INTRODUCTION
As long as I have been reading and
analyzing Shakespeare’s comedies, I have realized of the great importance
of the fool role in these three plays which I have been working in. This importance
is obviously a common fact in the vast history of the comedies, tragedies and
stories in general, since the Classical Times until the Hollywood commercial
films.
But, I have noticed in
this point that Shakespeare’s understanding of the fool figure became a
precedent, a remarkable point of inspiration to the following writers. We all
can see, even nowadays, the ‘shakespearian’ heritage in the
conception of funny characters, not only in their form, but also in their
development along the plots. So, I want to analyze them attending to a main
three points: firstly, their behaviour or personality and how they use the
language to express themselves; then, how the other characters of the plays
consider them and finally, the way they make us laugh and enjoy the reading or
the performance.
In order to carry out my paper, I will talk
about the following characters:
• Feste (‘Twelfth Night’)
• Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of
Syracuse (‘The Comedy of
errors’)
• Puck
(‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’)
If I have chosen to
talk about these three characters is because as far as I know, all of them
share some features that belong to a particular role in the distant past.
However, they don’t have exactly the same personality, as it
wouldn’t be desirable from the author, but it is true that we can
distinguish some similarities that we cannot find out in the other roles. And
this is what I am going to explain.
Although and, first of
all, I would like to make a brief overlook along the history of the Fool as a
common character of the comedies, focusing on its beginning and development
with the passing of time. From its appearance in Greece and Rome to its
adaptation in Shakespeare’s comedies.
THE HISTORY OF THE
FOOL FIGURE
My conception about
the Fool: He is a clown or a joker who tells riddles and puns to entertain
people. He is often intelligent and witty, and he always tends to reveal facts
about those whom jokes are refering to. The Fool used to be a popular character
among the Court, and he was also an unshakable element as writers used him to
express what they thought. We must consider that, in past times, opinions of
this character would never be taken into account as serious feelings of the
dramatists, so there would be a perfect excuse to make fun of anything that the
author was against. This is why comedies especially talk about some daily
aspects of the human being. Throughout these features, writers are able to
provoke laugh and hilarity with a happy ending.
Originally, comedies
come from the parties made in honour of Dionisios, where burlesque songs were
interpreted by some actors. These people who always played the same role, were
later considerated as Fools. So, little by little, singing and ridiculing
important people by using satires this character appeared and took place in
every comedies that came out later. It is also known that they used to be
really successful among their audiences. The most important comedies’
authors in the 5th century AD were Aristofanes and Menandro (in Greece); and Plauto
and Terencio (who achieved fame in Rome). At present time, this kind of genre
belongs to Modern Comedy.
The Fool’s form
was modified several times according to the writers’ necessities. For
instance, in the Italian comedy known as Commedia dell’Arte (which was
born in the 16th century) this character was firstly played by the harlequin,
who always wore a colourful costume and carried a mask. Also, this figure used
to represent a cunning servant with the behaviour of a demanding child. However, two centuries later, it was seen as
a person with some of the features of a lover man.
All these connotations
were taken by Shakespeare and they were very useful to him as he mixed them and
made his own character, which he would adapt and introduce into his plays. But,
I would prefer to analyze this surprising development in the next point.
On the other hand,
another form of Fool should be enlighted in Spain in the Middle Age. The
importance of the ‘juglar’ or the ‘trovador’ (as they
are written in Spanish) must be remarked by its influence into the country folk
music. At this moment, the literary figure of the Fool would have become a real
person whose job consisted in singing songs about battles and love affairs.
As the same way that several
kinds of Fools have been appearing according to some preferences, other
varieties of comedies have been also coming up in order to please the different
tastes of each time and the social contradictions.
HIS BEHAVIOUR OR
PERSONALITY AND HOW HE USE THE LANGUAGE TO EXPRESS HIMSELF
It could seem obvious,
but Shakespeare’s Fools tend to have all of them a common characteristic
which is not their special ability to perform pirouettes or being a tumbler as
they used to be considered in other cultures. The common feature we can easily
recognise is the ability that they have with the language. As it is reflected
in the three plays; Feste, the two Dromios and Puck are able to speak with a
great sense of humour by the use of jokes and puns without forgetting their own
temperaments. And, it can be demostrated through their dialogues.
It would be an act of
injustice by my side to start with another Fool which won’t be Feste from
‘Twelfth Night’. He is distinguished basically for his motivation,
which is not other than enjoy and entertain the people who surround him.
