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The Fool plays a significant part in Lear. Introduced in Act 1, Scene 4 he is privy to the innermost feelings of his king. He is placed in a position where he can watch the going on at court; he serves as a sounding board for Lear. He also observes the outcomes of Lear’s rash judgements and comments upon them throughout the play. In Act 1, Scene 4 the Fool castigates Lear for giving away his kingly authority. Suggesting that because Lear no longer has a crown, then perhaps Lear should don the coxcomb, or fool’s cap:
I’ld keep my coxcombs myself. Theres mine; be
. . .
The Fool’s light-heartedness also let’s us appreciate him as a jester with his babbling and songs. 109)
Lear’s response to the Fool is complex, veering between kindly indulgence and threats to have him whipped:
‘
Take heed, sirrah – the whip’
(1. He is instrumental in helping Lear find a new vision of life and therefore, is a part of the moral process of the play. He relives tension in particularly anguished situations; in the trial scene of Act 111 the Fool attracts the audiences laughter to himself and away from Lear. His basic role is that of chorus, commenting on the action and adding point to our perceptions. In this context he joins Cordelia and Kent as a third voice of commonsense and sanity in the wake of Lear’s eccentricity In Act 1 he uses verbal wit and prattling telling Lear he is foolish to give everything away and putting his daughters in authority over him. Poor Tom replaces him, Lear is on the way to recovery and there is no need for a wise and caustic Fool to keep re-opening the wound.
The Fool also help to drive Lear mad with his consistent probing and to find his salvation, joining Poor Tom in the storm breaking down Lear’s self-centredness and unawareness of the poor.
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