rt now. I am a fool, thou art nothing." (I, iv, 184) By pointing out his superiority to the King, he cruelly underscores Lear's senility, while returning to the continuous theme of "nothing," constructed wholly by Lear. The gratuitous quality of his comments, as well as Lear's seeming disregard for them and his continuous insistence of treating the Fool as though he were his child accentuate the Fool's cruelty.
             The Fool acts as a way to quantify the king's sanity. Lear's madness (increases) overtly throughout the play, and the fool's presence emphasizes the moments where an alteration in Lear's state of mind in revealed. At the end of Act 1, Lear almost strikes the fool after he tells the king: "Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise." (I, v, 41) The Fool, however, is under the aegis of the gods as discussed earlier, so Lear would in fact be mad if he were to abuse him. Lear suddenly backs off, revealing a semblance of some sanity, and then professes: "Let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!" (I, v, 43) In a similar declaration, Lear says: "
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