On Fools Of John Heywood’s Plays

Although suffering a non-classical fate and been seriously neglected,Heywood’s dramas completed the transition from medieval drama to modern formal drama and played a connecting role between medieval drama and mature Renaissance humanism drama.The full text is divided into three parts to discuss the fools of Heywood’s drama.The first chapter discusses the concept of fool.Tracing back to the history of fools,we can find that the fools in Heywood’s plays belong to the category of Fool Literature.The second chapter analyzes how many types John Heywood’s six plays have.Taking the character as the breakthrough point,we can find four types: simple fool,evil fool,stubborn fool,arrogant fool.Furthermore,we illustrate the personality of them.The third chapter explores the aesthetic value of Heywood’s fools.From the perspectives of narrative and language,think about the order and openness of narrative and variety of language forms,consider the combination of seriousness and carnival as fools’ aesthetic meaning and define him as an neglected but important English dramatist.The fourth chapter grasps the profound ideological connotations of John Heywood’s fools.Dating back to Early Renaissance Period,as a number of Christian Humanism Heywood followed Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More and used fools to express religious and political ideas.