| An exploration of English natural and artificial historical court jesters is essential to a full understanding of Shakespeare's four primary professional fools. Historical knowledge allows cliches to fall away and theatrical foolish characteristics such as privileged verbal liberty and simple wisdom to assume new importance. These are not merely devices used to force levity; they are aspects of genuine court fools and employed most strategically by Shakespeare. Shakespeare's jesters, notorious for their lack of depth and growth, must be defined by their behavior in the text. Although Touchstone in As You Like It, Feste in Twelfth Night, Lavatch in All's Well, and Lear's Fool in King Lear are fundamentally similar, they are ultimately wholly unique, as are their landscapes and co-characters. To understand these jesters' effectiveness and ineffectiveness, it is also necessary to explore two pseudo-jesters: Jaques from As You Like It and Parolles from All's Well . |
