture the Fool’s brain; first without dowries the departure of Cordelia to whom he loves her with his whole heart. As the text shows:
“Since my young Lady’s going to France
The Fool hath much pinned away.”
The King also loves the Fool and calls him, my boy, and my pretty knave. The Fool is unhappy over the division of the Kingdom ignoring Cordelia but he dares not to speak and says in these words his heart:
“Yes, for sooth, I will hold my tongue
So your face bide me, thou you say nothing.”
As we see on the Heath they enter in a hovel to get shelter from the storm. Entering the hovel the Fool cries for help, help here is devil. Here Lock son says:
“It is not a professional fool. It is the king’s conscious if it were a professional jester the tragedy turns into a comedy.”
The most noteworthy point in him is that he does not pay attention to his own sufferings but the sufferings of his master and tries to console him in the difficult time and does not lose his wit. The Fool’s anguish is the anguish of sympathy and sympathy so deep and intense to induce absolute forgetfulness of self. The wittiest saying of the Fool is:
“I shall go to bed at noon.”
Here the Fool means Lear is dying, Cordelia has gone forever, Kent has also been banished but the deepest pain he feel is that his master ‘s wit has gone forever. The Fool did a lot for the King but he could not bring back his wit. Here Lampblack says: “ The Fool is the weakest part of the King’s conscious. On the other hand the Fool represents the King’s Beta Rhythms whom per second speed is 18-22 per second to understand external information, goes out of control. The Beta Rhythms were present in the King’s conscious like the Fool was present before the King but was functionless.”
To sum up, the fool is the showpiece of the weakest side of the King’s conscious. So Lear’s third- eye opens and looking at the reality and finding himself powerless so he speaks from the mouth of the Fool. And thinks thus:
“O Regan, Goneril,
Your kind old father whose flank heart
Gave all
O, That way madness lies.”
So the fool be the weakest side of the Kind or the real fool his sayings teach practical realities a lot to the King and the readers. The Fool is the improved and civilized conscious of the King. The Fool’s sayings are full of irony that comes with passage of time we cannot acquire it on the ground of experience. At the end we see that the King senses fail but he was able to recognize the Fool and Cordelia.
Because that was the King’s self. According to Hobs, “Human self never dies if he is given poisoned and coming into conscious he will say, “Where I am.” It is his conscious. So Lear’s recognition in the state of stupefying shows The Fool and Cordelia the King ‘s real improved and civilized conscious. That is why he recognized them soon looking at their faces.
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This topic sounds very funny but a close thinking and attention to this topic makes you tend to know the meaning very clearly. If am to justify this topic in my own words, this will be my judgement.
The fools talk wisely :this in the other hands means that the one we think to be the foolish one are the wise ones. But the fact is the world misunderstand the word of a wise man as foolish thereby calling the man a fool. A fool talks wisely in the sense that his words make sense and if taken granted will lose a lot. A fool who talks wisely is the wise one while a wise man who talk foolishly is a fool. A wise man who talks foolishly is detected by a fool who talks wisely. The world sees him as wise but actually when a closer look is given to him, you will notice his words make no sense but only an ordinary man applaud his foolish words taking it as wise.
It is better to be a fool who talks wisely rather being a wise man who talks foolishly. Having the wisdom when talking matters the most.
That is my judgement.
Another thing is that a fool may be talking wisely but due to he's known for being a fool, his words will be taken for granted. The wise man who's there may be talking foolishly but people around applaud him because he's known for his wise words. Only a deep thinking will tell you who's wise or foolish.
My dear friend, you are right saying this that a wise man is a fool when he talks wisely among the fools is just as a gold ring in the nose of a swine. The man people call fool is a man full of win and wisdom and humor but people do not listen to their talks carefully they ignore them because they become uneducated as I have seen.
If someone be in the King's Palace may give any advice to the royal family but he watching all actions and its result but he is fool in the yes of the king and queen just due to the difference of status and nothing else.