If I consider that he
is the best character that plays this role is because of he is the only one
whom people recognise as a Fool. This would be the main reason why the word
‘fool’ appears 58 times throughout the whole text. And the same
happens with ‘foolish’, ‘foolery’ or ‘
fooling’, which appear 22 more times. Besides, some of the citations are
specially addressed to Feste.
However, we cannot
read any direct connotation or quote in which the other characters refer to
Puck or the two Dromios as Fools.
And now, I’ll
explain some of the jokes that they play and parts of their dialogues where we
can notice some characteristics of their personalities as example:
• Feste: - ‘Like a drowned man, a
fool, and a madman. One draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads
him, and a third drowns him’. ( I, v, 130 ). In this case, he is
describing what he understands by a drunken man as response to a Olivia’s
riddle. He excercises his abilities as a Fool making an original explanation
what he thinks about it.
• Feste: - ‘Not so, sir. I do care
for something; but in my conscience, sir, I do not care for you. If that be to
care for nothing, sir, I would make you invisible.’ (III, i, 28). The fact that the words ‘care
for’ appears in the three main sentences ,sometimes in positive, others
in negative meaning, show us the difficulty that he has to express himself. His
speech is not direct; on the contrary, he goes off at a tangent without being
too much explicit. It denotes confusion from his part and it also confuses to
the reader. Nevertheless, I must say that he does not always act like this. In
other situations, he seems to be more clear, even more severe and sarcastic. He
often speaks in an ironical way making sometimes rhetorical questions. An
obvious example would be the next points:
• Feste: - ‘Foolery, sir, does
walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere. I would be sorry, sir,
but the fool should be as oft with your master as with my mistress. I think I
saw your wisdom there?’ (III, i, 38).
• Feste: - ‘Vent my fooly! He has
heard that word of some great man, and now applies it to a fool. Vent my folly!
I am affraid this great lubber the world will prove a cockne. I prithee now, ungird
thy strangeness, and tell me what I shall vent to my lady? Shall I vent to her
thet thou art coming?’ (IV, i, 12).
In the next quotation
what we can see is Dromio of Ephesus explaining in a fun way how he feels and
he is being treated by his master, specially when he says that his ears have
witnessed many blows:
• Dromio of Ephesus: - ‘Nay,
he’s at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness.’ (II,
i, 46).
Throughout the
following lines, the character from ‘A Midsummer Night’s
Dream’ tries to show his feelings by the use of images where animals are
really important. In my opinion, this use is basically owed to his experiences
into the World of the Fairies, as he belongs to the forest, the majority of his
knowledge is relationated with the Animal World.
• Puck: - ‘Now are frolic; not a
mouse
Shall disturb this hallowed
house.
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the
door. (V, i, 376).
Then, when he is
saying ‘a mouse’ actually, he is refering to the least little
thing. And, the same happens when he says the last sentence. ‘To
sweep...door.’ means that he in sweeping the dust away, which is colected
behind the great main doors of the hall in the old country houses that nearly
always stood open, will show himself an excellent servant to Theseus and
Hippolyta. This last comment has been taken from a note of the book edited by J. W. Lever.
And, I have cited it to enlight how the character makes use of the language in
a good way to express himself.
But, if I have talked
about the way they speak, I cannot forget to talk about the importance of the
songs in their speech, as it would be impossible to avoid the influence of the
music in their roles.
Just as Shakespeare
focused on a particular language for his Fools, he also payed attention to the
rythm and the musicality in his comedies. And apart from making the character
funnier, it also useful to make the story more enjoyable. So, by means of songs
which have a great importance in ‘Twelfth Nigth’, Feste catches his
friends’ attention and gets more involved into the others’
conversations.
• Feste: (Sings) - ‘O mistress
mine! Where are you roaming?
O, saty and
hear: you true love’s coming,
... man’s son
doth know.’ (II, iii, 36).
• Feste: (Sings) - ‘What is love?
Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth
hath present laughter,
... will
not endure.’ (II, iii, 45).
• Feste: (Sings) - ‘When that I
was and a little tiny boy,
With hey-ho, the
wind and the rain;
... to please
you every day.’ (V, i, •85).
Another common fact
that I would like to comment briefly, would be the endings of ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘A
Midsummer Nigth’s Dream’, as both of them end with a monologue of
the Fool of each play. Personally, I don’t think that it is a simple
coincidence of the two works from the part of the author. I could say that
Shakespeare held his Fools responsible for the ending of the three comedies.
