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The Court Fool: the tradition and in Shakespeare.

The fool plays an important theatrical role in such plays as As You Like It, Twelfth Night, King Lear, The Winter's Tale and even in The Tempest. We can be fascinated, delighted, puzzled and intrigued by these slippery and clever characters in motley, cap-and-bells or coxcomb hat.

Historical Background

The fool and his variations - jesters, minstrels and acrobats - can be found in the historical records of monarchs, Popes and members of the higher nobility and clergy.

The Fool or Trickster in Classical Antiquity

The fool or trickster appears in the classical art of Egypt. Perhaps the most famous is Seth, a figure who takes the role of scapegoat and who comes to represent the trickster or anarchist who symbolises the spirit of disorder in an otherwise well-ordered world. In late Roman drawings Seth is represented wearing an ass's ears while carrying a wand in his right hand and a large disk in his left. This all corresponds with the representation of the fool in medieval Europe (when the large disk may have represented the Host). The survival of Roman festivals into the Middle Ages is at the basis of similarities between the classical and medieval fools.

The Medieval Fool or Jester.

The medieval fool is a solid and reliable figure who is referred to in royal account books (wages, clothes, medical treatment). By the 13th century the court fool was a regular institution. and came to be represented in the art, drama and literature of the time.

A distinction: the 'natural' and 'artificial' fool. This distinction dates back to at least the 12th century. Some fools were clearly 'mad', and records speak of their frenzied dancing, tearing off of clothes, etc. This insane fool was called a 'natural' fool and other fools, who entertained by their wit or other skills, were called 'artificial' fools.

Note that the fool was not just a royal or aristocratic tradition. Nobles had fools and often exchanged them with one another. Some fools set up in business and made money by minstrelry, acrobatic feats and folly. Fools were also employed by businesses and can even be found in taverns and brothels. They were in demand for pageants, processions and festivals.

It is probably the case that most fools were treated well by their masters. However, it is likely that itinerant fools were suffering from various forms of mental illness and were encouraged to wander about in order that they may pick up some form of occupation.

The fool's clothing.

It was possibly the case that the traditional clothing of the fool - motley coat, cowl-shaped hood adorned with ass's ears, bells, sometimes a coxcomb on the head, sword or wand in the hand - comes from amateur theatre rather than real life. Records suggest that the medieval professional court fool dressed like other courtiers.

The fool as Lord of Misrule.

Folk festivals in the middle ages included one acted out on The Feast of the Epiphany. It was called the Feast of Fools and the tradition, beginning in France, appears in England in the 14th century. During the festival the revellers engage in the crowning of a mock-king and for a brief period of time the rigid medieval social order seemed to be turned upside down.This Lord of Misrule became an annual tradition at court, although the tradition stops by the end of the reign of Edward VI.

In this tradition, as elsewhere, the fool does not actually lead a revolt against the law, he simply takes us into a realm where, for a brief time, it appears that the law has been suspended or won't be enforced. The fool is not only physically resilient, he is morally and spiritually fluid as well, and this may account for his universal appeal. The fool's world may not be romantic or beautiful but he makes the best of it, and our delight is derived from seeing him land on his feet whatever he does. In addition there is the thrill of watching the weak appear to defeat the powerful in a rigidly-stratified society.

The English Renaissance Fool and Jester: The 'Golden Age' of Folly.

The account books reveal that fools were plentiful under the Tudor monarchs, particularly with the end of the War of the Roses when court time could be given to more frivolous things.

The distinction between the 'natural fool' and the 'artificial fool' is an important one in this period. The artificial fool is generally referred to as suffering from some kind of mental illness, while the artificial fool was sane and clever and perfected his craft out of professional necessity. Both kinds of fool will have been employed by the nobility and the court, and the contrast between the 'natural' and the 'artificial' fool is played upon in the literature of the time (various of Shakespeare's plays, including 'As You Like It', involve references to both types of fool).

Queen Elizabeth did not spare the expense of fools. A number of fools and dwarfs appear in the royal account books. At this time, though, the traditional fool seems to give way to the stage or theatrical clown. It is at this time, then, that motley, cap and bells begins to give way to a more sophisticated style of comic acting and clowning. It is this style of 'fool' or clown that has become associated with the work of Shakespeare.

Robert Armin and William Kempe: particularly talented clowns of Shakepeare's time. It is widely believed that the roles of Feste in Twelfth Night, Touchstone in As You Like It and the Fool in King Lear were written by Shakespeare for the particular talents of Armin whilst the roles of Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing and perhaps Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream were written for Kempe. Certainly, the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods represent the golden age of folly as it was elevated to its highest representation by Shakespeare.

With the coming of the Stuarts the fool continued to play an important role as entertainer. Archy Armstrong, a noted fool, who became a member of the royal household in Scotland, accompanied his master, James I, to England when he succeeded to the throne. He seemed, in fact, to converse with his master on equal terms and involved himself in the internal politics of the court until his arrogance got him into trouble.

The Decline of the Court Fool in England.

The Puritan revolution led by Oliver Cromwell ushered in a time of radical change, during which the opulent style of the Stuarts was denounced as decadent. The fool was associated with this decadence. Similarly, the closing of the public theatres drove the stage fool from public view. The result was the gradual loss of the tradition, in court and in public.

Full details of the history of the Fool is available at the following web site: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~eng1324a/TheCourtFool.html