1. The Fool

2. Key questions – brief discussion
Who is the Fool?
What is the Fool's relationship with Lear?
Why did Shakespeare include the Fool in the play?

3. Work in pairs, and name yourself A and B.
Exploring the role
Work in pairs, and name yourself A and B.
A is depressed, and B's job is to try to cheer them up. You have one minute in which to do everything they can think of to cheer up A except physically touching them or actual words. You can pull faces, make noises, play jokes, offer visual gags, using their eyes, faces, hands and bodies as inventively as they can. Your goal is to make your partner laugh.
Swap roles and repeat the exercise.

4. You’re having a laugh!
Each pair has some of the fool’s lines. You need to find a way of delivering the lines, exploiting every opportunity within the line to make the rest of the class laugh. You can share the lines between them in whichever way they like, and use the notes to help you.
Make sure that your performance of the lines has a clear beginning and end.

5. You’re a fool
Stand in a circle. Watch closely what happens in the pair immediately following them, and ensure you notice which words and images stand out as the Fool's lines are performed.

6. If a man's brains were in his heels, were't not in danger of kibes
If a man's brains were in his heels, were't not in danger of kibes? Then I prithee be merry, thy wit shall ne'er go slip shod

7. Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee kindly, for though she's as like this as a crab's like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell. She will taste as like this as a crab does to a crab.

8. Thou canst not tell why one's nose stands i'the middle on's face
Thou canst not tell why one's nose stands i'the middle on's face? Why, to keep one's eyes of either side's nose, that what a man cannot smell out he may spy into.

9. Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell
Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell? Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house. Why, to put's head in, not to give it away to his daughters and leave his horns without a case.

10. History of the fool- AO4
Traced back to ancient times – in the Middle Ages, a jester, and in Renaissance, a familiar servant in aristocratic homes
Didn’t always wear traditional dress
Regarded as pets or mascots; there to amuse, but also to criticise their masters and guests
Queen Elizabeth apparently rebuked one of her fools for not being harsh enough with her
Often, they were mentally deficient and/or physically deformed, requiring the protection of powerful patrons to avoid ostracism or abuse

11. History of the fool- AO4
Distinctions made between the natural fool and the professional fool; the fool and the clown, however, position of privilege was established (Lear’s ‘all-licensed fool’)
Follies could be disregarded as the ravings of a madman or divinely inspired: the ‘natural fool’ was often seen as touched by God.
Where does Lear’s fool fall?

12. The fool in Shakespeare’s plays- AO4
Popularised by Robert Armin in The King’s Men; made speciality of the fool, as opposed to Will Kempe’s clowns.
Increased in popularity between 1598 and 1605: Touchstone (As You Like It) Feste (Twelfth Night), Lavatch (All’s Well That Ends Well) in Shakespeare’s plays and in those of other’s like Ben Jonson.
Role was popular and significant; Shakespeare extends it in King Lear so that folly becomes a dominant theme.

13. Foolishness and folly- AO3
Critic Epsom claims Shakespeare derived his use of ‘fool’ from Erasmus’s ‘In Praise of Folly’ (1509, satirical text apparently in praise of madness and folly), but developed it further
Shakespeare had created cynical, world-weary fools before (e.g. Lavatch) but Lear’s fool is far more complex
Ironic aversions of folly and wisdom cast darker shadows
The fool’s perception of the true horror of the situation prompts his goading of this master from the outset
IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FOOLISHNESS AND FOLLY?

14. Influence of ‘Sottie’ – AO4
Sottie or sotie was a type of comedy popular in Europe from the end of the 15th century to the 17th, taking the form of a short, satirical play.
Linked by genre to the morality plays in the late Middle Ages.
Its theme is the universal sway of Mother Folly and by the end of the play, all characters are reduced to the ‘man in the cap and bells’.
Enid Welsford relates the central scenes in Act 3 and 4 to the culminating moments of the sottie.

15. Symbolism of the fool - AO4
The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness, independent of reason, and a childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. 
He is always un-numbered or zero in the tarot/cards pack, operating independently and often having the ability to trump others.
In the tarot, conventional explanations say that The Fool signifies the flesh, the sensitive life, depicting folly at the most insensate stage.
When The Fool appears in a spread, it is asking you to strip down to the core of yourself and questioning whether your self-vision is obscured.
It can also be a warning that significant change is coming, or that you need to confront fears or face the unknown.

16. Dramatic interpretations – how would you stage the Fool?

17. Critical interpretations
Working in pairs, explore the different critical readings of The Fool, deciding upon which you most and least agree with and why... Ensure you find evidence from the text to support your ideas.

18. Essay question
‘Shakespeare’s introduction of the Fool is his most important contribution to the Lear story.’
By considering the dramatic presentation of the Fool in King Lear, evaluate this view.