Whereas Feste and Puck speak directly to the readers wondering whether we have
enjoyed the play, in addition, Feste singing one of his songs makes us
understand the story of his own life. And thirdly, in ‘The Comedy of
Errors’, before the final exeunt, the two Dromios end talking about how
happy they are because of their reunion.
• Dromio of Ephesus: - ‘Nay then
thus:
We
came into the world like brother and brother;
And now
let’s go hand in hand, not one before
another.’ (V, i, 422).
Actually, I have to
say in favour of Shakespeare that I really like this sentences. As just in few
words is described the relationsihp that they are going to have.
HOW THE OTHER CHARACTERS OF THE PLAYS
CONSIDER THE FOOL
FIGURE
Despite in this point is
where I think that there are going to be more differences, it is not impossible
at all to find out an important resemblance. Of course I am refering to the
conception of the fool role as a servant. If I had to choose the least
submissive of the three characters (I consider the two Dromios as only one
person, since they both play the same role in the comedy they belong to), I
should distinguish then Feste because of being the only one who sometimes does
not consider himself as a one. Although he is not completely sure of being
free. In an introduction I have read from a translation of the text directed by
Manuel Ángel Conejero, Feste is described as a dog that is prowling in the
house after his master (Olivia’s father) died. So, he actually seems a
lost dog who tries to vinculate himself to somebody, it doesn’t matter if
he is from the Orsino’s Court, or from the Olivia’s house and her
followers.
However, according to
the other characters’ dialogues, there is no doubt that Puck and the
Dromios are seen as servants. And in the following points, this aspect would be
analyzed in more detail.
• Feste: (answering to Olivia who has
asked him if he is not her Fool) - ‘No indeed, sir, the lady Olivia has
no folly. She will keep no fool, sir, till she be married, and fools areas like
husbands as pilchers are to herrings; the husband’s the bigger. I am
indeed not her fool, but her corrupter of words.’ (III, i, 34).
• Feste: - ‘this will I tell my
lady straight.’ (IV, i, 28).
As we have been able
to noticed, firstly, he says he doesn’t belong to her; but after,he
refers to himsef as part of her property.
In the other
characters this situation won’t happens as they are always considered as
part of his masters’ possessions. This is why Oberon orders Puck to find
the Cupid’s Flower and he obeys. We can see this aspect more clearly in
the conversation between the two characters:
Dialogue (II, i, 169-
268):
• Oberon: - ‘Fetch me that
flower’ (l. 169).
‘Fetch me this herb,
and be thou here again’ (l.174).
‘Hast thou the
flower there? Welcome, wanderer.’(l.247).
• Puck: - ‘Fear not, my lord; your
servant shall do so.’ (l.268).
The same happens with
the Dromios:
• Dromio of Ephesus: - ‘My
mistress made it one upon my cheek.’
(II,
i, 49).
-
‘Why, mistress, sure my master is horn-mad.’
(II,i, 58).
• Dromio of Syracuse: - ‘You sent
me for a rope’s end as soon:
You sent me to the bay, sir,
for a bark.’ (IV)
The two Dromios are as
slaves who are exposed to the humilliaton of their masters. These two
don’t seem to be too much intelligent, each confusion of the plot make
them doubt about everything, asking a lot of questions and getting the words
mixed. Their attitude is constantly based into the understanding , so that they
repeat a lot of words, questions and sentences.
• Dromio of Ephesus: - ‘Tis
dinner-time, quoth I; My gold! Quoth he;
Your meat
doth burn, quoth I; My gold! Quoth he:
Will
you come home? Quoth I; My gold! Quot he.
( II,
i, 62).
Furthermore, they are
the least treated characters by their masters. On the contrary, the treat which
Puck recieves from Oberon is quite polite. I think that in the middle of these
two kinds of treatment it would be this one that Feste has, which is not as bad
as Dromios’ example, who are constantly battered; but not good enough as
Puck is considered.
• Dromio of Ephesus: - ‘Nay, he
struck so plainly. I could too well feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully
that I could scarce understand them.’ (II, i, 51).
• Dromio of syracuse: - ‘Nothing,
sir, but that I am beaten.’ ( II, ii, 41).
• Feste: (answering to Malvolio) -
‘God send you, sir, a speedy infirmity for the better increasing your
folly. Sir Toby will be sworn that I am no fox, but he will not pass his word
for two-pence that you are no fool.’
(I, v, 75).
I want to enlight that
even when the two Dromios are being battered, they don’t leave to be
reliable, they always obey to their masters’ willings. However, Feste is
more tempered, he answers to those who don’t agree with him.
WHY HE MAKES US
LAUGH AND ENJOY THE PLOT AS WE DO
Besides, all the puns
and riddles they use in their dialogues, I think that a great part of their
fame is due to our conception of the Fool. Because, although, Shakespeare was
not used to talk about his characters’ appearance, as he didn’t
describe in his texts the proper costumes that actors should wear to perform
the play; nowadays, we identify the Fool figure with the clown or with someone
who smiles a lot and exaggerates his gestures apart from being so funny. Then,
even when these roles , which I have analyzed, have been responsibles for some
of the others’ disasters, we are not able to get angry , as we cannot think that deep down in their
hearts they are bad people. I mean, after seing Feste dressed up as a parish
priest and making Malvolio believe that Olivia loves him; or after thinking in
Puck as Oberon’s accomplice and both responsibles for the consequences of
the flower; we are not still enough prepeared to think in them as villains.
And finally, I will
say that when we read Shakespeares’ plays, or any other play written in a
foreign language, we usually pay too much attention to understand every word,
leaving the more important part, which is the enjoyment of the reading and the
plot. Despite certains humouristic aspects defers from our culture, there have
to act in complicity with the writer.
THE FOOLISH FIGURE
IN SHAKESPEARE: AN OUTLINE
Thousands of books and
analysis have been written about the way Shakespeare configured his plays.
Pages over pages, in which the common features of his characters are analyzed,
have been read and followed in order to establish some kind of routine when
studying Shakespearean patterns. And even a mould could be created, a mould to
cook hundreds and hundreds of identical fools in the kitchen of the repetitive
creation.
Thus, similarities
between these figures are only too well known by the student: we could
summarize these patterns into four levels, attending to their characteristic
behaviour: their extremely developed linguistic ability, a sharp irony, their
unquestionable musicality and this tendency to end the play with a
–sometimes transcendental, sometimes mundane- monologue.
But here we find a
fifth level, a level of discrepancy. And it is the motivation of this kind of
character. We could draw a “pyramid of enjoyment” in which the
differences in their inner nature would be seen clearly. In the upper vertex is
set Feste, with an interior mixture between acceptance, altruism and even some
sparks of egoism: his assumption of his own nature as an entertainment and the
stoicism with he behaves can’t hide a feeling of enjoyment in his
attitude and, subsequently, his words. He makes laugh but he laughs internally,
too.
In the medium level of
this hypothetic pyramid we set Puck. He doesn’t accept his status, but he
shows in some ways a kind of resignation. He enjoys with his role, but in a
different way as Feste does: while Feste is laughing for himself, Puck
experiments a way of altruist satisfaction. In fact, Puck could be as the
worker who, being conscious about the fact that his employment is not the job
of his life, is even grateful with the destiny because he knows there are a lot
of worse jobs.
And finally, in the
basis (or should we say the bottom?) of this “pyramid of
satisfaction”, we find the two Dromios: servants with no conditions,
material possessions of their master, they are acting with sad resignation. The
two Dromios don’t experiment any kind of satisfaction at all, and this
feature is which set them away compared with the other two fools.
Thus, to sum up, we
can say that the examples of the Fool figure is homogeneous enough to make a
study about them, but heterogeneous enough to plot a more intense study
focusing on the differences through the development of the character.
Bibliography and websites :
- ‘A Midsummer Night’s
Dream’. New Swan Skakespeare. Longman. General Editor: Bernard Lott, M.
A., PH. D.
- ‘The complete works of
Shakespeare’. A new edition, edited with an introduction and glossary by
Peter Alexander. Collins London and Glasgow.
- ‘Noche de Reyes’ .
Edición bilingüe del Instituto Shakespeare dirigida
por Manuel Ángel Conejero Dionís-Bayer.
Cátedra. Letras
Universales.
- http://www.enotes.com/midsummer/737
(28th , December, 06).
- http://www.teatro.meti2.com.ar/diccionario/C.htm
(28th, Dec.,06).
The Fool role in
Greece and in Rome, 5th century AD.
- http://www.difusioncultural.uam.mx/revista/dic2003/ortiz.html
(30th, Dec.,06).Terminology of some words
relationated with any kind of comedy.
- www.conaculta.gob.mx/saladeprensa/2004/03jun/bufon.htm
(2nd, Jan., 07). The History of the Fool.
-
www.wikipedia.com
(5th Jan. 07). Definitions: ‘Happy
comedies’, ‘Commedia dell’Arte’ and ‘the
Harlequin’.
Academic year 2006/2007
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Lucia Mataix Garcia
lumagar@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press