The Beauty Of Folly

The "Shakespearean fool" is a recurring character type in the works of William Shakespeare.Though Shakespeare was not the first to adopt the fool character in literary creation,it was he who highlighted the jester character of his age. Shakespearean fools are usually clever peasants or commoners that use their wits to outdo people of higher social standing.It is common that Shakespearean fools are dwarfs and hunchbacks dressed in motley.Although they seem to remain ugly in outward appearance,hideous in mind as well as obscene in speech,Shakespearean fools actually have a series of aesthetic values.By surveying studies concerned with Shakespearean fool characters from different aspects,we find necessity of casting a systematic view upon the functions of the fools.Thus it provides the significance of the present thesis.Chapter one lists the images of fools in literature,with a general survey on Medieval European fools and Shakespearean typical fools.Chapter two focuses on different standards of aesthetic judgment,making a contrast between the aesthetic of the beautiful and that of the ugly.Different from the aesthetic of the beautiful which takes beauty as the criterion of aesthetic judgment,the aesthetic of the ugly deconstructs and then reconstructs the traditional aesthetics, regarding ugliness as an indispensable part of our life.Chapter three investigates the aesthetic values of Shakespearean fools from four perspectives,namely,discourse value,ideological value,stylistic value,and theatrical value.Because of their power of discourse,the fools could say whatever they wanted to say without being punished,hence,they owned precious discourse value.And Shakespearean fools,who could see things thoroughly and clearly or even foretell the future,always detached themselves from the earthly chaos under the disguise of obscene appearance.So ideologically speaking,they were just like the prophets to some extent.As for the stylistic value,special attention should be paid to Feste,for his songs bring the audience contemplation as well as psychological enjoyment.Lastly, the fool characters also have the theatrical value which is suitable for the style and acting abilities of the actors.The conclusion is drawn that despite of their ugly appearance,obscene language and ridiculous actions,Shakespearean fools actually play vital roles in the works, which just manifest the essence of the aesthetic of the ugly that regards ugliness as a dependent representative in aesthetic category with its particular value.