Chapter seven
The final reoccurring
pattern we can see in Shakespeare’s comedies is the presence of fools and
clowns. These characters have contributed to the greatness of Shakespearian
comedy. Usually they are considered as humorous characters, created with the
aim of making people laugh. At first glance we see these characters simply
creating comic relief by being as silly as possible, but in reality they are
more complex than it first seems. Fools are observant, intelligent and have more
depth to their presence than simply providing jokes. However in order to see this,
we, as spectators and as readers, we have to make an effort. Shakespeare used these characters in a versatile manner. He used them not
only for humour but to provide insights into the progress of the play.
Shakespearian fools are used to contrast the behaviour of the other characters
in the plays and to make important points that Shakespeare wishes his audience
to understand.
The fools and the
clowns guide us through the play; they act as commentators on the behavior of
the main characters, and always tell the truth, although they are hardly ever
believed by the other characters. We can clearly see this exemplified in the
character Bottom, the fool of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, where his role is particularly important as the tagline of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, (at least in the movie): “Love makes fools of us all.” This makes
the fools role even more important in this play, we can see Bottom being used
as a comparative figure. In the play the focus is on love and from an outer
audience perspective we can see that the situations the main characters end up,
and their actions are foolish as a consequence of love. The actions and words
of the foolish characters within the play A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, characters such as Puck and Bottom are vital as
they are used to contrast the foolish actions of the main characters.
Fools and clowns are
essential to Shakespearian comedies thanks to their humanity, although at first
impression we have of them is that of them being in the comedy only to
entertain the audience or the readers. Fools and clowns have a high
contribution in the play, mainly in producing humor and confusion. One clear example
of this can be Twelfth Night, where Feste takes control of the comedy
and its humor and also guide us through the play.
But probably the most
important role of the fool and the clown in Shakespeare’s comedies is that of
acting as a mask for the author to criticize aspects of the English society,
because fools and clowns are licensed to speak out where others must be silent,
they are licensed to tell the rude truth, and become thus more influential than
many other characters. This trait is evident in Bottom, he has many key phrases in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, many of which can be seen as multilayered. It is
possible that the observational comments of Bottom, which, in the time of
Shakespeare, may have been somewhat controversial, are purposely said by a fool
in order to disguise their significance. This is a very clever trick because
through this, without people realising, Shakespeare is making points about
society which after the play will remain in people’s heads without them
necessarily knowing why.
Fools and clowns provide a contrast between themselves and the other characters
of the play. Shakespeare is implicitly comparing each of us with the characters
of his plays. We are, as they are, running through our lives blustering,
feeling that we are in full control of our circumstances, whereas in reality,
life confuses us, upsets us and makes us feel impotent and angry. Through fools
and clowns Shakespeare is showing as that we are not so distinct from these
foolish characters.
We can distinguish
between those fools who are intelligent and clever, like Feste in Twelfth
Night, requiring some mental effort on our part to appreciate their
intelligence and humor; and those fools that make us laugh because they are
deliberately acting simple, in order to entertain, not needing clever wit to be
funny. Clever fools are capable of developing deeper human traits, whereas
foolish fools often serve to contrast the dark moments of a play with a lighter
feel, as Dogberry does in Much Ado about Nothing, when he contrasts the
darkness brought to the play by Don John.
Fools and clowns love
language, and make use of it, but their words, as well as their actions are
ridiculous. The use of language to make the
personality of a fool is evident in Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where he is made funny through his
constant mixing up of words and sentences, despite his strong self confidence
in his abilities. His problems with pronunciation occur all the way through,
these problems show Bottom to be simple but not stupid. His problems in
pronunciation give less credibility to the words which he says and therefore
has more scope to comment on society, without repercussions. The appearance of the fool’s scene usually occurs
just as the shock or trauma level of the play has reached a point when the
minds of the audience members begin to become desensitized. These scenes give
spectators a chance to catch their breath and mentally prepare for what follows
next. The closer you look at the role of a fool, the more defined and
clever it becomes, those who can not see the cleverness of the fool, are a fool
themselves.