Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
King Lear - Online Paper

King Lear

The role the Fool in the Tragedy of
The Fool in William Shakespeare's is often mistaken as foolhardy, but everything he says has a deeper significance and greater truth. Since he is the court jester, the audience assumes that the Fool's main purpose is to entertain us. The Fool's dramatic function is not to humor us, but to tell the truth through his metaphoric rhymes and jests. The Fool is a representation of 's psyche. When the Fool disappears after Act III, scene ii, what is left of 's stable mentality quickly disintegrates. The relationship between is not one of master and servant. The Fool could be considered 's subconscious; he has perceptions the does not. With his ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

Thou must needs wear my coxcomb- How now nuncle? Would I had two
Coxcombs and two daughters!
(I, i: 96-103)

When the Fool offers King Lear his coxcomb, he is offering him wisdom. King Lear is unaware of his ignoble actions and this is the fool's attempt to make him realize how inadequate his actions are. In another rhyming jest, the Fool, in his cleaver manipulation of speech, tries to desperately to warn King Lear to be careful with what he has or be left with nothing:

Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest,
Lend than thou owest,
Ride more than thou goest,
Learn more than thou trowest,
Set less than thou throwest,
Leave they drink and thy whore,
And keep in-a-door,
And thou shalt have more,
Than two tens to a score.
(I, iv, 115-124)
King Lear takes the Fool's hidden intelligence for granted. The Fool is once again attempting to inform Lear that his inadequate actions will have terrible consequences. His senselessness ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.

Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE:

APA
MLA
Chicago
Turabian

King Lear. (2008, August 1). Retrieved January 12, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/87642

"King Lear." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 1 Aug. 2008. Web. 12 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/87642>

"King Lear." Essayworld.com. August 1, 2008. Accessed January 12, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/King-Lear/87642.

JOIN NOW

Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 8/1/2008 07:45:06 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1116
Pages: 5

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier